I shook my head. “I’m on board with him making up with Duke, but I can’t be around Gonzo or Bash.”
He looked at me a few seconds and said, “Okay, I believe you.” He sighed and told me, “I’m in love with someone, so don’t think I’m hitting on you, okay? I’m in charge of the op, and it’s my job to keep you safe. I know you and Brain are tight, and have no intentions of doing anything to break the connection the two of you have, yeah?”
I nodded, not sure where he was going with this, until he said, “Okay. I’m a wolf, like your boyfriend, and I feel the need to protect you from whoever, or whatever, terrified you when you first saw them. Stick with me, and we’ll see if we can’t get through this, okay?”
I nodded, and he straightened and turned around, let loose a shrill whistle, and when everyone shut up, he said, “Gonzo and Bash, I need ya’ll in the airplane, please. Duke and Brain, I’d like you to come here and talk to Harmony, since this trip’s about her.”
Ranger handed an envelope to Brain, but I was distracted by Duke who said, “Damn, Harmony, I’m sorry. What can we do to make you more at ease?”
Apparently, I smelled terrified to all of them. I shook my head and told him, “Send Gonzo and Bash away.”
“If we do that, we’ll have to postpone the op,” said Ranger. “Aaron can pull other guys in, but they’ll cost you three to ten grand a day, depending on who’s available, and probably only be slightly better than those two. The RTMC guys are volunteering their time, so you won’t owe Aaron anything else when you get back.”
“I don’t care,” I told them. “I have money, I don’t need charity from anyone. Bash enjoyed humiliating me, and Gonzo was...” I shook my head, folded my arms across my chest. “I don’t want anything from either of them.” I looked to Brain and asked, “What does the note say?”
He handed it to me, and I read:
I know you’ll be angry with me again, and I don’t blame you, but I’ve lived a long time and I know how rare truly good friends are. I also know a genuine family when I see one, and the Chattanooga RTMC is one, and there’s a huge hole with you gone. I can see the missing spot in your heart, where your brothers used to be. Harmony can’t fill it for you. She can do a lot, but if you think she’ll replace them, you’re asking for trouble in your relationship with her, too. This is the last time I’ll play the meddling asshole. If this doesn’t work, I’ll bow out, but I had to give it one last try.
Aaron
I looked to Brain and said, “Just making up with Duke won’t be enough, will it?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You’re never going to be around Bash and Gonzo, I can smell your distress, and I’d just as soon beat the hell out of them as look at them.”
“So the op’s off?” asked Ranger.
Brain answered, “Damned straight,” as I said, “Maybe not.”
Everyone looked at me, and I asked, “Who goes into the bank with me?”
Duke answered, “I do.”
“Okay, then, we’ll be in a huge-assed villa on the beach, right?” It’d better be big, I was paying seventeen hundred dollars a night for it.
“Yes.”
“Fine, then we’ll figure out a schedule so I don’t see them. Put’em on the opposite end of the house from me, and make sure they aren’t around when I’m out of the bedroom. I plan to spend most of my time out on the veranda with a good book and a huge sun hat and glasses, since I can’t be seen around town.”
“You sure?” asked Brain.
“Yeah. We’ve put a ton of planning into this, and I intend to give Aaron a piece of my mind at some point, but I can also see he meant well, even if it was misplaced.” I looked to Duke and said, “I know how close you and Brain were, and I’m sorry my situation came between the two of you.”
“Give me five minutes to make some adjustments to the plane’s interior, and then ya’ll can come on board,” Ranger told us before he walked to the plane with long, purposeful strides.
Duke held his hand out to Brain and said, “Truce for the length of the op?”
Brain looked at Duke’s hand a few seconds, looked at me, and I nodded. He looked back to Duke as he shook his hand. “Until we get her home safe.”
We spent a very awkward five minutes waiting, and when we went into the plane, a section of aisles had partitions around them so we couldn’t see who was in the seats.
Ranger motioned us to the seats at the front of the plane, and said, “I’ll be your pilot this evening, and our flight should take just under two hours. There’s no staff, so if you want something to drink or eat, feel free to raid the fridge and cabinets. I have some snacks in the cockpit, if I want a cold drink I’ll let ya’ll know.” He grinned. “I’m sure ya’ll would prefer to bring me one, rather than have me leave the cockpit to get it myself.”