26. Emerson #2
“Zane is one of the toughest men I know. He also has the biggest heart, which he tries his best to hide using extreme irritation to do it. He bitches about everything, though it’s all an act.
Earlier when he was complaining about building a daycare center it was pure bullshit.
It was his idea. His brother Lincoln and his sister-in-law Jasmin have twin boys, he wants those boys at the office where he knows they’re protected.
His wife, Ivy, is due with their child soon, and there’s not a snowballs chance in hell that kid will be out of his sight.
He has a business to run, therefore that kid will be at the office.
He loves his wife more than I thought it was possible for a man to love his wife.
She had a shit life before she met Zane and he’s determined to make sure nothing bad ever touches her again.
He carries the weight of death on his shoulders and mourns every man he’s ever lost in battle.
That happens daily. He never stops feeling that guilt.
He treats every man and woman he employs as his equal not his subordinate.
He values loyalty and hard work. He demands the latter and earns the former.
You’ll never have a better man at your back. ”
Wow, none of that sounded like the asshole who had strong-armed me.
Though, as Zane had explained, he was negotiating a deal and as it happened the deck was stacked in his favor and he used it to get what he wanted.
And as much as I didn’t want to like the asshole, I couldn’t help but to love how much he adored his wife.
“What company do you work for?” I asked.
“Z Corps.”
“Z Corps? And Zane owns it?”
“Yep.”
“Z Corps, really? Can one be so narcissistic they name their company Zane Corps?”
“You have no idea how much he’d love to hear you say that.
” Thaddeus chuckled. “And most people think the Z stands for Zane and he doesn’t correct them.
He gets off on people thinking he’s a conceited prick.
As a matter of fact, he’s the first to tell everyone he’s the biggest dick in the room. But the Z does not stand for Zane.”
“What does it stand for?”
Thad was quiet for a moment and I was beginning to think I shouldn’t have asked. I knew there were things about his work he could tell me, he’d straight out said it.
“Z is short for zabulus. It is Latin for devil. Zabulus Corps translates to Devil Brigade. He didn’t think the CIA, DOJ, or the president would like signing checks to the Devil Brigade.
It just so happened the Latin translation of devil began with a Z.
Though, Zane does enjoy code naming our operations after porn star actresses.
He gets a kick out of knowing that some high-ranking politician is reading a mission brief named after an adult film star. ”
“That’s actually kind of funny.” I chuckled.
“It is. What else would you like to know?”
“Where do you live?”
“Nowhere.”
“What do you mean nowhere?”
“Spent the last few years with the Gold Team. We’ve been OCONUS most of that time.”
“Yeah, don’t know what OCONUS means or what the Gold Team is,” I told him.
“We’re the Gold Team. Zane has different teams for different regions. OCONUS is outside the continental U.S.”
“So there’s more of you? I mean, more teams?”
“Yeah. Red Team, which is the team Zane deploys with is the fast-action response team. But in recent years, Blue Team which specializes in Maritime piracy has been picking up their slack, because Red has mostly run ops for the president. Our region was mostly the Middle East. We normally stick to the major trade routes that are inundated with stolen antiquities and human commerce.”
Human commerce, that’s the PC, nice way of saying sex trafficking. For eight years I’ve been trying to track my sister, wading through traffickers and men who steal, buy, and trade women. All the while Thaddeus worked a job that specialized in human commerce. The irony of that was crushing.
Pushing that depressing and quite frankly just plain old sad thought out of my head, I concentrated on the other information he’d given me. I didn’t know what fast-action response team meant but it sounded exciting.
Then it hit me. Swiftly. Hilariously. And once it did, I couldn’t stop the giggles that bubbled up and turned into laughter .
“What’s funny, babe?”
I waved my hand in front of my face trying to stop the fit of cackles that wouldn’t stop. A few deep breaths and I tried to speak through my hilarity.
“FART.”
“What?” Now Thaddeus was laughing, too.
“Acronym.” I laughed. “FART.” I waved my hand some more and tried to spit out the rest. “Red Team is… FART. Fast-action response team.”
I laughed harder and suddenly I was on my back. Thad’s face was buried in my neck and my laughter died. That was because I was enjoying the full body experience of not only hearing but feeling Thaddeus Bench letting loose and roaring with laughter.
His body shook over mine.
His voice rumbled against my skin.
I was lost in sensation.
And I never wanted to be found.