The Right Guard (The Allegiance Series, Book 1)

“It’s just the sudden change and that man shot in the carriage house, and . . .” her voice trailed off, “It is all pretty surreal. Guess I’m a small town girl after all.” Then she somberly looked up into his face. “Is this your life? Really?”

“No, Jill. Most of it is waiting, working with analytics, solitary, little action, training . . . lonely. Guarding some formless gate and unsure that your sacrifice will ever be appreciated, pride in skilled teamwork that you were part of something that helped a bigger, worthwhile cause—a cause that only a handful of grateful people will ever know or care about but ultimately could affect an entire nation or the world.” He smiled back at her quietly knowing that it also included a skillfully developed and uncanny trained ability to understand in-depth, any multi-leveled world around you and how it really worked and didn’t, and how you move in and out of it. But for now, that would go unsaid. All he could offer up was, “I know. I signed up for it. You didn’t.” He paused and sighed. “Put all that on a shelf for a while. We’ll soon create our own normalcy. I’m not running anywhere this time.”