Prologue

Kat grinned when she opened the door to see Delta standing there with Rebecca. "Now, don't tell me," she greeted them. "You need an ankle joint."

Delta smiled broadly, genuinely happy to see her, and beginning to allow himself to feel the effects of the past several days.

Kat continued. "You may be surprised to hear that I have some parts for you." Then she looked over at Rebecca, smiled, and nodded. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Kat."

"Hi," Rebecca replied shyly.

Kat studied the pretty woman, who looked as if her life had been flipped upside down. Yet somehow she'd landed upright. "Rough couple days, huh?" she asked Rebecca.

"You're not kidding," she murmured. "Yet it seems that all good things end well."

"And that's what we count on." Kat nodded and smiled as she eyed Rebecca. "I also hear that you've done some work on prosthetics."

"Yes, but on animals though," she clarified. "So I don't know how helpful that would be to you."

"Are you kidding? It's already helpful, especially if you know your way around a wrench, a screwdriver, a hammer drill, and a few other tools."

"Yeah, I do," she said. "All very necessary on the electronic circuit board side of things."

"Good," Kat declared, with a huge smile. "Are you looking for a job or just looking to take a holiday?"

"Well, a holiday for a little bit would be nice," Rebecca replied, "and I still have to get some of my stuff moved out."

"We can just hire a company for that," Kat noted, with a wave of her hand. "There are people in the world who do that sort of thing. We've got other things to do." She heard her husband coming to join them and looked over at Badger, a big smile on her face.

Badger walked up, introduced himself to Rebecca, and smiled. "How you doing there, Delta?"

"I'm doing great," he stated, as he wrapped an arm around Rebecca's shoulders. "If I'd realized this is the kind of shit you guys were handling—"

"You would have run in the opposite direction," Badger stated.

Delta laughed. "I might have run, but only because I wouldn't have understood." He shook his head. "Now I understand, and that's a whole different story." He leaned over and kissed Rebecca hard on the cheek. "This would have made any trip perfect."

Badger chuckled, looked over at Kat, and teased, "So, I guess you got another successful matchmaking feather in your cap. What will you do now?"

"Yep, I did, and I already know who I have in mind for the next job. But first things first." She looked over at Rebecca and offered, "Why don't you come into the office tomorrow, and we'll see if it's a match."

Badger's gaze lit with interest. "You guys think you can work together?"

Rebecca smiled. "I'm game, if Kat's game. All I've heard about is this ankle joint of Delta's."

That set Kat off into giggles again. Badger just shook his head. "I swear to God, these two? All they deal with is that ankle."

"But I was thinking blue steel would be cool, maybe with some filigree metal all through it," Rebecca suggested. "That would be awesome."

At that, Badger looked at her with interest.

Kat's gaze lit up, and she nodded. "I really would like to get more artistic with some of this. That would be amazing." And, with that, the two women headed off to have a chat.

Badger called out to his wife, and Kat turned and looked at him. He asked her, "What about the next one?"

"That's all right," she said. "I'll get there. I already have Conall tagged for it."

He stopped, his hands on his hips, and asked, "Why him, for crying out loud?"

She smiled. "Because he'd be perfect for this next one." And, with that, Kat turned and walked into the kitchen, her arm wrapped around Rebecca, as they talked about ankle joints.

Badger turned to face Delta, shaking his head. "Well?"

"Yeah, well," he replied, with a knowing smile. "Outside of an ankle joint, I could really use a beer."

Badger chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder. "Out to the pool then. That's where the beer and the relaxation happens," he declared. "That was a job well done, by the way. Now, if only Kat wasn't thinking about Conall for the next one."

"Why is that?"

"Because he's big, a little on the rougher-built side. Yet he's all heart and a big marshmallow. If it's a bad case, he's bound to go to pieces."

Delta frowned at him. "I think you're considering that from the wrong angle. If it goes bad, his heart will hurt, and then he'll move on, stronger and better than ever. But that marshmallow? We need guys like that. Most of the world is too scared and too ashamed to show any emotions. Guys like Conall, they're all emotion, but they're also really good men to have behind you."

Badger nodded. "Agreed. So Kat was right,… once again."