he went for the alternative.
“I’m fine,” he said, turning away from the guys and pulling out a cloth to start polishing. “Don’t worry about me.”
“You’re not fine,” Noah said, pushing off the desk to stand shoulder to shoulder beside Levon, both their expressions uncharacteristically stern and serious. “And we are worried, whether you want us to be or not. That’s why we decided to put you on leave for a while.”
“Excuse me?” Clint wheeled around, blinking in disbelief at his friends and nearly dropping the gun barrel he was working on in the process. “You what?”
“Don’t take it personal, dude,” Levon said, raising his square jaw defiantly, his gaze daring Clint to come at him. He almost did, too; only shock and clenching his fists tight kept him standing where he was. “Most people enjoy taking a vacation.”
Fuck. Except this wasn’t a vacation. This felt more like a punishment than party time. Dammit.
“You can’t do that,” he protested, shooting Noah a death glare as he set his cloth and gun parts aside. “The business contract says so.” The contract was a relic from back when he and Noah first started the business. A lot had changed since then, and they’d never bothered to update it. But it was still official.
“No. The contract says I can’t vote you out. You’re part of the team and you always will be. But I can vote to put you on leave when necessary.” Noah stepped forward. “It’s for your own good. Get out of here. Spend time with your kid. Relax. Get your head back in order, then come back ready to kick ass again, dude.”
Clint opened his mouth to argue, but Noah didn’t give him a chance. “The chairman of the board for Go Green Energy wants you fired.”
All the air evaporated from Clint’s lungs, leaving him breathless and lightheaded. “He what?”
Noah cursed and shook his head, looking away. “I didn’t want to tell you, man, but that’s why I made the decision I did. The chairman’s making a stink about what happened at that rally, and smoothing things over means we need you to lie low for a little while.” He stepped up beside Levon. “Listen. You’re indispensable around here. Always will be. Hell, you handle most of the administrative stuff, so I’m not even sure how we’ll find half the stuff we need around here without you, but we need to make it look like the business is taking the complaint seriously, yeah?”
“So, go and take this time off, dude,” Levon said, giving him a half-hearted smile. “I know it’s not what you want, but maybe it’s for the best.”
Right. Well, then. The last thing Clint wanted was to put SSoF in jeopardy. So yeah. It wasn’t what he’d planned or what he’d wanted, but it looked like he had some unexpected R&R coming his way. With a curt nod, he shoved away from his desk and stood, grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair then calling over to Ashley, “Pack it up, kiddo. We’re going home.”
3
Tara Crumb fixed herself a mug of coffee at the kitchenette in her office at Go Green Energy, then took a seat back at her desk. Turning on her computer to check her emails, she tried to distract herself from the infernal itching in her left arm. She knew that meant that the week-old bullet wound was healing, but it didn’t make it any more fun.
She snorted and kept scrolling on her screen. Bullet wound? More like a glorified cut, really. That sounded better in her head. Far more accurate, far less terrifying—which would make it far easier to come in to her workplace and do her job every day. It was distracting trying to concentrate on work when she kept thinking of a sniper lining up another shot. Not that violence at peaceful rallies was anything new. Hell, since the beginning of time, wherever there were activists, there were people who were deeply committed to shutting them up. But this was a whole different level.
Of course, it didn’t help that since the attack at the rally, she’d kept replaying those moments in her head. The loud bang of the gunfire, the high-pitched whiz of the bullets passing her. The weird thump against her arm when she’d been struck. Funny, but she’d always imagined this huge rush of pain after getting shot, but it hadn’t been like that. Not at first, anyway. She’d honestly thought she’d just hit her arm on a rock