Page 122 of The ARC Unit: Breach

Jackal pointed toward me. “See? Affection.”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

“Too late. I already have.”

He started toward the couch and reached down for his pack on the way.

Bear’s voice came from behind him. “Leave it.”

Jackal kept reaching.

Viper caught the top handle before his fingers did and lifted the bag out of reach with no visible effort. Jackal straightened too quickly, then tried to disguise the grimace that followed by glaring at him.

“Give me my shit.”

“No.”

“You’re not my father.”

Viper carried the pack toward the couch. “Good. You’d be exhausting.”

Jackal looked around for support and found none. Even Hawk had come downstairs and taken a seat near the end of the table with the expression of someone prepared to watch the argument for as long as it lasted.

Bear came out of the kitchen with a glass of water. “Sit down before you pull something and make me take you back.”

“You people became incredibly controlling after I got stabbed.”

“You got stabbed because you grabbed a man with a knife,” Raven said.

Jackal accepted the water from Bear. “I grabbed a man before I knew he had a knife. Very different professional decision, computer boy.”

Raven rolled his eyes and Jackal lowered himself onto the couch with one hand pressed briefly against his side. The movement was careful enough to end the argument without Bear needing to say anything else.

Wolf came in from the garage while Jackal was still settling against the cushions. He stopped when he saw him.

Jackal lifted the water in greeting. “Your favorite employee has returned, boss.”

Wolf gave him a quick once-over, taking in the loose shirt and the way he kept his left elbow away from his body. “You cleared to be here?”

“Define cleared.”

Bear answered from the kitchen. “Discharged with restrictions.”

“Then follow them,” Wolf said.

Jackal leaned his head back against the couch. “I was hoping getting stabbed would make you nicer.”

“Didn’t work.”

“Waste of a perfectly good scar.”

Wolf’s attention stayed on him for another moment before he looked toward Raven.

“Varga.”

Wolf’s contribution to the welcome-home ceremony ended there, although I noticed that his first question had been whether Jackal was medically cleared.

Raven rotated the laptop so Wolf could see the work we had done while Bear started making something in the kitchen that smelled much better than anything the hospital had served. “German investigators interviewed him again this morning. He still claims he handled paperwork and transport coordination, nothing else. They showed him the Stuttgart photograph.”