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Click hereShe was silent, not knowing if there were any words that would truly fit. They shared a moment of silence before Ty turned his head and left a kiss on her cheek.
"Sounds about right, love. But I started down the slope, and it's too late to stop. The email just popped through, so I guess I should keep my word and call them back."
"Would you like for me to stay?"
He took a moment to consider. "Yeah, maybe. Actually, could you get Alice, too? I'd like to have her backing here too."
She nodded and pulled away from his back, turning to go. He watched her go and turned back to his phone, starting another video call. They must have been waiting, because it didn't even finish ringing once before they picked up.
Nik basically shouted at him, her expression dark. "Ok stronzo, we signed the paperwork. Now tell us what this is all about!"
"You'll be getting more emails in just a moment. Reading material. None of this can be leaked outside of you two for now. That's what the NDAs are for. I've been brought in on a major project."
The two women listened with their undivided attention as Ty laid out the Quaranteam Project. He asked Alice to detail the medical information, and for Lottie to detail her experiences with the whole thing. Their expressions grew graver with each passing moment until finally, he paused prompting them to ask questions.
Catalina spoke up first. "Why are you telling us this now? You've said it yourself that you don't have a way for us to bond to one another just yet."
"Because I'm the project lead, and Nik and I, and you indirectly, Cat, have a personal connection. I don't want that connection tainted by my not telling you when I have a means under which to do so. But at the same time, because I don't have something that works specifically for you two in your circumstances, all I can do is ask you two to stay safe."
Nikoletta hadn't spoken, just taking things in for the moment. After several minutes of silence, she met Ty's eyes and spoke. "Ty, can you leave this with us for a little while? Cat and I need to read over the material you sent us and have a discussion about what we do with it all. Give us a couple of days, tops. I promise it won't get out."
"Don't shut me out, Nik. I don't want to lose a friend over this."
"You won't, you dumb lug. We just need to process all of this."
Ty sighed, but nodded acquiescence. "Be safe, yeah?"
Cat snorted. "We are safer than the idiota that gets himself shot during a quarantine."
"Yeah, well, you should see the other guys. Speak soon?"
Nik's voice was quiet, but her tone was exasperated. "Yes, you big hairball. We won't just ghost you. We have a business to run." There was a long pause and Ty was about to hang up when she continued. "Just...don't call us. We'll call you when we're ready."
Catalina ended the call and Ty let his head fall onto the desk. Alice and Lottie watched him for a moment before Alice deadpanned. "Well, that could have gone worse."
Ty just sighed.
-------------------------------------------
Dramatis Personae
-House Marshall-
Tiberius Marshall - 35, Lt. Colonel Australian Army SASR. Black Hair, Grey Eyes. Big teddy bear.
Charlotte Valiant - 35, Captain Australian Army SASR, Red hair, long hair, service submissive.
Leticia Valiant - 35, Captain Australian Army SASR, Red hair, shoulder length hair, tomboy.
Talia Becker - 27, Major Israeli Defence Force, Black hair, long hair, braided, wilful, but devoted.
Alice Rai - 31, Doctor of Medicine, Black hair, blue eyes, partial Indian descent, complete submissive.
Elizabeth Connors - 21, younger sister of Jaxson Connors. University Student -- Finance
Béatrice Martin -- 32, French DGSE. Tech expert and hobby tinker. Blonde, Blue eyes.
Grace Lawry -- 33, Captain, USAF. Tiberius' old friend. Formerly partnered with Benjamin Morgan and the person who involved Ty in the Quaranteam Project.
Juno Claudius -- 37, Lawyer friend of Tiberius and the Evans'. Has two children with Tiberius; Bellona(Bella) and Mars.
Zoe Evans -- 19, daughter of Tiberius' good friends Toby and Matilda Evans and Tiberius' 'niece'. University Student. Not yet bonded, but definitely part of the family.
-House Valiant-
Rayne Valiant - 28, 6'10, fit and muscular. Scientist, younger brother of the twins and head of AUS Quaranteam Project R&D.
Stella Andersen -- 28, Virologist, Blonde, Blue eyes, slightly curvy. Rayne's fiancée
Hasumi Saegusa -- 27, Doctorate in biochemistry, Black hair, Black eyes. Japanese woman, formerly paralysed from the knees down. Has been in love with Ray for years.
Simone Jennings -- 22, 2nd Lieutenant, Black hair, blue eyes, African descent, one of Rayne's dedicated security.
Patricia 'Trish' Barclay -- 23, Lieutenant, Blonde hair, one of Rayne's dedicated security.
Victoria Whitlock -- 31, Geneticist, brown hair in a pixie cut. Newest addition to House Valiant.
-House Morgan-
Benjamin Morgan - 36, Doctor. Was acting (under duress) on behalf of the same Shiekh as Connors. Ex-wife and daughter kidnapped. Deceased.
Theresa Miller - 28, Latest addition to House Morgan. Hospitalised and in critical condition.
-Other-
Damian Marshall - 30, Captain Australian Army SASR. Smaller version of Tiberius. Currently in France. 1 Partner.
William 'Bill' Anderson -- Colonel. Somewhat stiff, but very capable officer. 2 Partners.
Jonathan Hoffmann - Lt. General. Friend of Tiberius' and the twins' grandfather. Current highest-ranking member of the AUS military. 1 Partner.
Narmada Rai -- Alice's grandmother. Doctor of Medicine, helping Ty coordinate the medical workers around Victoria. Ty is trying to set her up with Jonathan Hoffmann.
Barry 'Baz' Davis -- Brigadier. Good friend of Tiberius. In charge of personnel at Victoria Barracks. 3 Partners.
Jaxson Connors - Major, currently under arrest for abuse of authority and attempted murder. Was working with a Sheik to develop the Assassin Variant of DuoHalo.
Nikoletta Bianci -- 35, Ty's friend and the woman managing the Vineyards belonging to the Marshall family.
- COMMENTS
A good instalment. I was anticipating another terrorist attack. If I remember correctly CP has a lesbian couple on his household staff, chef and gardener I think, and they worked out some method of partnering.
Just binge read the shit out of all 10 parts. Definitely one of my faves in the QT universe. Look forward to more parts.
Binge-read the full series in about a day while stuck home with a viral infection (oh irony...). You got me hooked and I'm looking forward to the next installments! Please don't feel pressured to rush them, though; keep writing at a pace that is comfortable to you.
I do need to ask about one blonde French-speaking Béatrice Martin in her thirties with a beautiful voice... Do you so happen to be a fan of Canadian singer Coeur de Pirate going by the same name? If so, I highly applaud your music taste!
- yeah, it's improbable. for someone to be involved in the operation of 1/3 of the valley's vineyards. But this is fiction and an alternate universe. Stranger things have happened.
As for Victoria Barracks, there is also one in Melbourne, and the Department of Defense uses it as an admin site for all branches of the ADF.
Well done on the first book.
Some great storylines and characters. Like other QT franchises the harems get a little difficult to follow it terms of remembering who belongs to who with bbq or party scenes. I feel concentrating on fleshing out the main characters is better achieved by involving them in the main plot lines in chapter form. Doing it little by little for all kind of leaves the character development spread too thin IMO.
What an awesome family moment in the middle of this insane, fast-moving situation.
Great story! Looking forward to the next chapter. Take your time, just hurry up! Lol! Thank you!
It was a bit of a wait. But it was 5 pages. I deliberately strung it over 2 days feeding my addiction. You do a really great storyline.
I would think that Tiberious would be a full Colonel. Considering his purview would be nationwide.
So, good next chapter. After the roller coaster of the last 10-11 days, QT-AU needed a change of pace for everyone to de-stress and unwind a bit. Good pacing in this chapter. Loved the banter between everyone at the barbie. It's not hard to leave rank at the door if everyone is basically family at this point and you wrote a believable way for that to happen naturally. I'm looking forward to how you'll describe the events surrounding the Sheikh getting his ass handed to him.