Page 21 of The Team

Their whole team looked over to where Rhett stood in full black fatigues, jabbing a map with his finger andtelling Director King exactly what he thought about something.

Totoro blinked in shock. “Captain? Scared? No...” He shook his head, disbelieving.

Jay snorted and nodded. “He met my whole family. All of us, at my niece’s naming ceremony.”

Yin quirked an eyebrow. “You have that in your family?”

Jay smiled at him. “Sure. Half Chinese, remember? But also half Malay and mostly Australian so it was just an excuse for a BBQ and a piss up.”

Yin stared at him, alarmed. “A what?”

“An excuse to get on the piss.”

“To drink alcohol,” Echo offered, and both Yin and Totoro nodded appreciatively.

Jay shrugged because, of course, that’s what he meant. “Anyway, you think he’s tough and takes no shit, but my Po Po tells him to jump, he fucking jumps.”

Everyone chuckled, and Rhett stormed over holding the map. “For the record,” he said flatly, “it’s called respect, and your grandmother is savage. Plus you have fifty cousins, and in I walk, the only tall white guy. They still make unseasoned-chicken jokes to my face. It’s been five years.”

Everyone laughed at that. Everyone. Even Yin. Though he schooled it when Rhett shot him a pointed glare.

Then Rhett shook off the moment of levity and was back in Captain mode. “We leave in five,” he said, voice firm. Everyone stood taller, instant game-on faces as they listened. He laid the map out on the table, pointing to one spot in particular. “We land here at twenty-two hundred. There will be two vehicles waiting for us. We then drive tohere—” He dragged his finger along the map. “—to this location, where we await instruction. I will tell you what we know on the way.”

The familiar sound of a Blackhawk starting drew their attention. “Okay,” Rhett yelled over the noise. He gave the signal. “Let’s go.”

Jay’s adrenaline spiked, his heart pounding at the thrill of it. He fucking loved this job. But then his training kicked in, he put his head down, and ran for the chopper.

Rhett had never beento Baku before, and he was surprised by its beauty. Even at night, perhaps especially at night, the city was a blend of medieval and modern. From where he stood, looking out the window, surveilling the street below, the yellow streetlights lit the old stone walls, highlighting the carved stonework and the cobblestone streets.

He was waiting for an update while his team slept. Well, except Jay, who came over and handed Rhett a bottle of water.

It had been a long day, and the six sleeping bodies on the floor made Rhett feel... something. These weren’t his original six. There were two new additions, while two of his originals were... out there, somewhere.

They’d had confirmation, footage of when Kowalski and Myles were taken; CCTV footage of them being bustled into a green BMW van on the very street Rhett was now overlooking. They’d been lethargic, drugged most likely, unsteady on their feet, with respiratory masks, and helped into the van. What looked like medical equipmentwas loaded with them: cylinders, black boxes. The men escorting them wore hospital garb, complete with gloves and masks.

An outsider might think they looked like patients, but Rhett knew differently. It was definitely Kowalski and Myles being shoved into that van, and something was fucking wrong.

That was almost twenty-four hours ago, and Rhett had been instructed to sit tight and wait for intel.

HQ had satellites and CCTV access, and they even had a name, but there’d been a hiccup, and they needed to be one hundred percent sure.

There was no room for mistakes.

“Wanna talk about it?” Jay whispered.

Rhett’s eyes met his in the dark, and he almost smiled. Of course Jay would pick up on his mood.

“Worried?” Jay prompted.

Rhett nodded. “Yeah. That footage of Kowalski and Myles. I can’t stop thinking about it. Seeing them like that. It’s been over twenty-four hours.”

Jay stepped in closer and spoke, barely a whisper. “And?” He shot a pointed glance at the corner where Yin and Chen slept.

Yeah. Jay knew him too well.

“Dunno,” Rhett murmured. “I’m not familiar with his demeanour in the field, but he seems distracted.” Rhett shrugged. “I dunno. Am I misreading him?”

He didn’t need to even explain which of the two he was talking about.

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