Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Maggie went on, “It’s so exciting! Mr. Sutter picked the two of us to go to Thailand to oversee the infrastructure of his newest property.”
“Meaning?”
“We’re on our way to Bangkok as soon as we finish looking over the final blueprints and schematics, and we finished yesterday,” she announced happily. “And once we get to Thailand, we’re vettin’ the vendors. Mr. Sutter likes to hire local as long as they can handle the job. I can’t wait!” she squealed. “We’re going on his private jet with the security team.”
“And this is when?”
“In the next couple of days.”
Basically Owen was leaving a day after me, so whatever was going to be ironed out wouldn’t be happening until we both returned home. It was disappointing. I didn’t like to leave things unsaid between us. “Okay, thanks so much, Maggie.”
She sighed deeply. “Are you guys fighting again?”
“Is that what he told you?”
“No,” she said, her tone sad, “but it seems like every other day lately.”
I remained quiet, unsure how to respond, and I was supposed to be the older, wiser person in this scenario.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Colter. I shouldn’t have said anything. That wasn’t my place.”
“Don’t apologize,” I soothed her. “We’re just…having trouble connecting.”
Her grunt was not subtle.
“What was that for?”
“It seems you’re always having some sort of miscommunication.”
She was painting us both poorly.
“But men have trouble with that, don’t they?” she offered.
“I don’t think that’s a—”
“It’s okay. My dad and his brother, my uncle Stan, are the same.”
That was somewhat helpful to hear. “And what happens with them?”
“Well, now they only speak on holidays.”
I changed my mind. That was not helpful at all. “I appreciate your taking the time to talk to me. And thank you for your candor.”
“Keep in mind, Mr. Colter, that Owen can be a real ass, okay? When he thinks he’s right, he can be so annoying, so self-righteous, that all you want is to kick the crap outta him.”
She wasn’t wrong. Owen on his high horse could be insufferable, especially when he felt the need to lecture me on things I already knew.
But now, fighting, again, I was simply tired. I wanted us to call a truce and make it last. I just didn’t know how because I was clueless as to what was setting him off.
Getting on the plane that night, knowing that the two of us were heading to opposite ends of the globe, me to Paris for the next two weeks, him to Bangkok, I had an odd feeling that I shouldn’t have been going. It didn’t make any sense, so I called Owen again and left another message. Of course, by then I was angry about being ignored and told him to grow up and call me.
“If you want respect, Owen, you need to give me some in return.”
I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t call me back.
Normally, I couldn’t take trips like this at a moment’s notice. When I started Torus Intercession after I left the Army, I had to be there, wrangling fixers and deciding which jobs I would take and which I should decline. But now, one of my men, Shaw James, had started to run the Chicago office for me, and along with his soon-to-be husband, Benji Grace, who was a psychiatrist, they were doing very well vetting new clients. The important part of the equation was that I trusted the two of them to make decisions, and I hadn’t had that before. It freed me to focus on the international side of Torus, on assisting people who reached out with global concerns. As a rule, Torus Intercession was a domestic agency, but I could now take advantage of the wide network I’d developed over the years and do some good.
After West Point, I went into the Army, eventually moving up the ranks to colonel by forty-eight. In parallel, I was with INSCOM, US Army Intelligence and Security Command, and we worked hand in hand with the CIA in counterterrorism. I retired at fifty-one, from all of it, with the understanding, that all operatives had, that if I was needed, I would return to service. It was interesting that everyone who worked for me thought I’d worked exclusively for the CIA even though they knew I’d been in the Army. How they imagined I could have operated at the agency and been a member of the active military at the same time, was beyond me. It didn’t work like that. I worked for INSCOM, and ACC-DTA, Army Contracting Command-Detroit Arsenal. But all that was a lot for people, and because I was assigned to work with the CIA, was attached to missions, it was easier to just say that yes, I was a retired spook.
When I started Torus and the people I hired asked questions, I explained about my service, but what they retained, again, was CIA. I understood. Three letters were easier to remember than the longer moniker. And the important part was the opportunity I was offering. Leaving the service, I found that my need to help others didn’t abate. I needed to retire, yes, because I wasn’t my own boss and couldn’t choose the best outcome for all those involved. And it wasn’t that I had a God complex, but there was acting for the greater good and then there was simply doing what was right and good. I was now firmly in the latter category.