One More Kiss by Katherine Garbera

Alysse and moved on?
    “Can I help you, sir?”
    “I’m Jay Michener, I have an appointment this morning with Lucien DuPoin.”
    “I’ll let Lucien know. Please have a seat over there. Can I get you anything to drink?”
    “I’m good,” Jay said. He moved toward the guest chairs but they were lined up against the glass windows and there was no way he was sitting with his back to the street. Didn’t matter where he was, he couldn’t switch off his instincts.
    Instead he walked to an interior wall that had the Company B logo on it and their mission statement—Securing What’s Important to You.
    Vague, Jay thought. No clue as to what the company actually did, which was exactly as it should be.
    “Jay, buddy,” Lucien DuPoin greeted him.
    Lucien was six feet tall, with more muscles than seemed humanly possible. His head was shaved and he wore a mustache that Jay knew hid a scar on his upper lip.
    Lucien held out his hand to Jay. Jay took the hand and leaned in to bump chests with Lucien. They’d served together on Jay’s third tour. “What’s up?”
    “Not much. Glad to see your ugly mug,” Lucien replied. “How’d your plans go last night?”
    “Not as I’d expected.”
    “What do you think of the place?” Lucien asked.
    “Cushy setup you have here. Not bad for a guy from the First,” Jay said. They’d served together in the First Recon Battalion in 2006.
    “You have no idea,” Lucien said. “Come on back and I’ll show you what we’re all about.”
    Jay followed his friend down the corridor to a high-tech, windowless conference room. Jay heard the solid thump of a bulletproof door closing behind him. There was a video wall along the right side of the room, and on the left, a huge Company B logo was displayed.
    “Have a seat,” Lucien said, gesturing to the leather armchairs around the table.
    Jay sat down. He took his sunglasses off and set them on the table in front of him.
    “Let me tell you a little about what we do and what we can offer you,” Lucien said.
    “Who are ‘we’?”
    “Myself and four other guys—two of them were Army Rangers—you met them yesterday at the bar, one was a SEAL and the other is ex-CIA. We are a unique private security force and we operate as a team or unit the way we would in the Corps. That much would be the same. We want you to be a sniper but you won’t be working with a scout—we don’t have the staff for that.”
    “What kind of missions are you taking?”
    “High-risk, high-pay missions from the private sector.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes, usually we protect or rescue ordinary citizens when our government can’t go in and do so. The families or companies have the money to afford us,” Lucien said.
    “Like who?”
    “Usually executives kidnapped in South America or kids who go missing or land in trouble. We’ve had a few jobs that involved the DEA and Border Patrol, but to be honest I think we’ve all agreed those aren’t our favorites.”
    Jay chuckled. “I can understand that.”
    “Your role, if you choose to join us, would be to use the skills you have now, mainly as a marksman,” Lucien explained.
    Jay was one of the top-rated marksmen in the world.
    “Okay. I’d be the sniper. How often do you need one?” Jay asked. Rescue missions didn’t always require a man with his skills.
    “More often than you’d guess,” Lucien said. “T-bone, the SEAL, is good with long-range shots, but he’s not you. And we need him in other roles. You’d provide expert cover. If you decide to come on board you’d be paid a monthly salary plus a bonus based on the danger factor of the mission.”
    The amount that Lucien mentioned was eye-opening; Jay had had no idea his skills with a weapon were worth that much. But he was looking for a change in lifestyle, not just his income bracket. “How often would I be gone? And what would I do when we aren’t on a mission?”
    Lucien leaned back in his chair. “We monitor security and provide