Page 77 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Nope. I told you I’d never tell anyone.”

“And I believe you,” he said. He picked up the phone he’d programmed for her. He explained the phone and about adding her current phone line to it. She handed her phone over without question. After he’d created the instance for her private phone on the agency phone, he handed her now dead phone back to her. Then he explained about the phonebook. “There’s one number I want to explain to you, our Operations Center.” He pointed it out.

She noticed that Ops was the first name and number in the phonebook before the rest were listed alphabetically beginning with Angel.

“Ops is manned twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They’re there for all dependents in case of an emergency. A while ago, one of the wives was alone, her husband was deployed, and she had a medical emergency one night. She called Ops and Ops dispatched one of the team medics even though 9-1-1 was called. He tended to her medically until the paramedics arrived and then he stayed with her at the hospital and notified her husband of the situation. If you ever suspect you’re being followed or something feels wrong, you call them. Don’t worry about it being a false alarm.”

“Okay,” she said. “That’s nice to know there’s help available.”

“It’s one of the ways we take care of our team members’ dependents. No one can do the job we do if they’re worried about their family while they’re gone. They have to know someone is looking out for them in their absence. And they have to know their significant other has everything handled.”

“This is the part where you tell me not to be a burden on him, right? Well don’t worry about that. I won’t be.”

“Easy, Rae,” Garcia said. “I didn’t mean it that way. All of the wives will tell you the same thing. It’s what they all live by, taking care of everything at home, relying on Ops or the other wives for any issues, and then telling their unit member about it after the fact, including the successful resolution of the situation.”

She took a deep breath and nodded.

“So, one time while I was on a mission, my son who was three months old at the time, spiked a high fever my wife couldn’t get down. One of the other wives went with her to the hospital so she wasn’t there alone, which I appreciate. It wasn’t until after shewas back home and his fever was down, and I called that she told me about it. Now imagine I knew about it and was worried when we were out in that alley in Norfolk. Do you think I wouldn’t have been distracted, knowing my kid had a high fever and was at the hospital? Do you think I wouldn’t have been distracted, knowing my wife was going through that without me there to support her?”

Reina was shocked to hear his story. “You have a wife and a son?” Razor was married and was a dad? Wow, that blew her mind.

Garcia smiled a genuine smile that made his eyes sparkle. “Sienna is a saint to put up with me and this job and Little T is the necessity in my life I didn’t know I needed until he was here.”

Reina smiled, utterly amazed by his proclamation. She saw him in a very different way at that moment. “Wow, that’s really incredible. I’m glad you found happiness.”

He nodded. “It wasn’t then that it happened, but the point I’m making is, with what we do we have to be focused and not worrying about anything but the job and what could possibly go wrong. That’s what we need our families to do to support us. It’s that simple.”

She nodded as well. “I get it. I’d never want to put Jimmy in a situation where he was worrying about me or what was going on at home if he needed to concentrate on the job he was doing.”

“That’s exactly it,” Garcia said. “So, you and Wilson?”

Reina laughed. “I was wondering when you were going to get around to asking me that. Yeah, Jimmy and me. He’s the first guy I’ve ever been friends with, like real friends. And he’s probably the first guy whose ever just wanted friendship and didn’t expect something from me, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Garcia said. “I’m glad for you.”

“Any advice?” she asked.

“Yeah, don’t fuck it up. Don’t bring any crap from your past into this relationship. And don’t let what happened over the past week hang over you. Put the demons where they belong, banish them to hell, and don’t let them stomp on your happiness. Wilson’s a good guy. He deserves you at your best giving this your all.”

“Wow, Razor the relationship guru. Who would have guessed?”

***

Wilson stopped at the kitchen after he left Shepherd’s office. Angel was there with Lilly and Jo. “Does Garcia still have Rae?”

“Yes, but it’s no problem. I can keep Lilly until she gets back. I know you have an appointment with Joe,” Angel said.

“Yeah,” he said shaking his head. “I’m headed there now. If I can get Rae an appointment with him after mine, can you keep her a while longer?”

“Sure, it’s no problem, though Jo will be going down for her nap in about an hour. If Lilly doesn’t nap, maybe you could bring her down to the gym to that corner where I have the kids play area set up.”

“That’s a good idea.” He shrugged. “I doubt she’ll take a nap. She slept on the plane.”

From there he took the stairs down to the fourth floor and Joe Lassiter’s suite.

Wilson settled into a chair at the table within Joe Lassiter’s kitchen. He wasn’t surprised Shepherd had ordered him to talk to Lassiter. What he had been surprised about was how cool Shepherd had been regarding his relationship with Rae.

“You made some major decisions in the last twenty-four hours, I’m told,” Lassiter began.

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