Safe Haven

Following Orders

Five years later...

"Ten things women are thinking," Bo read out loud, glancing up at his friend in amusement. He held up the story in his hand. "You know we specialize in getting the truth out there, right?"

His friend Cooper grinned at him, brushing his blond hair out of his bright green eyes. "And this startling truth will be for the benefit of men everywhere." He straightened to his full height, six-five, and stretched his muscled arms above his head. The guy enjoyed dabbling in a bit of everything. He exercised regularly, could set up the best alarm systems, and he wrote articles and took pictures. "Don't question my abilities, Ivanov."

"Normally, I wouldn't question your abilities, but I doubt women are thinking," he scanned the list, looking for one that would prove his point, "about how many gummi bears they can shove up their nose. This assignment should've literally been given to anyone else."

"Oh, it wasn't given to me. I asked for it," Cooper informed, lying back in a chair.

"I think you should just stick to taking pictures for my articles," Bo laughed, handing the assignment back to him. Merrily, Cooper snatched the paper from him and ripped it multiple times, throwing it into the air as though it were confetti.

"I hate writing. I don't know how you stand to do it," Cooper sighed happily, closing his eyes and placing his arms behind his head. A few of their female co-workers paused momentarily to admire the two muscled men as they relaxed. "We should go to a bar tonight. Pick up some women. Want to be my wing-man?"

"Coop, I can't wing-man anybody until I figure out what I'm going to write about next," Bo groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. He could feel knots forming there. "Bryant is on my case about this next one. And I'm completely brain-dead. I don't know what to write about."

"You should do an inspirational piece," Cooper said, propping his feet on the table and waving at the women peeking in at them. "Everybody loves those. And you could totally butcher it, and not spell anything right, and be terrible with syntax devices and whatnot, and you would still get rated top notch."

"I don't want to write another piece about some movie-star fulfilling her dreams. I'd rather go back out to Africa, and write about the poor and starving again," Bo admitted, blowing out a breath. "Even though seeing those things gave me nightmares for months."

"Write about an animal!" Cooper offered, pleased with this idea. "Like what they make Disney movies out of! I could take pictures of it! Everybody melts around animals!"

"I am not swinging on vines through rain forests again," Bo snapped, but writing down the idea on a piece of paper. "You only live to do that once."

"So just go to an animal shelter. Or one of them sanctuary things," Cooper answered, in the middle of making a paper airplane. "You know, those things where they keep big animals that are sick, nurse them back to health and release them into the wild. That could be interesting."

Bo considered it, biting on his pen, a habit he'd picked up from Cooper himself. "Do you happen to know where one is? Bryant might just go with that, and actually give me another eight months to work on it."

"Google it," Cooper stated, making airplane noises as he tossed it paper plane. After it landed in someone else's cubicle, he decided to write a note on a piece of paper and use it to make another plane.

Bo turned to his computer, opening up the internet, and searching for a sanctuary he could research. One in particular caught his eye. "I didn't know they had a sanctuary out there."

"Out where?" Cooper questioned, peeking over Bo's shoulder. "Montana? What's so important about Montana? Nothing happens in Montana!"

"My grandparents live out there," Bo answered, clicking on the link to the website. "I go out there every summer, and I've never seen this place. Nobody has even mentioned it."