Page 6 of Mr. Big Mistake
I wrapped my arm around Clint’s shoulders. “So, I take it your showing up is your way of taking us up on our offer?”
He slowly looked over at me. “Get. Off.”
I held up my hands. “Okay, okay. I get the picture.”
Zane snickered. “Finally.”
We all sat down at the breakfast nook and sipped our coffee. I took stock of my brother as he gazed out the window as if he were looking for something. When I peeked over at Zane, I saw the worry on his face. Even though there were several years between them, Zane seemed to always worry about Clint. Especially, after he had enlisted long before Zane and I went off to college.
His third deployment hadn’t been kind to him.
“I decided not to re-up,” Clint said.
I sipped my coffee as Zane locked his eyes with Clint’s.
“Want to talk about it?”
Clint shook his head. “I’m good.”
“You know you have a—,” I changed the subject.
Clint nodded. “I know, yes.”
Zane leaned forward a bit. “So… have you decided what you’re going to do about our offer?”
That’s when Clint slowly looked over at both of us, glancing back and forth between us. Clint’s third deployment had changed him, and not always for the better. He had became much more stoic. Much quieter. He told us he didn’t sleep well, and when he did, he would wake himself up talking. And Clint had admitted to me once soon after he returned home, that he woke himself up intentionally sometimes.
The only time I ever saw him remotely smile was when he hugged Mom.
“Security for your properties, right?” Clint asked.
I nodded. “Right.”
Zane added on. “For the properties we own, yes. But, once we sell them, your responsibilities are over. The buyer has to provide his own security, as you might imagine.”
Clint licked his lips. “What if they want my services as an add-on? Have you guys thought about that?”
I looked over at Zane with an ‘I told you so’ look. Just because Clint was a bit fucked in the head didn’t mean he wasn’t like us. The man had a mind for business, whether we wanted to admit that or not.
“Well,” I said as I looked across the table at Clint, “I suppose that depends.”
“On?” Clint asked.
“On whether or not you’d want to build your own team and create a business for yourself out here in Vegas. As I’m sure you know, security companies do very well here. Businesses, hotels, casinos, you name it. Everyone has to have building and sometimes private security for their employees. And the casinos… they usually provide their own. But there are times they sub-contract out certain tasks to independents.”
Zane nodded. “What we’re hiring you to do is secure the properties we own until we sell them. But what happens after we sell them is between you and the buyer.”
Clint threw back his coffee. “Noted.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’ll be responsible for patrols, day and night. If you hire someone else to help, you’ll have to find a way to pay them. And we are assuming you will need to hire several crews.”
“You’re offering me five hundred grand a year to do this. I’m pretty sure I can afford it,” he said gruffly.
Zane picked up his mug. “That’s just for your salary. We can sit down later and do a loan for you after you get things rolling to take care of your growing security agency. But only if you find this is something you want to do long term.”
“And also, you get two weeks of half-time paid medical leave,” I pointed out.
“And the health insurance.”
