Operation 23 Premature Celebration #3
Cassidy didn’t smile, but his eyes changed. “I don’t make offers like this for fun.”
Their waiter approached with fresh coffee and two more glasses of water. He set everything down with serene ignorance before he walked away.
Cassidy turned the laptop toward them.
“I’ve wanted to expand for years,” he said. “Not because the company wasn’t already profitable. It is. But because I’ve reached the limit of what I can safely control with the structure I have now.”
He tapped a file open.
Numbers filled the screen. Names. Locations. Contracts. Lots. Projections.
“There are four major studio lots in this city alone that have approached me in the past eighteen months. Serious pitches. Serious money. That doesn’t include the independent production lots, soundstages, streaming campuses, private backlots, event venues, and production offices that want upgraded security after what happened with Xander. ”
Ruxs leaned closer. “How many?”
Cassidy’s gaze moved to him. “Over thirty production-related facilities in the greater Los Angeles area, twelve more on the East coast, including Atlanta and Queens, New York.”
Green whistled low. “Damn.”
“My administrative staff can’t keep up with the calls right now,” Cassidy said. “After the attacks hit the press and Bennett Ashford’s name got attached to them, everyone with a camera, a studio gate, and a nervous insurance carrier wants stronger protection yesterday.”
God stared at the screen, then back at him.
“I can’t recruit more agents until I first acquire a strong leadership team,” Cassidy said.
“Men with discipline, instincts, integrity, combat sense, strong work ethic, and the ability to make hard decisions under pressure.” He shifted his focus from God to Day.
“You and your team have more than met those qualifications.”
Day sat forward slowly, his pretty hazel eyes scanning every name and number on the spreadsheet.
“I’m sorry about your task force. But I have no doubt your superiors will come to regret it, maybe not now, but definitely later. So before they come begging for you guys to come back, I thought I’d shoot my shot,” Cassidy said.
God smirked.
Day’s hand brushed his knee beneath the table.
Green’s expression shifted.
God caught it.
Cassidy slid a folder toward each of them.
“My proposal is this– Godfrey and Day, you can come in as equal equity partners, with operational authority over a new expansion division. Studio security, executive protection, high-risk entertainment details, threat response training, contractor vetting, and specialized coverage for productions with credible risk.”
Day’s eyes dropped to the page.
Cassidy turned to Ruxs and Green. “I’d like to hire you both as Xander’s full-time personal security leads.”
Ruxs blinked. “For Xander?”
“Yes. Xander needs more than standard coverage. Men I’d trust with his life.” His gaze held theirs. “And I do.”
“What about the rest of our team?” Green asked.
Cassidy seemed to have been waiting for that question. “God, if they were on your team, male or female, they can have a leadership role in the company. As I mentioned, there’s a huge contract on the table in Atlanta.”
Day’s smile had faded into something serious. “That’s a lot of trust for men you’ve only known a couple weeks.”
Cassidy leaned back. “Wesley and Lawson said you were the best.”
Ruxs grunted. “Wes and Law are biased.”
“They are,” Cassidy said. “That’s why I watched for myself.”
God stared Cassidy right in his eyes, unblinking.
“I watched you keep your men controlled. You respected the authority in this jurisdiction despite them not being as capable as you. I watched you and your husband communicate with each other and my staff with respect. Your men are all in relationships and I didn’t even know it.
That’s a testament to your professionalism.
And I watched you fight with regard for human life; you’re not showoffs.
“If they were on your squad, they’re the best. And I only wanna work with the best. And I only want the best protecting Lane…um, Xander.”
Day laughed.
God glanced back at Day.
His eyes were bright, but steady. Not because of the money, though the numbers were good.
Better than good. Better than any wages, pension, or 401k the department could ever offer.
No, his husband appeared relieved that their lives would still have purpose.
That they’d still be doing what they were meant to do.
Protecting lives, keeping people safe.
Their family didn’t have to scatter after all.
God rested his hand over Day’s under the table and gave it a tight squeeze.
Ruxs pointed at the folder. “And this salary number is real?”
Cassidy looked at him with all seriousness. “Yes.”
“Plus benefits?”
“Yes.”
“Health?”
“Yes.”
“Vision and dental?”
Green pfft’d. “Seriously. You’re worried about dental…now?”
Cassidy’s smile was brief but real. “Dental and vision included.”
“Xander agreed to this?” Green asked.
“Xander doesn’t know yet,” Cassidy said. “This decision has to be yours first. But he trusts both of you. I think he’ll be relieved. Because like it or not—and he’s too humble to admit it—he’s about to be one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He needs a good security team.”
Day sat back, his eyes on Cassidy.
God concentrated on the papers.
Equal partners.
Authority.
A company big enough to hold them.
A way to keep him and his men together.
A way not to crawl back to Atlanta and wait for some polished commander to talk down to them.
He turned back to Cassidy.
Morrison was a good man, on and off paper. And the contract he’d laid out was more than fair. He could’ve simply offered them jobs, but instead, he respected them and offered partnership instead.
By the way his husband was gripping his hand, he wanted this for them.
“We negotiate final structure,” he said. “Let lawyers look over everything.”
“Of course.”
“Day and I make decisions together.”
Cassidy nodded. “I already know that.”
“Ruxs and Green answer to themselves and Xander first if they take his detail. I don’t want them treated like rented muscle.”
“They won’t be.”
“And my men stay my men,” God said. “Even if the badges change.”
Cassidy smirked. “That’s exactly why I want ’em. They’ll perform at their peak because they’re under your command.”
God held out his hand.
Cassidy shook it.
Day laughed under his breath, almost disbelieving.
Ruxs looked at Green. “Guess we’re moving to Hollywood.”
Green held his deadpan expression as long as he could before it eventually broke, and he grabbed Ruxs and hugged the hell out of him.
“Xander-fuckin-Vale. Holy shit.” Ruxs laughed.
Day lifted his glass. “Here’s to severe traffic congestion, high costs of living, widespread urban sprawl, and contracting a respiratory disease before the age of sixty from smog inhalation.”
Ruxs and Green laughed loud enough to make people wonder what was going on behind the bushes. Cassidy almost spat out his drink, and even Steele snorted before he stopped himself.
“Way to stay positive, sweetheart.” God lifted his glass and clinked it with his.
They said yes.
Not all at once. Not without conditions. Not without the complicated questions the lawyers would want answered.
But they said yes.
By the time the second bottle of bourbon came to the table, the business meeting had turned into something shockingly close to joy.
Ruxs began to tell Cassidy some of the wild stories of them in the field.
He told him about the time Green had gone undercover at a biker bar but his cover was blown on day one because he didn’t know how to ride a motorcycle.
Green told how Ruxs had stolen a garbage truck to save Day, Ro, and Syn when they were pinned down and taking heavy fire from a gang.
He’d hid in the back with two 19mm submachine guns and came out shooting like fucking Rambo.
But he ended up smelling like a sewer for three days, no matter how much he showered.
Day told Cassidy that God had put a suspect through a motel room door without opening it.
They drank.
They ate again.
They talked about lots, contracts, training pipelines, threat assessment teams, hiring from former military and law enforcement, and building a security force that’d been known from coast to coast.
For five amazing hours, the future stopped looking grim and began to look so bright, he needed shades.
Then every earpiece and watch blared with the panic alarm.
It was Xander.
Cassidy came out of his chair so violently it slammed backward and hit the floor.
“What the fuck?” Ruxs was already up.
Cassidy had his phone out, fingers moving fast enough to blur. He called once. No answer. Called again. No answer. His face lost all color.
A few seconds later, Free’s and Tech’s panic signals ignited.
The triple blaring tone tore through God’s skull like a freight train.
Cassidy dialed again.
“Pick up,” he snapped into the phone.
Nothing.
God lifted a hand. “Morrison.”
Cassidy looked at him like a wild animal trapped behind glass.
“Stay with me,” he said.
Cassidy’s jaw clenched so hard God heard it click.
The comm crackled.
Tech’s voice came through, low and tight.
“Don’t be alarmed.”
“Too late,” Day snarled.
Tech exhaled once. “We’ve been kidnapped.”