Page 14 of The Team

“Was it your idea to join Milvus?” Rhett asked. “Did you put your hand up for it, or are you on orders?”

Yin cut him a side-eye.

Rhett shrugged. “Don’t bother me either way, just so you know. I expect the same dedication regardless.” He took a swig of his beer. “I kinda get the feeling you’d give a hundred percent either way, so whatever. I’m just trying to get to know you better so I can run this team.”

Yin was silent for a few moments before he sighed. “I volunteered. I requested consideration.”

“And Totoro?”

“He goes where I go.”

“Ah, like me and Jay.”

He shot Rhett an acidic glare. “Not like you and Jay.”

Rhett laughed. “No, not like us.” He knew Sid andEcho were keeping an eye on Rhett and Yin’s conversation, probably waiting to see if another fight broke out, but Rhett hoped they were past that now. “So, you leave anyone behind back home?”

It was a long drop into personal territory, but fuck it. He wanted to know.

Yin’s eyes flinched despite his attempt at stoicism. “No. You?”

Rhett shook his head. “Nope. No one. Jay’s got enough family for both of us.”

Yin kept his gaze on Jay and Chen and he damn near smiled, Rhett was sure of it, but then he schooled that away. “His accent surprised me. He looks Asian, sounds like the crocodile man.”

Hm. He was attempting a conversation?

Pleased with this, Rhett snorted. “No one expects it.” Most people did a double-take when Jay opened his mouth and Steve Irwin came out.

“Even speaking Mandarin, he does not lose that accent.”

“I bet he doesn’t.” Rhett smiled as he took another sip of his beer. “About that. How many languages do you speak?”

Yin exhaled as he considered. “Six, fluent. Mandarin, of course. Also Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and English. I know enough of a few others to get by. Farsi, French, some German.”

Wow.

Rhett was impressed. “Good to know.”

“What about you?” Yin asked. “What’s your hidden talent?”

Rhett grinned at him. “I get the feeling you alreadyknow. You got the full scope on us before you got here. Well, apart from the gay thing. So you tell me, and I’ll see how good your intel really is.”

Yin’s lips twitched. “You were born in Sydney, Australia. Put into foster homes. Went through the cadet program for troubled boys. General enlistment at eighteen. Moved up through the ranks quickly. Exceptional combat skills, born leader. No family made you a prime candidate for your SAS. And then you excelled at that too. Eight overseas ops in two years, hundred percent success rate. Hand-picked for this Milvus Division.”

Rhett stared at him, because holy shit. The Chinese government knew that much about him, and he was a redacted agent. But he still couldn’t let Yin win.

“You didn’t know I’m trained in Sanda,” he said, not caring if it sounded childish, but Sanda was a specialised Chinese combat martial art. Yin should have known that. “Or that me and Jay are together.”

Yin chewed on the inside of his lip. “True.”

“And it wasn’t a troubled boys’ program. It was a last-ditch effort to stay out of juvie.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Juvie? What is that?”

“Juvenile detention. Prison for kids, basically.” Rhett shrugged. “I was in and out of foster homes; hated that, hated school, hated the world.” Hated that he liked boys instead of girls. Hated that he had no one in his life who cared. Not that he’d tell Yin any of that right now. “Went into the cadet program and found somewhere to belong. Three meals a day, clean clothes, and a bed every night was a helluva incentive.” He sighed, remembering... “But I found more than that. A place to belong, something I was good at, where I wasn’t looked down on or told Iwas worthless. They saw something in me.” He smiled at Yin. “And here I am.”

“No regrets.”

---