wouldn’t think so, but many of our candidates have the same professional paranoia as you, Mr. Valentine. Due to the nature of the situation, I’m simply unable to disclose much more than I’ve told you before you sign. Many otherwise promising candidates have balked at the lack of information.”
I chewed on that for a moment. It was disquieting, to be sure, but I had a feeling there was more to it than that. “I see. Am I to assume that this will be a combat operation?”
“If all goes well,” Gordon said, “the combat will be minimal. We’re trying something new in our area of operations. You’ll be trained in mission-specific skills above and beyond door-kicking and trigger-pulling. As I said, the utmost discretion is required. I’m also required to inform you that while you’re away, you’ll only have minimal contact with loved ones back home. We regret this, but security is necessary until the operation is completed.”
“What kind of time frame are we looking at here?” I asked.
“Hopefully, we’ll have everyone home by Christmas. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard that before, so I’m not going to mince words. The contract is for an undetermined period of time not to exceed three years. You’re ours until the mission is over, basically. Obviously, at the pay rate we’re offering, it’s in our best interest to accomplish the mission as soon as possible.” Gordon let out a convincing chuckle at his own joke.
“Tailor told me he got a signing bonus.”
“Ah, yes!” Gordon said, retrieving another manila envelope from his desk. He opened it and placed a piece of paper in front of me. It was a standard government direct-deposit form. “If you’ll fill this out,” he said, “we should have that in your bank account in three to five business days.”
“And . . . you’re sure there won’t be any problems with the IRS? This is all going to my regular checking account with the Las Vegas Federal Credit Union and I’m not going to have the tax man breathing down my neck?”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Valentine,” Gordon said, grinning. “We’re bigger than the tax man.” That sounded more ominous than promising. I realized then that the big guy, Anders, was still standing in the corner behind Gordon and hadn’t said a word the entire time. He observed me with a bored look on his face, but I didn’t doubt that he’d made a plan to kill me the moment I walked in the door. These guys undoubtedly knew that I had a concealed-firearm permit, but they hadn’t said anything about it.
“Who, exactly, is we ?” I asked, looking over the contract Gordon had pushed in front of me. It was full of vague legalese and only referred to Gordon’s organization as the party of the first part.
Gordon grinned. “I’m afraid you’ll have to sign to get filled in on all of that, Mr. Valentine,” he said and set an ornate pen down in front of me. “All I can say until then is that you’ll be serving the best interests of the United States and will be protecting your country from enemies foreign and domestic.”
I picked up the silver pen. It had XII, the Roman numeral for the number twelve, engraved on it. I wondered what it meant. I took a deep breath and signed the document. Gordon smiled.
“I guess I’ll have to call my boss and tell him I’m not coming in Monday,” I said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Gordon answered. “We’ll take care of everything. You can take the direct-deposit form with you if you don’t have your bank routing number available right now. Within forty-eight hours, you should receive a packet with everything you need to know. You’ll be deploying within two weeks.”
“Deploying where?” I asked, handing him back his pen.
“Everything will be in the packet,” he said. “Until then, take some time to get your affairs in order. You’ll likely be out of the United States for an extended period of time.” Gordon stuck his hand out. I hesitated, then took it. He
I chewed on that for a moment. It was disquieting, to be sure, but I had a feeling there was more to it than that. “I see. Am I to assume that this will be a combat operation?”
“If all goes well,” Gordon said, “the combat will be minimal. We’re trying something new in our area of operations. You’ll be trained in mission-specific skills above and beyond door-kicking and trigger-pulling. As I said, the utmost discretion is required. I’m also required to inform you that while you’re away, you’ll only have minimal contact with loved ones back home. We regret this, but security is necessary until the operation is completed.”
“What kind of time frame are we looking at here?” I asked.
“Hopefully, we’ll have everyone home by Christmas. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard that before, so I’m not going to mince words. The contract is for an undetermined period of time not to exceed three years. You’re ours until the mission is over, basically. Obviously, at the pay rate we’re offering, it’s in our best interest to accomplish the mission as soon as possible.” Gordon let out a convincing chuckle at his own joke.
“Tailor told me he got a signing bonus.”
“Ah, yes!” Gordon said, retrieving another manila envelope from his desk. He opened it and placed a piece of paper in front of me. It was a standard government direct-deposit form. “If you’ll fill this out,” he said, “we should have that in your bank account in three to five business days.”
“And . . . you’re sure there won’t be any problems with the IRS? This is all going to my regular checking account with the Las Vegas Federal Credit Union and I’m not going to have the tax man breathing down my neck?”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Valentine,” Gordon said, grinning. “We’re bigger than the tax man.” That sounded more ominous than promising. I realized then that the big guy, Anders, was still standing in the corner behind Gordon and hadn’t said a word the entire time. He observed me with a bored look on his face, but I didn’t doubt that he’d made a plan to kill me the moment I walked in the door. These guys undoubtedly knew that I had a concealed-firearm permit, but they hadn’t said anything about it.
“Who, exactly, is we ?” I asked, looking over the contract Gordon had pushed in front of me. It was full of vague legalese and only referred to Gordon’s organization as the party of the first part.
Gordon grinned. “I’m afraid you’ll have to sign to get filled in on all of that, Mr. Valentine,” he said and set an ornate pen down in front of me. “All I can say until then is that you’ll be serving the best interests of the United States and will be protecting your country from enemies foreign and domestic.”
I picked up the silver pen. It had XII, the Roman numeral for the number twelve, engraved on it. I wondered what it meant. I took a deep breath and signed the document. Gordon smiled.
“I guess I’ll have to call my boss and tell him I’m not coming in Monday,” I said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Gordon answered. “We’ll take care of everything. You can take the direct-deposit form with you if you don’t have your bank routing number available right now. Within forty-eight hours, you should receive a packet with everything you need to know. You’ll be deploying within two weeks.”
“Deploying where?” I asked, handing him back his pen.
“Everything will be in the packet,” he said. “Until then, take some time to get your affairs in order. You’ll likely be out of the United States for an extended period of time.” Gordon stuck his hand out. I hesitated, then took it. He
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