Shadow Men – 53 – Anders and Grant

"Nicky's fine, seems to be anyway, and misses me," Grant said to the unspoken question when he rejoined the men twenty minutes later.

"And Rafe?" Steele seemed hesitant to ask.

"Corrie said there's no change. I'm sorry." When Steele nodded unhappily Grant changed the subject, saying, "Something smells good."

"Supper, which is ready," Anders told him.

"You cook?"

Anders grinned. "Like a pro. One of my many talents."

"Okay, what happened to the man who would barely say two words if it didn't have to do with business?"

"Told you, Grant, when he's waiting and bored he gets antsy, just like…" Steele's face shut down and he turned away.

"Just like Rafe," Anders said quietly. "Damn it, Steele, he's going to be fine."

"You don't know that."

"And you don't know that he won't be." Anders gripped Steele's shoulder. "Look at me." When Steele reluctantly turned to face him, Anders said, "You know he's a fighter. He will be fine."

After taking a deep breath, Steele nodded. "Yeah, he will."

* * * *

With supper over and judged excellent by both Grant and Steele, Grant again felt at loose ends as he watched the others begin to strip down and clean their weapons. When Anders told him to hand his over so he could deal with it as well, Grant hesitated.

"Show him how to do it, Anders," Steele said somewhat tartly.

"It's not as if…"

"Do it… Please."

Anders pointed to the chair next to him. Grant sat then spent the next half hour beginning to learn everything Anders deemed necessary. He had the feeling they'd barely touched the surface but a phone call brought things to a halt and quickly.

When he'd hung up, Anders announced they were going to meet one of his contacts.

"Tell you what, you two go, you know what you're doing. I'll stay here and umm, guard the place."

"Sorry, Grant, but no," Anders replied in no uncertain terms, all business now.

"What about Steele? Can't he…"

"He's backup, and I mean way back up. If things go sour and any of the Colonel's people are there, his is the first face they'd recognize."

"If you're meeting someone you trust why would his people be there?"

"Name of the game, Grant. Shit happens, especially when you think everything's safe as aces," Anders told him. "So come on, let's get you dressed."

Grant shot him an offended look. "Believe it or not I'm quite able to dress myself." He heard a snort of amusement and turned to see Steele shaking his head.

"Play nice, boys. And Grant, I suspect he meant to say he'd help you choose something so you fit in where we're going, as well as work on how you look."

"How I look? Oh, well, not much you can do with this." He ran his hand through his short brown hair.

"You might be surprised."