Jason (Kings of Guardian #4) Read Free Page B

free?” He directed his question to Sonya. Jason knew who really had control of his day, and it wasn’t him. It was the fiery-tempered blonde who kept him on his toes and on time for all his meetings.
    “As a bird. This week is for you to get up to speed on things, then you hit the hyper-speed button and start shadowing Gabriel.”
    Jared laughed and called over his shoulder as he exited. “Free as a bird? I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ll be here at 12:30.”
    Jason grabbed his cup and took a pull on his perfectly prepared coffee. He’d have to admit he missed Sonya taking care of him. Jason lost his jacket and unfastened his cufflinks. A double roll of his shirt sleeves up his forearms and he settled on his chair.
    “Alright woman, lay it on me.”
    “Okay. I figured the best way to work through the information would be to categorize the needed actions. The far right stack are current operations, the middle are future endeavors and the left is clean-up, things that Gabriel would like for you to go through, tie up or recommend action on.”
    Jason looked at the neat piles of folders. Not that many. He could plow through most of them today.
    As if reading his mind, Sonya chuckled before she said, “Oh no, this is just the start. My desk is covered a foot deep in these folders. I’ll bring them in as I sort them. You, my dearest boss, are going to be up to your very muscled neck in paperwork.”
    Jason had no doubt. “Well then, milady, it appears we’ll need more coffee.”
     
    *
     
    The fluorescent light glared brightly off the papers on his desk. For six straight days, he’d worked through the financial, organizational and management aspects of Guardian Security. Half of what he read he already knew. The other fifty percent? Holy hell. The magnitude and reach of Gabriel’s mantle had figuratively floored Jason more than once. His ‘free as a bird’ week had morphed into working lunches and dinners with section chiefs from human resources, IT, finance, domestic and cyber security, international operations and secure briefings on clandestine operations. But through it all, Sonya ensured he had two hours every morning for his workout, and she made sure he left the office in the evenings in time to make it to his NA meetings. He’d promised his ward, Christian, that he’d spend some time with him tomorrow, so tonight he was burning the midnight oil. He like the kid. Kid, hell, the guy was twenty-one, pursuing his degree at Georgetown and getting his shit together. Stronger than Jason would have given him credit for, the young man had definitely put the time and energy into putting his horrible past behind him. Working late so he could hang out with Christian? That was a no-brainer.
    Only three folders remained in the ‘clean-up’ stack. Undoubtedly, Gabriel was testing his understanding and exposing him to the enormity of his new station with the documents. In reality, Jason embraced the challenge and realized just how much he missed the business. Yet seeing an end to the tidal wave of folders made him damn near giddy. Thank God, he’d be able to move on to working with Gabriel. With dogged determination, Jason dictated briefs for each of the remaining situations held between the dark brown pressboard folders. He left voicemails and dictation instructing Sonya how to build responses based on his recommended courses of action, pitfalls to avoid, concerns on the information provided, requisitions for additional resources, or flat-out rejection of the projects detailed.
    He relished the challenges that sat on his desk. No magic formula or framework existed that would address the inevitable variables and solve the complex issues inherent in the vast array of Guardian’s current and projected programs. The dynamic ingrained in this business was that problems might appear solved, but they contained the potential to morph into a new set of issues and expose Guardian to public view. And that was