Page 39 of Falcon’s Forever

"No reason to be." His tone stays matter of fact. "What's your name?"

"Rachel."

"What do you need, Rachel?"

She takes a breath. "I don't like men outside my bedroom window."

Nobody laughs; nobody tells her security requires it.

Falcon answers before Vulture can. "We can move the night line another fifteen yards toward the tree cover. It’s the same coverage, but it means there are no boots directly outside the house."

Every head turns toward him. He's got his forearms resting on his thighs, no hesitation in it at all.

Rachel looks at him. "Would that make it less safe?"

"No," he answers immediately. "It’s a different position, with the same coverage."

"Then I'd like that." Rachel blushes as the attention is on her.

Falcon glances at Sterling. "Make it permanent."

Sterling writes it down, and I watch Falcon do this without any debate, without trying to convince her his original setup was better. He just adjusts to what she asked for. Frankie's words come back to me. Watch what he does when somebody tells him what hurts.

Maya raises her hand, entirely undeterred by Vulture telling her not to. “What about the photographs?”

When Vulture looks confused, Sarah leans forward to explain. “They want pictures and names of whoever is assigned to the house.”

“That makes sense,” Vulture agrees with a nod.

Lena speaks next, twisting her fingers together on the table. “I don’t want to be moved to a room without windows during a lockdown.”

“Are you claustrophobic?” Knox asks her.

“Yes,” Lena confirms.

“Then we don’t put you in one,” Knox replies.

She looks at him in surprise. “It’s that easy?”

Falcon answers before Knox can. “If the location can be secured, yes.”

Lena holds his gaze. “What if securing it is harder?”

Falcon takes a moment to consider the question before answering. “Then we explain why we believe another option is safer, and you decide what you can handle.”

I look at him.

Falcon catches my gaze, and something silent passes between us before he turns back to Lena and the meeting moves on.

It runs for nearly an hour, much longer than Vulture probably planned, but nobody seems to mind. The women raise issues I doubt the club had considered before this morning. They ask what happens if someone wants to leave during an alert, whether a woman can refuse an escort, whether the security phone tracks their location, and whether outside appointments can remain private.

Knox handles the medical question directly. Nobody in the club sees anyone’s records unless the woman chooses to share them.

Falcon glances across the table at him. “Has that always been the rule?”

“Yeah,” Knox confirms.

“Good,” Falcon says, sitting back in his chair.