CHAPTER TWELVE
“So, we’ve got Cole bringing back the woman who rescued him, whose grandfather happens to be one of the most sinister warlords in the region. We’ve got Bailey, somehow madly in love with Angus, twenty years her senior, and he’d like to come back to work for us. Is that about right?” asked Luke.
“That’s right,” smirked Eric. “You know, if we just appointed new leaders, we could wash our hands of this one.”
“I know,” nodded Luke. “I asked the team to vote and they refused. They said they wanted us to assign the new leadership, just like our parents did. Every single person said it didn’t matter, they would follow whoever was selected. I’d say that says a lot about the crew we have.”
“There are a lot of good men, and women, to choose from,” said Hex.
“Let’s list our top ten,” said Cam.
“Jak, Gator and Ham come to mind immediately for me,” said Luke. They all nodded, jotting down the names.
“The Jordans, Patrick and Christopher,” said Eric. “I would also say Tobias and Rush.”
“That’s seven already,” said Hex. “I was thinking about Moose, Dan, and Conor.”
“Okay, that’s ten. How do we narrow that list? They’re all fucking amazing. We’ve got five SEALs, three Rangers, and two Delta. We spread that out pretty well,” chuckled Luke. “Now how do we narrow down the ten?”
“Maybe we don’t,” said Hex. Cam, Eric, and Luke looked at him.
“Listen, we all agreed that sometimes just having four seniors wasn’t enough.
We were pulled in a lot of different directions.
Maybe ten is the right number, considering the business.
Their skills are more varied, their abilities covering everything the team needs. ”
“That’s a good idea but,” said Cam, “ten might be problematic when it comes to agreeing on things.”
“I don’t think so,” said Eric. “Our men have never argued about making decisions or what decisions to make. If they wanted to, they could divide the leadership duties by the types of cases they take. But the key is, we let them make those decisions. It’s not ours to make.
” Luke nodded, tapping a text to the ten men and calling them in.
Fifteen minutes later, all ten were seated around the table staring at their four seniors.
“Everything okay, Luke?” asked Ham nervously. “Last I heard the osprey would be landing in about an hour. Has something happened?”
“Everything is good with them, Ham. We wanted to speak to the ten of you about something else. As you know, we’re going to take over Gray Wolf Legacy. That means new leadership has to happen here.”
“Okay,” said Patrick, staring at the others in the room.
“We, the four of us, thought that the ten of you would make great new leaders,” said Cam.
“All ten of us?” asked Moose. “Even me? I mean, I’m not blood.”
“Don’t start that shit in this room,” growled Eric. “Every man here is blood and you know it. Yes. All ten of you. We’ve got a good representation of the branches, skills, abilities and experience. You could break up the leadership by certain areas of the business, or not. It would be up to you.”
“I’m honored,” said Rush shaking his head. “Like, seriously. I’m getting emotional over this.”
“Me, too,” said Tobias. “I never thought about taking over as a leader.”
“It’s a lot of fucking work,” said Cam. “It’s been my honor, but I’m telling you there is a lot of work, and a lot of worry every time one of our team leaves this property. It won’t be easy but you’ll be the next generation of VG.”
“Which brings us to the next issue. You need to decide if you’ll change the name, rebrand if you will,” said Hex. “First, we just need to know that you accept the responsibility.”
The men looked at one another, then smiled, nodding to themselves.
“I accept,” said Rush. Around the table each of the men nodded, making the same statement. Jak, Gator, Ham, Patrick, Christopher, Tobias, Dan, Conor, and Moose.
“That’s ten for a yea vote,” smirked Luke. “Congratulations. You are now the leadership team for the new VG, or whatever you want to call yourselves.”
“We’ll need to think about that,” said Moose. “Honestly, I haven’t given it much thought.”
“Same,” said Tobias.
“Well, you’ve got time to think about that. We’ll make the announcement about the new leadership tomorrow morning at our meeting. For now,” said Cam, “it looks like our osprey is arriving with our new, and old, guests.”
“Yeah, I think I need to have a conversation with Angus,” frowned Ham.
“You should be thrilled,” smirked Luke.
“Why?”
“Well, your full name is Hamish Angus McDonald. If Bailey marries, Angus, chances are good they’ll name a son after you, and him.”
“I don’t want to think about her having babies. It’s hard enough thinking about Ambry carrying three.” Luke laughed, slapping his back as they left the conference room.
“Like it or not, brother, it’s gonna happen.”