Page 22 of Keeping Laryn
“I’m not freaked out,” she denied.
“You are. So whatever he said had to have been intense,because you aren’t the kind of woman, person, to be freaked out by much. I’ve seen you barely blink when faced with a destroyed laser system on one of my choppers. Wires sticking out in every direction, sparks flying, and you simply shrug and say to give you two hours and it’ll be as good as new.” Casper gentled his voice. “Please, Laryn. What did he say?”
It seemed to be the “please” that finally got to her. She walked into the kitchen without a word and opened the fridge. She got out a gallon jug of sweetened iced tea and poured some into a large plastic cup sitting on the counter.
“That stuff’ll rot your teeth,” Casper teased gently, as he had many other times since learning she liked the sugary-sweet drink.
“Whatever,” she mumbled as she put the jug back into the fridge.
She hadn’t offered him anything to drink, but Casper wasn’t there for a social visit.
Giving her a moment to collect her thoughts, praying she’d finally tell him what had upset her so much it had her voice shaking and sounding so off when he’d called earlier, he waited patiently.
She sat on the edge of the cushion on one side of her couch and stared into space.
Gingerly, Casper lowered himself onto the sofa next to her. Not touching, but not on the other side either.
Laryn took a long drink of her tea, then held the cup with both hands as she spoke without making eye contact with him. “I told you before that I was looking into other jobs. I knew a guy who’d worked in Bahrain, and I contacted him a while ago. Told him I might be looking for a position somewhere outside the US.”
“Why?”
She turned to look at him. “Why what?”
“Why do you want to leave here?”
She shrugged. “Haven’t we already had this conversation? It doesn’t matter why. Anyway, I asked if he knew of any good contractor positions not just for mechanics, but for someone with my expertise.”
Itdidmatter why she wanted to leave, and he wasn’t convinced what she’d told him yesterday was the real reason, but since she was talking, Casper didn’t interrupt.
“He said he’d see what he could find out. Next thing I knew, I was fielding inquiries from all sorts of countries. People who knew who I was, what I do, the machines I work on…and it was overwhelming. Most understood when I politely turned them down. There were a couple I seriously considered, but none could really make such a big move worth my while.”
Casper understood that. It was a huge deal to move out of the US, the compensation and incentive package would have to be big to be able to lure her away. He was relieved that, while she might have put out some feelers, she didn’t seem all that eager to truly leave the country.
“Then Altan emailed me. We exchanged a few polite messages back and forth. He laid out what he was looking for, and explained how he’d recently acquired a couple MH-60 helicopters, but I guess they were only outfitted with very basic equipment. I’m not sure what that means, as he didn’t go into detail, but he told me the Turkish government was looking to find an expert who could make the machines lethal fighting machines…his words, not mine. He named a very fair compensation package, but I told him I’d since changed my mind and wasn’t interested in leaving my current position.
“He got persistent. Raised the salary he’d originally offered me by quite a bit. Threw in free housing, meals, and housekeeping. He even offered to find me a husband, which made me laugh.”
The more she talked, the more tense Casper got. He could sense what was coming.
“When I still turned him down, I could tell by the tone of his emails he was getting pissed. He clearly thought all it would take was throwing more money at me and I’d jump at the chance to move to Turkey to work for him and his government. He started getting kind of belligerent in his messages. Telling me I was an idiot for turning him down. Saying that I could be married to one of their generals, that I’d have power and prestige.”
“Power and prestige mean nothing to you,” Casper said.
Laryn turned to face him. “How do you know?”
“I’ve been working with you for three years. I’ve seen you downplay your skills time and time again. You’ve helped others on the naval ships we’ve been on with no expectation of compensation. You go out of your way to teach the lowest privates who are just starting out everything you know, and you shrug off any praise or accolades that are aimed your way. You even let others who work for you take the credit. Thelastthing you’d do is take a job because of the power and prestige it could bring to you.”
“Thank you,” Laryn said softly. “I just love what I do. I don’t want or need anything other than seeing a machine I’ve worked on operate to its full potential.”
“So…Osman called you tonight?”
“Yeah. Again, I have no idea how he got my number, because I certainly didn’t give it to him. He tried to convince me that working for him would be the best thing I could do for my career. He tried using the husband he’d find for me as incentive again. I finally had to get stern with him, and I told him that I wasn’t interested in the job, though I appreciated the offer. Then I asked him to stop contacting me, and he got…upset.”
Casper figured that was a tame word for what really happened.
“He started yelling at me in what I assume was Turkish. Then before he hung up, he said I was making a mistake. That his country needed me, and I was—and I quote—“a fuckingAmerican cunt,” and I’d regret turning down such an extremely generous offer that any other ugly, old, unmarried woman would jump at.”
Casper was furious. He wanted to beat the shit out of this Altan Osman for daring to insult Laryn. And threaten her. But he wasn’t here right now. Laryn was. And she needed to know she was safe, and that she’d made the right decision in being firm and turning the man down. She might be the best MH-60 mechanic in the US, and easily in the top five in the world, but that didn’t mean she was at this asshole’s beck and call. She wasn’t required to share her skills withanyone. If she wanted to quit and move to a deserted island and live off the damn grid, that was her right and her choice.
