Chapter 69: Mercy Granted
Danny’s POV—Thursday Morning
We gather outside after breakfast. It’s a repeat of Saturday.
Javier blows out a breath. “Straw poll. In favor of keeping him?” Not a single hand. We look toward Hal. He has his eyes closed and appears to be in prayer. Finally, he lifts his head and looks at each of us. He shakes his head. No. Done deal. Mark failed.
Mark steps outside and nods at us before heading off to the beach. We watch him silently. Moments later, Stephanie walks out and takes the head seat.
“Have you guys made a decision?” Hal nods but Steph raises a hand to stop him. “Before you tell me, I need to tell you two things. One, Mark submitted a resignation letter yesterday and I’ve accepted it.”
We all sit back, stunned. Steph allows us some time to consider that before speaking.
“Two, I made a decision on what to do with him last night. I’m pretty firm in this decision but I still want to know your opinions. He’s still your colleague and your opinion will let me know if I’m doing the right thing.”
We all nod. I think we’re still blown away by the fact that Mark resigned.
“Decision?”
“Zero votes,” Hal says softly. It’s quiet in the backyard.
Steph nods. “My decision? I’m retaining him for the near future.”
We all stare at her in shock. Why?
“Why?” Javi asks, leaning forward. He looks the most shocked.
Steph smiles sadly. “The truth?” We nod. “Simple. If I recommend firing Mark, then Les will complete the action by firing every single manager at RMBoston. The ‘Jack Welch’ school of management, he calls it.” Javi stifles a laugh. “And while that sounds great in theory, in reality it would kill the branch.”
Javi nods. “Right. With the Leadership Core building San Antonio and Atlanta building Charlotte, who would take over Boston?”
“Exactly.”
We all sit back and contemplate this.
“Trenton is stretched thin and Hal will chain me to the monitors never to see freedom if I move anyone from Trenton.”
We laugh. Hal turns red but nods.
“The guys are building San Antonio, NYC is in the middle of a rebuild and Miami needs my attention, so we simply can’t afford it right now. So that’s why I’m asking you to accept my decision on this one. Treat him as an XO and allow him the opportunity to correct his past mistakes with all of you before his resignation date hits. Give me time to move some things around to correct the problems in Boston. Tell the liaisons and strategists to accept Pat and Rod as their colleagues, as they always have. Agreed?”
Everyone agrees quickly. If nothing else, we trust Steph’s judgment.
Steph swallows hard. “I will never forget Liam’s “exit interview”. The difference between Mark and Liam is Liam disrespected the entire company and betrayed his branch. He betrayed the brotherhood. Mark’s vendetta was personal but it was motivated out of concern for RangeMan. He was determined to save the company from my ineptitude. Stupid, but the Bombshell Bounty Hunter stories were a big part of the problem.”
She looks at us and wipes her eyes. We’re quiet, staring mostly at the table. I don’t think there’s a man here, with the exception of Hal, who can deny that that’s exactly where his thoughts went first when her appointment was announced. Even I thought that at first.
“I’m not making excuses for him. As I said to Mark, I have more information than you guys think. I know a lot more than I’m sharing, which is why I’m asking you to trust me right now.”
“Stephanie, we trust your judgment,” Mando says quietly. “We have plenty of evidence that your judgment is sound, so even though we don’t understand this move, we’ll accept it.” He grins. “This is Javi all over again.” We laugh, tension broken. “We didn’t understand that at all, but no one can deny it was brilliant and the right thing to do.”
Javi flips him off and we all snicker.
“When is his resignation date?” Javi asks, smiling.
Steph smiles back. “Not telling. I don’t want anyone to treat him differently simply because the date is getting close. I’ll tell you at the appropriate time. Until then, he’s the XO of Boston and please don’t tell anyone that he’s resigned. That information needs to stay in this group. Not even the strategists and liaisons need to know. Agreed?”
We nod. In other words, we know he’s a short-timer, but to everyone else it will appear he escaped this week unscathed. I don’t like that. I really don’t like that.
I lean forward. “Stephanie, I trust your judgment, but I have a concern.”
“You think I’m letting him off easy?” She grins and I nod. Actually, we all nod, concerned. “Nope. All the money he’s making in Hospitality is going directly to the company reserves. It won’t even benefit his branch, so his men are essentially working for free on that one. They will not be happy to learn that. Better yet, he’s going to have to explain to his men what happened. I’m not going to do it. If I were to go to Boston and explain that I fired him, the Boston men would never trust or believe in me. They would think I’d done the wrong thing because they’re loyal to him. If they question me that breaks their trust in the Leadership Core and that’s the last thing we need. I’m not going to do it. He’s going to have to explain what happened. He has to repair chain of command and respect for leadership in his office. When he’s done, he’s out and his men will understand that it’s because of his actions, not because I’m being vindictive toward him. And he’s under a death threat.”
We’re grinning. She’s absolutely right. She’s making him go back to his men and confess how badly he fucked up.
“Mark’s a man under strain right now. I’m the only person here willing to save his ass and he knows it, so he can’t attempt to run around me anymore. He now knows I’m watching him very closely, even when I don’t say anything. Even more, I’m leaving it primarily on him to fix every single problem in his office, the ones he knows about and whatever I find when I land there. The slightest failure on his part and his head will end up on a spike in Trenton and he knows it.” Hal grins. “At this point, it’s in his best interest to make me happy and fix all of Boston’s problems. Failure means he better run really really fast and hope Les and Hector never find him.”
And again, she proves her leadership. She prevents a mass firing and makes him do the work of correcting his own branch before he’s terminated. He has no choice. If he refuses, she sets Lester and Hector loose on him plus all his men in management are immediately fired. Mark’s an asshole, but like every XO in this company, he’ll do anything for his men. He’s already told us that.
Plus, his profitability margins just took a hit. Mark has officially dropped to third or possibly fourth in the company, a huge hit to the Boston ego. They opened a product line they won’t get the revenue for and she’s heading there next for their review. The shocks just keep coming. Boston will be completely off-balance and scared.
I grin at Hal, who has also apparently worked this out. “Game on,” he says and we high five.
The CO has shown her brilliance yet again. Fine. We’ll play nice with the nosy fucker.
Mark’s POV
My phone beeps. I’m free to come back. I walk into the backyard and take a seat. The CO looks at me, then all my colleagues.
“Mark, I’ve told them that you have resigned.” My eyes drop to the table but I nod. “Your effective date of resignation will remain between us.”
Great. Now, what is it?
“The guys will pass down the order that Pat and Rod are to be treated as normal. I leave it on all of you to determine your next steps.” Steph stands and leaves, patting me on the back as she walks away.
I finally lift my eyes and look at my colleagues. I’ve been stripped bare in front of them. Mando finally told me the room had been bugged. They heard all. They know all.
I look over at Hal. He has an excellent blank face and is looking at me as if I’m blank wallpaper. I look around the group and finally land on Javi. He smiles and shakes his head.
“You are the luckiest bastard I’ve ever met.” A snort from Danny. “Seriously, you are. Your resignation is being kept secret. You will leave here and still be the XO for Boston. On the surface, you appear to leave here this week unscathed.”
I nod. The surface is deceiving, Javi. I’m under a death threat and I have an office to investigate. My men will kill me because we will lose the number one title and I’ve ruined opportunities for them. I have assloads of work ahead of me, not to mention that the CO made it clear that I have to get all of you to stop hating me. She might as well have asked me to count all the stars in the sky. Plus, I have no idea when I’ll be unemployed. I have to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.
Hal finally stands and makes his way over to me. For some reason, I feel compelled to stand and try to apologize.
I never saw it coming.
I wake hours later and it feels as if the entire world has exploded behind my eyes. I hear a soft murmur.
“Jesus Christ, Hal! How hard did you hit him, baby?” Candy. I smell her perfume. Oranges.
“Hard enough. Next time he thinks to undermine the leadership, maybe he’ll remember how that concussion feels.”
I attempt to open my eyes, but it’s just too painful. I moan.
“Mark?” Stephanie. Floral. And Ranger. Odd combo but it works.
“Ughhh …”
“Yeah, I know. Well, I’ve heard. Hal hits really fucking hard. Tank trained him. Apparently, your head bounced all over the place.”
I can believe it. Pain. Lots of pain. I need to make friends with King. Poor bastard. Tank trained Hal? Shit. Ranger makes your entire body hurt, but if Hal and Tank hit anything alike, one good punch from Tank is enough. I thought I remembered what sparring with Tank was like, but clearly I’ve forgotten the finer points.
A sigh. “Was this necessary, Hal?”
“Yes.” Silence. “If I was ever going to work with him, we needed to be on an equal footing.”
“And punching his daylights out makes you equal?”
“Yes. I don’t tolerate disrespect of leadership or chain of command in Trenton. He’s done nothing but disrespect authority for five months. He may accept you right now, but there needed to be a consequence, just in case he got it in his head to do that again. He needed to know that his colleagues will not accept it. If we have to back him, he should know the penalty for failure.”
“Agreed,” I croak. There’s silence in the room. “I accept that, Stephanie. I’ve never tolerated it in Boston before and what Hal did is my normal response. He’s right.” I attempt to open my eyes again and am successful. Candy is leaning over me, a bloody washcloth in hand. Steph is on my other side, looking concerned. The rest of the XOs are standing around the bed, looking at me coolly.
“Just so we’re clear,” Hal says coldly.
“Crystal,” I reply.
Candy looks at Steph. “I’m feeling squeezed by all the testosterone in the room. We were headed to the beach, right?”
Steph smiles. “Yup.” Candy hands the bloody washcloth to Hal and the ladies leave.
I close my eyes. “How long was I out?”
“An hour,” Mando says, placing a washcloth on my face, then an ice bag. God bless him.
“Just one? Jesus, felt like twenty.” I snort then smile until it gets to be too painful. I crack an eye open. “So much for getting away unscathed.”
There’s silence, then everyone smirks at me.
Zero arrives from Trenton. Hal hit hard enough that my cheek needs stitches. Zero looks at me coldly but he’s professional. He stitches me up, recites the standard concussion warnings, and hands me pain relief and more cold packs for the black eye. I notice that he fist-bumps his XO on the way out.
The rest of the day is quiet. Stephanie brings me my lunch in bed and sits with me to ensure I’m OK.
“I asked Bobby why they appointed you XO. The details were surprising.” I shift to look at her out of my good eye. “They really trusted you. Believed in you. Admired you and felt that you were a good soldier. Creative and trustworthy. You were the man that they trusted to get the updates when they went on missions as a group.”
Hearing her say that, I feel sick having lost their trust. I feel sick having lost Ranger’s trust. Yeah, I am a good XO but I’m up that famous creek right now. No paddle in sight.
“What I need is someone with that experience and background helping me. Olive branch, Mark.”
I nod and attempt to sit up. Steph takes the tray and helps me sit up again.
“We have a lack of potential leaders in this company.” I stare at her silently. “Well, we have leaders, but we need to identify them, give them some training and experience. We don’t have a mechanism for doing that. You have any suggestions?”
“Like a trainee program?”
“Yes. I don’t know if it should be individuals we select or if we should allow the men to self-select, but we need to be able to slot people into a position the moment we have a vacancy. I shouldn’t have to search the company looking for possibles.”
I nod. “I have a few men in my office who would be good XOs and strategists. I could use a backup liaison or two.”
“So you would prefer to have the Core Teams select their best candidates?”
“Yeah. I mean, for example, in Miami, the gang of five that beat up on Mando all the time would be the first ones to put themselves forward and I wouldn’t trust them to clean up dog-shit.” She laughs quietly. “Mando has been mentoring Diego in his office and I’m pretty confident Diego is prepped and ready to be an XO wherever he were placed. That’s the kind of situation that’s good for the company, but Diego also needs to see management at other branches. So he isn’t tempted to do things on the ‘Miami’ model. Have a global view of the company.”
She’s nodding and looking thoughtful. I’m wondering where all this is leading.
“I want to create a pipeline of leaders in this company. Every time we need to establish a new branch or have a vacancy, we have to scramble around the company to find people to fill in those roles. The guys get practice handling the job by filling in on occasion, like when someone goes on vacation, but for every position there should be two men in each branch ready and able to step in. After all, when this vacation leave policy goes into effect, your backup will run the office and he needs a backup, right?”
I nod.
“So that’s what I want. I want you and your Core Team to sit down and identify potential leaders in your branch. I’m going to ask Hector for some space in RangeWorld and I want to create a management training program. I would like your assistance in helping me create it.”
I snort. “Training my replacement?”
Steph looks at me hard. “If I can’t save your behind, yes you are. Would you rather I hand the branch over to someone with no training?”
I’m silent. No, I care for my men. If she can’t save me, then I don’t want Boston to fall into just anyone’s clutches.
“You know what irritates me so much about your disrespect over the past five months?” I look at her, quiet. “The fact that you and I are so alike. I’ve been able to anticipate everything you’ve done over the past month by simply asking myself ‘What would I do in Mark’s situation’? Snooping in this house? Yup. Attempting to pump Maria for information? Yup. Falling for a setup? Yup.”
I smile at that. She looks at me, a wry grin on her face.
“I didn’t end up in Con Stiva’s cabinet by accident. You are as nosy as I am, Mark. The difference is you were snooping on someone with just as many skills at being nosy as you have. Can you imagine where this company would be if you had worked with me to grow it instead of fighting me all the time? If I had been able to call on and count on the senior XO when I needed him?
Instead, you made fighting with me a personal vendetta and you dragged your men into it. No matter what, I’ve always made my mistakes alone. I haven’t dragged someone else into my near death experiences. That’s the difference between us. That’s what angered me so much.”
I’m quiet. She’s right. I’ve dragged Pat and Rod into the firing range with me. They’re looking at unemployment because of me. Ranger would never have done this to me. I would never have allowed him to do it without saying something. Why didn’t the guys try harder to stop me?
“So, for the first time, I’m playing Ranger to someone else. You’re in the cabinet. I’m searching the property deeds to save your life after you got in over your head.”
“Is that what happened?” I ask quietly.
She snorts. “How would I know? I was the one folded in half, nearly dead, in the cabinet. According to everything I’ve been told, Ranger got off a plane from Miami, learned I was missing and started searching for me. Every RangeMan Trenton employee and twenty contract workers had already been searching for hours. Tank and Hal started searching when I didn’t show up like I promised to. Insane, huh?”
She looks at me and I’m sure my eyes are wide.
“On a hunch, Ranger woke the county clerk up at gunpoint to have her unlock the office so he could search those property records. I was nearly dead when he, Tank, and Hal found me. Can you imagine that? Being faced with Ranger holding you at gunpoint in the middle of the night all because the world’s nosiest bounty hunter got in over her head?” She swallows hard. “The only thing I knew was that Ranger would find me somehow. I even told Con that. It was the last thing I said before Ranger really did find me.”
I’m considering this. If nothing else, that’s just confirmed for me that this is Ranger’s woman. He loves her. He committed god only knows how many felonies doing that and he hates breaking laws. Bending, skirting, sliding uncomfortably close to but never actually breaking. Well, not unless there’s a greater plan involved. Not unless it falls into his moral grey area. And he never leaves witnesses.
It also explains Hal’s devotion to her. He spends hours looking for her and still loves her after she stunned him? He did all that just because she didn’t come back when she said she would? Yeah, that explains Hal. And Tank. Shit. Puzzle pieces slotted firmly in place.
She sighs. “Anyway, I’m handing that program over to you and Danny. I want the two of you to think about it, consider how it should work.” She stands and looks at me. “Danny and Hal are close. You have no chance of getting Hal to give you a chance if you can’t get Danny to consider you worth saving. If you get Danny to consider you worth a chance, Hal will try. Win over Hal and you have everyone else.”
She leaves me to think about what I’m going to have to do to get Hal to stop hating me.
Javier’s POV—Thursday evening
Danny calls everyone together to discuss company-wide goals and objectives, so we’re prepared to talk to Steph tomorrow. We all decided, before Mark showed, to send the emails back to our offices to tell the men to stand down officially. The Boston XO has survived. The CO has disposed of the matter to her satisfaction. We disposed of the matter to our satisfaction.
Trenton sent Hal smiley faces. Mack’s put the shanks away for future use.
In any case, we met to discuss company-wide needs, the biggest being that we need men. It’s amazing. In five months, the company is growing so fast that we have more contracts than we have men to fulfill them. Even monitoring services is picking up in most locations. It’s amazing.
“Ram and I have suggested hiring disabled vets,” Hal says. We all look at him, stunned. Finally, Mark nods.
“I can see it. Especially for monitoring or research. Allow the rest of the men do the active stuff.” He frowns. “Aren’t there government tax breaks and incentives for that kind of stuff?” We look at Danny, who nods.
“Yeah. We’ll need to work with Candy on that to make sure the correct forms are filled out.”
I consider it and make some notes. My building will definitely need some mods to make that work. So men went on the top of the list, but buildings/space was the next consideration. I’m definitely at capacity in my office and the branch office we have in Newark is filling up with men doing investigations. Even my satellite offices are getting full. Danny grins.
“Is everyone going to the satellite office model?” We nod. It’s a smart idea. “OK, so we need to start looking at buildings and determining if we’re going to lease or buy. A security company should really buy their buildings outright, so that’s a concern for the CO. Otherwise we either need to start adding floors onto existing buildings or constructing new buildings.”
We write these down as points.
“Let’s remain mindful of the fact that security does have ebbs and flows,” Mark said. “Monitoring is always a good solid backbone, as long as our contracts remain competitively priced. Let’s look at the investigations thing more closely. Javi, you said Stephanie wants to make that a cross-company offering?”
“Yeah.”
“OK, so let’s identify our best guys for that and put them on lighter duties that we can pull whenever you need them. We also need to come up with a mechanism we can all agree on to allow the head of that group to request those men when needed, so they aren’t overscheduled. Also, Jorge asked for passports to be done for new hires?” I nod. “Great, but let’s make sure every man who’s eligible applies for a passport. That way we don’t have to wait. I’m also thinking that whoever you choose to head this cross-company team needs to know all the men. You probably want to send that person on a tour of all branches once you choose him, so he gets to meet our picks.”
Mark takes a deep breath, as if realizing he’s nearly taken over, and gets quiet. Danny grins.
“Keep going. This is all good stuff.” We all nod, amused.
“OK. A few other thoughts. I would suggest that when Candy starts putting all the men in RangeWorld, she catalog their skills and talents. I mean, knowing that Hal’s a munitions expert, meaning he’s skilled at looking at foundations and structures, is great if I need to assess a building and determine if it’s solidly built or if the foundation is shaky. Ram is a sharpshooter, sniper, so he’s going to look for possible points of entry and weakness also, but from the top down. Adam and Victor are former cops, so they’re assessing things at the eye level. In four men, you have the foundation, the birds-eye view, and the dead on view.”
We’re all nodding, eyes wide. Shit, that’s a great summation of a four man building assessment team.
“Also, what certificates and credentials does each man hold? It would be nice to include that in the presentation back to the client, so they know we didn’t send just anyone. That four man team I just named would impress any client because it’s clear we looked at their building from different angles and levels of expertise.”
I’m amused. Mark’s really trying to win Hal over and Hal is (unwillingly) amused but not thawing. Hey, it’s not a bad compliment to the man’s skills. Mark bites his lip and looks down at his notes. I look over at Mando. He’s amused. We all are. Mark’s trying hard.
“Ok, so I think those are all good suggestions for the business investigations unit and there’s lots there for us and Steph to move on. Next?” Danny says.
“Standards,” Mando says. “We’re hiring as fast as we can but we can’t slip on standards. We need to ensure that’s being tracked and watched. Otherwise, Leadership Core is going to wonder if we lost our minds.”
“True,” Hal says. “Any man coming in on probation normally has 30 days to get his fitness where it should be. Everything else is assumed. Right now, NYC is hiring and training the men to their standard. What’s your probation period?”
“Ninety days,” I reply. “We have men who have never held guns before. It’s a steep commitment, but like Jorge said, in order to get their money, they’re getting off their behinds. Ram has agreed to come once a week and clear anyone we think is ready on the range assessment, driving and SOPs. Cal is checking fitness and hand to hand. Thankfully, Trenton is close enough to do this for me and they have experts.” We grin.
“Great. Because Atlanta is building Charlotte, we can’t do that, so Mando, any chance you have a few men who can pop into Charlotte every two to four weeks to do clearances?”
“Yeah. Jackson is our medic. He can check fitness and hand to hand. I’ll get Braulio to check everything else.”
“I think that’s reasonable,” Hal says. “We got the CO to standard in approximately 70 days, you know, counting from when she got out the cast. That’s not bad for someone going from complete novice to expert.”
“Did the CO really count as a complete novice though?” Danny asks, eyebrows scrunched.
“She was close. The CO had an advantage in that she was a natural shot. She just hated shooting. The biggest thing was the physical standards and the hand to hand. Oh, and teaching tactics for the live fire assessment. Everything else she was pretty much a natural in. Jase taught her the majority of the driving skills in three days. Hector had the knife skills. She’s reading the SOPs.” Hal shrugs. “She was pretty much a novice.”
We all nod. If the CO could do it in 70 days, the men should be able to do it in 90, hell in 60, without a problem.
“OK. Let’s just make sure we’re keeping track of every man,” Mando says. We all agree and write that in big letters.
“Anything else?”
“Management trainee program,” Mark says, looking at Danny. Danny nods.
“Right. So Stephanie has asked me and Mark to spearhead this initiative. She made a really good point. We’re bringing up branches fast and we don’t really have anyone ready to slot into roles as needed.”
“Plus, she wants to make a change in the vacation policy. Use it or lose it,” Mark says. He explains and we consider it. I’d need to schedule 30 days to get down to 60. Mando whistles.
“Shit. I never thought about that. I mean, she mentioned it on Friday, but she’s right. We’re just banking vacation.”
“Which explains why you’re about to go bat-shit crazy in Miami,” Mark says.
Mando stares at him then laughs. We all bite our lips, but it’s useless. We all laugh.
“Anyway, she had a point. If vacation changes to use it or lose it, leadership in each office needs to have two backups ready to take the reins when they’re out of office. One man to do the duties, one to be his backup, and they need to rotate responsibility. Plus, San Antonio and Charlotte are going to need leadership. We know that the San Antonio liaison position is probably filled and, if Mando is the world’s unluckiest bastard, the XO position will be”–Mando nods ruefully–”so Miami will have a position to fill and there are four more to fill also. Maybe even more, if the CO or Leadership Core chooses to take mid-level guys from the company and promote them up. It’s a potential nightmare.”
Everyone considers this. I’m facing the possibility of losing Mack from my office. That would hurt but . . . yeah, we need to start training men to take leadership roles.
“So Mark and I are going to think on this and see if we can outline a basic structured program. We’ll solicit your opinions, maybe schedule an XO call to discuss this,” Danny finishes. “Anything else?”
We’re all thinking hard, but no one has anything. If nothing else, Stephanie Plum has helped us solve a lot of our outstanding problems. Looking at the list, it all revolves around brand new initiatives. I chuckle then laugh. The guys look at me and I smile.
“Look at the list. Which of these items is some longstanding issue from before Steph took over as CO?”
Each man looks at his list, looks up, and grins.
We decide to start cleaning the house before the ladies return from the beach. By the time they step into the house, right before dinner, we have everything squared away except the kitchen.
“Wow,” Steph says, looking around. “Did you leave anything for Nancy to do?”
“She has the move out cleaning but we thought we’d go ahead and straighten everything up,” Hal says, handing Candy and Steph drinks. Mark’s got dinner tonight. We’re amused. He’s really really trying. We spend dinner discussing our objectives with Steph, choosing to spend Friday on the beach relaxing. She grins.
“Perfect way to end my summer vacation.”
Armando’s POV—Friday
Javi drops me and Danny off at Newark airport. We do the man hug with him and walk through security. I’m hyped, ready to leave. Chase called me and said he’d meet me in Charlotte in 10 days. Rod is flying in that same day. I still have the weekend in Miami to get through, but I’m ready to make some changes.
Danny and I walk to our gates, lucky that we’re close enough to chat without missing our flights.
“So, what do you think?” he asks.
“Best fucking vacation I’ve had in a long time,” I reply.
He grins. “Look, I’m the closest to you. Call me when you need something. Call me when you need anything, OK? Let’s coordinate and meet up, once in Charlotte, once in Atlanta. You’re taking the family, right?” I nod. “So, me and my wife and boys, you and your wife and girls, let’s get together and hang out. Take a weekend off to relax. Deal?” We shake on it. That sounds really good.
Right before Danny walks to his gate, he hands me a piece of paper and tells me not to read it until I’m on the plane. I agree, wondering what this says. Danny boards his flight and I walk to my gate area and sit. I finally board the plane and, once we’re in the air, I open Danny’s piece of paper and read.
Armando,
I cannot and will not tell you how to run Miami. I will, however, give you the two quotes that inform my leadership in Atlanta.
- Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved because … love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
- There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
Machiavelli, Il Principio (The Prince)
Danny
I stare at the two quotes, pondering the meanings, until I finally get it. I understand. The CO is a smart woman. This is why she wanted me to talk to Danny.
I pull my folio out and start making plans. I’m not allowing the grass to grow under my feet. Trip to San Antonio first, to get my orders, then to Charlotte, to prove I’m worth backing. It worked for Javier. I need to show Stephanie I’m worthy of her support too.
A/N: Side Story: This Shit is Real.
