Page 189 of Nyx

"Stick with it," Thumper tells him. "Safety for our members is Kincaid's number one concern."

"You have to make sure you can handle business when you're backed into a corner," I add.

Signal looks up from his work, and I can imagine what he thinks I mean.

Handling business for me has always ended with the attacker on the ground, blood seeping out of a bullet wound to the head.

I don't know that a man who has taken an oath to do no harm would choose that as his first offensive move, and not being able to pull the trigger when it's needed may end badly for him.

"I don't imagine I'm going to be on the first wave of entry with any mission I'm selected to participate in," he says, pulling his eyes from me and directing them back to the wall.

"Never know," Thumper says.

"Sometimes it's all-hands-on deck. The best laid plans still have the potential to go sideways," Legend adds.

Silence swirls around the room, the words making me think back to numerous times when shit didn't go the way we had expected it to, and we had to improvise.

"I imagine it's no different from when you've been in surgery, and something went wrong," Thumper continues. "Just have to think on your feet, only in a physical way rather than an intellectual way."

"I was wrong about this one," Legend says from inside the closet as he holds out the piece of sheetrock I just cut. "Can you shave half an inch off this side?"

"Sure," I tell him and take the piece back to the living room.

"Do they ever have structured plans?" Signal asks as I re-enter the room.

"Not really," Legend answers. "I mean, last night was about as structured as they get."

"And y'all rarely ever do anything on your own?" Signal questions.

Thumper looks at the man as if considering the questions.

"We do," he says.

"Like what?" Signal counters.

Thumper's brow scrunches as he thinks, but then a slow smile spreads across his face.

Signal catches on, laughing.

"Other than that, I mean."

Legend climbs down off the ladder and steps out of the closet.

"I like being able to socialize with everyone," he says.

"I'm not complaining," Signal assures the group. "It just takes some getting used to."

"Is the noise keeping you up?" Thumper asks, concern in his voice.

"Not at all," Signal assures him. "I was only asking because some of the guys were talking about going into town to the bar. I didn't know if something was going on tonight. I don't want it to look like I don't want to be a part of things."

"No one is going to question your loyalty and commitment because you take a break from the group to have a little time of your own," Legend assures him. "Are some of the other guys struggling?"

This conversation makes me wonder how many of the guys have had about me when I wasn't around. I'm not exactly annoyed because there seems to be genuine concern that someone might not feel comfortable on the team, and that is no one's intention.

I don't know if I would've felt the same way a few weeks ago, after just arriving. So many things have changed for me recently, including how I view certain situations. This being one of them.

"I don't know that all of them have embraced this one big family idea that Cerberus seems to be fond of," Signal says, but he doesn't elaborate or give names of who might be struggling.