Page 53 of Falcon’s Forever

“The chargers?” Falcon asks.

“Yes,” she confirms.

"Good call." She glows, and I've no idea why his approval matters to her this much, except maybe because a man listened, or maybe because she asked for something and somebody actually did it.

Falcon takes one of the flashlights from the box and tests it. “This one is for the emergency kit by the downstairs office. The second one goes upstairs.”

Sarah watches him place it on the counter. “What happens if someone takes something from the kit?”

“Then we replace it,” Falcon answers simply.

Her eyebrows rise. “There’s no sign-out sheet?”

“Condor isn’t allowed to design emotional-support paperwork,” Falcon tells her.

He delivers the line directly to Sarah, and it draws a small but genuine laugh from her.

Falcon looks toward me. “I heard about the lockdown zones.”

“Maya insists that hers needs snacks,” I explain.

“Because I’m correct,” Maya says confidently.

“Clearly,” Falcon agrees, his expression so solemn that she looks delighted.

I shake my head at him. “You’re encouraging her.”

“She’s not my problem,” he replies.

“She becomes your problem when she demands club-funded chocolate,” I warn him.

“He already denied it,” Maya complains.

I look at her. “Falcon did?”

“Vulture,” she clarifies.

Falcon grimaces. “That’s harsh.”

For the next few minutes, Falcon helps unload the boxes without taking control of the room. He asks Sarah where she wants the flashlights, lets Maya explain her emergency-snack theory in painful detail, and listens when Lena tells him she wants the upstairs hall light left on all night.

“Then leave it on,” Falcon tells her.

Lena hesitates. “It’ll use electricity.”

“So?” he asks.

“It feels wasteful,” she admits.

“The club can afford a light bulb,” Falcon assures her.

Her mouth twitches into the beginning of a smile. “Okay.”

Zip appears in the doorway but makes no move to enter. “The south line is clear.”

Falcon turns toward him. “Where’s Rook?”

“He’s covering the north line,” Zip reports.