The rest of Christmas day passed in a blur.
The lunch with the Lamar family had been a wonderful affair, with delicious food, and genuinely pleasant company.
Since they’d allowed Gregor to buy them a property just half a mile from where his own house was being rebuilt, Tulli had become close friends with Charlie’s mom as the couple had stepped in to help care for Mischa for a few hours a day, so she could spend time with Joel. Charlie’s dad was now well-recovered, and having Joel and Mischa around, was a good way to keep him busy, without overstretching him.
The two families had exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve, so all that was left for them to do was to eat and watch Joel and Mischa kid around. From the silence and screaming fits of a few months ago, this loud excitable childlike version of her sister was a huge departure, and nobody could be sure if Mischa would ever move beyond this childlike state she’d reverted to.
But if the place she’d reached was one of happiness, especially with her best friend Joel always at her side, should they push for more, when it could come with all those horrendous memories?
As for Charlie and Lara, after the Lucky Vega fiasco, and Charlie thinking Lara had died, Lara had been left with little opportunity to avoid the guy as he became her own personal shadow.
Thankfully, though, as Tulli had predicted, her sister was more than interested in Charlie, and it just took plenty of patience and TLC from Charlie to break down all of Lara’s barriers.
Tulli had the feeling it was only going to be a matter of time before wedding bells would be ringing for them as well.
“What are you thinking?” Gregor’s quiet voice brought her out of her thoughts.
“I was just thinking that after Sophia and Alex marry, Charlie and Lara will be the next ones.” Tulli smiled as she leaned against her husband’s shoulder, watching his daughter show off her engagement ring.
The room seemed to be filled with loving couples, screaming kids, and new babies. Babies everywhere you looked!
Only poor Aisha was still pregnant, and she looked about ready to pop! Bella, Suzy, Abbey, and Sara were all carrying around new-borns, and they were so gorgeous.
Tulli was trying to resist snagging one of the little bundles for a cuddle, but it was getting harder.
Gregor had been watching her, and she knew he’d guessed that she was feeling broody. He’d just smiled, and inside her she felt a warm glow.
Not today, but maybe soon… if she was lucky.
“Have you got a minute?” Tuck smiled down at the couple. “There’s someone I’d like you both to meet.”
Tulli followed Gregor along the hallway of Tuck’s new mansion, amazed that they’d managed to get the place rebuilt, decorated, and furnished in under three months.
Gregor’s new place was almost up, and it did have a roof, but beyond choosing a kitchen, they hadn’t decided much about the interior yet, let alone picked out any furniture.
In the meantime, they were living in a rented place, just around the corner from Tuck.
As they stepped into Tuck’s office, they saw JT and his wife, along with Danny and Hannah talking to a man in his fifties.
Candy smiled at them as they walked in and led them over to meet the newcomer.
“Gregor, Tulli, I’d like you to meet an old friend of ours from London.” JT smiled. “David Roan has recently retired from the police force, where he was most recently the Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police. He’s just been head-hunted to lead a joint agency task force working against organised crime in Europe and Russia with links to the US.”
Gregor shook the man’s hand, and Tulli smiled shyly, noticing how relaxed the man was in the company of the Alpha-Stalwart family.
“Very interesting work you’re getting into.” Gregor nodded. “And sadly, very prolific. Which area were you looking to get into, exactly.”
“We’re setting up a multi-level, multi-country task force, targeting primarily smuggling.” The former policeman explained. “It’s mostly arms or drug smuggling, but the group we’re targeting also dabble in people trafficking. We already have a number of leads to some upcoming shipments moving women and girls out of Russia.”
Tulli watched Gregor’s eyes light up in a mixture of anger and interest.
“It’s good to know people are actually trying to do something to stop this sort of thing.” Gregor nodded.
“That’s the reason I’m here actually.” David looked around him. “I’ve got Whitehall’s backing to recruit a team from outside of normal channels. In other words, not currently serving police or military personnel.”
Gregor looked at Tuck and JT and nodded. It was obvious why David would look to the two men for that sort of role.
“The idea is that we’re going to set up a company to act as a front, to make it easier to move men and supplies in and out of the region.” JT explained. “But obviously, as we’re dealing with Russians, it’s a bit difficult for us to go in without speaking the language.”
Tulli glanced at her husband and saw he was already interested.
“What are you looking for?” Gregor asked.
“We’re looking for a business partner.” JT said simply. “We’ll actually have to put some of our own money into this if it’s to appear legitimate, but more than money, we need to put together a tactical unit to deal with all the tech side, people who have the relevant skills. At the moment, we’ve got Abbey, Ellen, and Hannah. Abbey for her photographic memory, Ellen because she speaks a dozen languages, and Hannah because she’ll whine like a spoiled brat if we don’t let her join in.”
Tulli glanced at Hannah who was grinning, at the same time as she was giving JT a very clear and obvious middle finger salute.
“Depending on the type of smuggling we’re dealing with, we’ve also got Drew on standby. If we’re involved in anything that involves human trafficking, he will be invaluable for his counselling skills.” JT added. “Sara would have been perfect to involve for her medical background, but I definitely think she’s going to have her hands full for a while with the baby, so we might have to think of another alternative. I wouldn’t even dare suggest it to her at the moment, what with Marcus being uber-protective of her right now. He’s still not fully recovered from watching Tuck’s house explode!”
“We also need half a dozen men to put into this as well. Two from each of our companies to be exact.” Tuck continued. “We’ve decided against going with our directors, as they need to be unconnected with Stalwart or Alpha company, plus they’re all married with kids now.”
“We have two men from our UK company who joined us about two years ago.” JT explained. “Logan and Evan came from Charlie and Delta companies, which succeeded Alpha and Bravo companies when they stood down the names. They’re trained to a very high standard in all aspects of military ops, but thankfully they’ve been out long enough to let their hair grow out, so they don’t still look like they’re enlisted.”
“I have two men who were due to join Stalwart in January when they left the Marines, but thanks to the co-operation of General Nichol, they’ve been released early.” Tuck added. “Don Hillwood and Kellen Davis were part of Alex’s team when they went in to rescue Sophia. They’re keen to get involved.”
“Do you need me?” Gregor frowned.
“We’ll need you for the business side, even if it is only a cover.” JT admitted. “We were also hoping you’d let us borrow Kris and Yuri, as they speak Russian and look like they could pass for Russian mafia. Due to the nature of their work for you, they’ve not been named in any of your company websites, nor do either of them currently have a social media presence that could help identify them. They’d be perfect.”
Gregor grinned.
“I’d have to ask them, of course, but I’m sure they’d love to get involved.” Gregor admitted. “And they’d laugh their heads off at the ‘Russian mafia’ tag.”
“So, you’re in?” David asked, obviously wanting to be sure.
Gregor looked at Tulli, and she nodded. How could she say no with her background?
“If we could just stop one gun or drugs shipment, or one shipment of trafficked women, I’d be satisfied.” Gregor nodded. “I’m in.”
“We’re both in.” Tulli corrected him. “I don’t know how I can help, but I’d like to, if at all possible.”
“And if you’d like me to, I’ll speak to Sophia about being your medical back-up until Sara’s ready to be involved.” Gregor suggested. “She’d probably jump at the chance.”
Tuck turned to David and grinned.
“It looks like we have ourselves a team.” He confirmed. “Does this operation have a name yet?”
David rolled his eyes.
“At the moment, it’s loosely been given the name of Operation Guardian Angel.” He admitted. “It’s a bit corny.”
“No, I like it.” Hannah nodded, then grinned. “Not that anyone could ever call any of our guys ‘Angels’!”
“Then I guess we’ll have to call them ‘The Guardians’ then, won’t we?” Candy grinned.
Tuck reached for the bourbon bottle on the tray and poured a shot for everyone in the room.
When everyone held a tumbler, he raised his glass and turned to his friends, his hand raised.
“To the Guardians! Long may they kick ass!”
“The Guardians!”
The End
Don’t go just yet….!