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“Your mom’s gone, too?”
“Yes, about seven years ago. Cancer.”
“We’ve both lost a lot.”
“Yeah.” Hoping to dispel the grim silence, Ash placed two plates loaded with eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, and biscuits on the table. “Maybe this’ll warm you up.”
“Oh my.” Her eyes wide, she shook her head. “I’ll never be able to eat all of this.”
“Eat what you can.”
Suddenly ravenous himself, Ash sat down and dug in. After a few moments, he looked up, pleased to see that she’d done a decent job on her own plate.
Catching his eye, she grinned. “I’ve never eaten that much at one sitting. It was delicious. Thank you.” She sat back in her chair with a pleasure-filled sigh. “And I think I’ve finally warmed up, too. Not sure I’ve ever been that cold.”
“It can get dangerous out there. Best not to go out there without telling someone.”
“Did you grow up in Montana?”
“No. Little town in Wisconsin. We got plenty of snow there, too, but I like the combination of the mountains and snow.”
“Kate told me that you’re an avid skier.”
“Used to be. Haven’t had the chance in a while.”
“OZ doesn’t have much downtime, does it?”
“Yes and no. We’re not on ops every day but enough so that finding time to go on an extended trip isn’t easy.”
“The other day, during our initial meeting about the Lang op, you said something about special projects. What does that mean? Do your people work ops on their own?”
“Sometimes. They have a lot of leeway, so if they see something they feel needs attention, they’re free to do so. Our main priority when we set up OZ was the autonomy of each individual. When we have a major mission, like the Lang op, everyone drops what they’re doing. Once this is over, they’ll go back to their individual projects. If they need a team member or the entire team to step in and help, that’s what we do.”
“That takes a lot of trust.”
Taking one last bite of his meal, Ash took a long swallow of coffee before he pondered her statement out loud. “We’re all in this together. Just because I’m team leader doesn’t mean my opinion is more important than anyone else’s. I took on the task of leading OZ because I had the contacts, but any one of the team is fully capable of running an op.”
“How did you get the contacts?”
“Kate was instrumental at the beginning. She helped me make some connections. From there, it grew.”
“I know you’ve been friends with Xavier, Liam, Gideon, and Sean for a long time, but how did Eve, Serena, and Jazz come to OZ?”
“Jazz was like you—one of Kate’s recommendations. Eve and Gideon have known each other for years. They were partners in a similar line of work. When Gideon came on, he brought Eve with him.
“Serena was working for the State Department when she started dating Sean. When OZ started up, he brought her over.”
“And Hawke…you lost him a few years back? Was that on an op?”
“Yes.” Since discussing that particular op and what had happened between Hawke and his wife, Olivia, was definitely on a need-to-know basis, Ash stood and began to clear the table.
“I’m sorry you lost your friend.”
“I am, too.”
“I can clean up. It’s the least I can do after that delicious meal.”
Appreciating the out, Ash nodded. “Thanks. I’ve got some work to do in my office. Once you’re finished, we can review some notes Gideon sent over.”