Chapter 1

Chapter One

Carter

C arter couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t watch more of his friends and fellow soldiers give their all, and then have to keep going. He’d witnessed too much loss, and it was something he no longer wanted to be normal in his life.

Today, he’d come home to his family’s ranch and realized that while he knew what he didn’t want to do, he didn’t know what he wanted to do either. He wasn’t ready to settle down alone yet though.

His parents had passed the ranch on to him when they’d passed not long after he’d graduated high school. A car accident had taken them both at one time, and Carter had fled to the military.

The ranch had a good foreman, and he managed everything. Once a month, someone cleaned the house to keep dust from piling up, and once a year Carter came back and checked on things before he left again.

He’d reached out to a few friends who had gotten out before him and that he knew from high school, but no one was ready to hang out on such short notice. They had lives, and he was the odd man out. It was a weird feeling.

“Hey, Jace.” Carter shook the foreman’s hand as he walked up.

“Hey, man. Good to have you back.” Jace was his father’s age, well, what would have been his father’s age, and had been the closest person to a father since his had passed.

“Thanks. I’m not sure for how long or what I’m going to do. Not here to take anything from you.” He held up his palms in surrender to Jace as a joke.

Carter had never really wanted to run the ranch, but after his parents’ passing, he didn’t have it in him to get rid of it. The ranch was completely self-sufficient, so he’d let Jace manage it all with an accountant and only intervened when they couldn’t agree.

“Someday you might,” Jace told him.

“I doubt it. I don’t know why I keep it running, but it gives you something to do.” He finished with a joke, letting Jace know he didn’t want the heavy conversation behind the real reason.

Jace shook his head at him. “You’ll change your mind one day. Settle back down again and get that military and travel bug out of your system.”

Carter grunted a response.

“Well.” Jace took his hat off and ran a rag over his forehead, wiping sweat away. “I think there’s something here for you. But I know a friend whose son is starting a security company, and I thought you might be interested in keeping busy.” He held out a folded piece of paper.

“What’s this?” Carter took it.

“It’s his number. Name’s Matt, and he’s been looking for someone to help him out on the physical security side. I told him you’d be in touch.” Jace turned and walked away.

Carter unfolded the paper and looked down at the scribbled name and number. Part of him rankled at Jace finding him a job and assuming that he’d just go with it. The other part of him was curious enough to make the call.

While the battle was fought inside himself about what to do, Carter carried his bags to his bedroom and headed back outside. One thing he always missed about being gone was riding. There’d been few chances in the military to ride a horse and none of them had interested him.

Unsure of his future and feeling more at sea than he wanted to deal with, Carter headed outside and saddled his favorite horse for a long trail ride. Riding always eased his mood and gave him time to be with his thoughts while Granger, his chestnut gelding, kept him company.

There was something about the company of an animal that soothed his soul. Carter could rant, talk, have a one-sided conversation with any animal that was willing to be near him and get to some sort of resolution.

The open air and not having to think about where he was going helped. Up on a good horse that knew his way around, Carter didn’t need to steer or pay full attention to the direction they headed. Granger would let him have his thoughts and just take him around.

When Carter had enough of that, he’d give Granger a chance to stretch his legs and run. They were both content to do either.

“What do you think?” he asked Granger. “Should I call this guy? Is it too close to the reasons I left?”

Granger snorted, and Carter chuckled at the response.

“That wasn’t very helpful, you know? I’m looking for guidance, and you just tell me to figure it out myself.” Carter leaned forward and stroked Granger’s neck.

They made their way to the big pond, and Carter hopped off the saddle, letting Granger graze for a bit while he skipped rocks across the water. The dilemma was one of his own making, and it was tearing at him like he’d learned about the opportunity months ago, not an hour.

“I should at least see what it’s about,” Carter admitted to himself. “Call this guy and see if it’s even a real thing and what he’s looking for.”

He skipped a few more rocks, counting in his head how many times each skipped across the water. Satisfied that he had a next step if not a decision made, he climbed back on Granger and headed back to the house.

When he returned, he took his time giving Granger a good grooming and a few extra treats for being a good listener. With heavy thoughts, he walked back to the house and pulled out his phone and called the number.

“This is Matt,” said the strong voice on the other end.

“Hello. Umm.” Shit. He didn’t know what to say. “I got your number from my foreman, Jace. He said you were looking for some help with a security firm?”

“Who’s this?” Matt asked.

“Sorry, my name is Carter Johns.” Probably should have led with that.

“Carter.” Matt drew his name out while he heard typing through the phone. “Oh, yes. I remember now. It’s been a minute since I was told about you, sorry. What can I do for you?”

“Jace mentioned that you might be looking for some help? I don’t know for what, but I just got out of the military and thought I’d at least see what the opportunity was, if only to appease Jace.” There, that wasn’t eager, just calm and questioning.

“Well, I’m looking to find someone to help train a full team and get them on the ground. They’d work cases themselves, but I don’t expect a lot of combat.” Matt chuckled. “I’m the computer guy here, cyber crimes and things like that. Ryker is the silent partner and financial backer. Other than that, we don’t have anyone to handle the bodyguard, physical side of things yet.”

Carter thought that over for a minute before he responded. “I’ve never been a bodyguard before.”

“Have you not? I know you’ve done a lot of missions ‘protecting assets,’ and this is less than that.”

“How do you know that?” Carter’s body went rigid, immediately on edge.

“I ran a background on you before giving out my number. I didn’t need someone that wasn’t going to be able to do what we needed. I may not be able to see everything, but I can see enough.”

“Hmmph.” He wasn’t impressed.

“Anyway, we can get you out here at any time to discuss details and show you the cases we have. It’s things like stalkers and high-profile targets that need extra security that knows to be discreet.”

“Yeah,” Carter dragged out. “I’m not sure this is what I’m looking to do.” He wasn’t sure this was anything at all like what he wanted, even if he didn’t know what that was.

Matt sighed. “Let me send some details over on a case I’d like to have you on if you do choose to hear us out. Names will be redacted and things like that unless you want to sign an NDA first.”

Curiosity got the best of him. “I’ll sign. Send it over.”

“Done.

“If you’re on board with it, we can get you out here and see what we can do about getting you on the team. I’ll send pay details and contracts over with it after you send the NDA back. I think you’d be a good fit for what we need.”

“Would it just be jumping from client to client?” Carter asked.

“For the most part, yes. If you’re successful on the first case, we would ideally like you to do more training than actual work. We could set up details on that when we get to that point. It could be done anywhere, doesn’t have to be in the city, probably best if it’s not.”

He didn’t know what to say.

“You should have the NDA in your inbox now, and once you send it back, I’ll send everything over.”

Carter didn’t bother to ask where he’d gotten his email from. This Matt guy already had too much information.

“What’s the name of your company?” Carter would do his own research.

“Guardian Legion Security.”

“Thanks. I’ll let you know.”

“Sounds good.”

They ended the call, and Carter opened his laptop, finding the NDA there like he’d said. He took a minute to read it over, and finding nothing absurd, he signed it and sent it back.

While waiting for the follow-up email, Carter ran a quick internet search on the company. He found the surface-level information he was looking for, including information about Ryker and Matt. It all seemed legit, and after searching the two owners, he found nothing out of place.

He did note that there’d been a case a while back with very few articles written on it—Ryker had killed someone that had broken into his girlfriend’s house. He’d been cleared, and it was the only red flag he’d found. Nothing else popped up.

Carter checked his email again and found the information that Matt had promised. He whistled to the empty room in shock when he saw the pay they were offering. It was more than double his military pay and that was just the base. If the case he worked had any action, then he’d be compensated. Full benefits were included and all that.

The more he read, the more tempted he was, but it felt too good to be true at this point. Carter opened the case file and gave it a read.

There was a girl whose father was attempting to mess with her life and marry her off. They didn’t know who, but it was related to the case where Ryker’s girlfriend’s stalker had been killed. It seemed this was personal.

It was odd that they’d hire him without knowing him and put him on a case that was so personal. Beyond that, the girl was attending college and didn’t want a bodyguard, so his job would be to blend in as much as possible until the threat was deemed cleared.

Matt had sent over a lot of other files relating to the case, including what they knew about the man behind it all who was no longer alive. It could be an easy start, so maybe that was why he’d been assigned this?

Carter stood and went to the kitchen, making himself a sandwich while he thought it over. It only took a few minutes to make and eat it before he returned to his computer and sent an email back to Matt.

Let’s chat.