Page 52 of The Team

Seeing King was busy on the phone, Rhett went up to her and they bumped fists. “Nice work back there.”

“Thanks,” she said. Others might have thought she was smug, but she wasn’t really. She was just damn good at her job.

“Any word on Kowalski and Myles?” Jay asked.

Her eyes tightened. “Not good, apparently. I think that’s what he’s finding out.” Then she nodded to King. “He’s on the phone to your friends; has been for a long time.”

Jay deduced it was Yunho. At least he hoped it was.

He wasn’t sure what the fuck had happened at HQ or what the hell was going on behind the red tape, but something wasn’t right.

King came over and held out the phone to Rhett. “For you.”

Rhett gave a nod and took the phone, walking over to the far end of the hangar.

“Is it Yunho?” Jay asked.

“It was,” King said. “Mr Garin wanted a word with Ouston.”

Jay couldn’t help but smile a little. Having Asher Garin and Jay’s favourite cranky tank in their corner was so much fun. It was almost like having two guardian angels, even if they were on the other side of the world. No one would dare fuck with Rhett or Jay knowing they were friends with them.

And having Yunho as their own private intel was an ace up their sleeve.

It had saved their lives, Jay was sure of it.

“Any word on Kowalski and Myles?” Jay asked King.

King’s expression mirrored Azrael’s. “It’s not good. No one has the treatment, and Ouston shot Askarov, so finding one isn’t likely.”

Jay put his hand up. “Captain Ouston was justified in his actions. Askarov was a threat to all of us and to the mission. I saw Kowalski and Myles firsthand, and I can tell you now, their likelihood of survival is minimal, at best.What Askarov did to them was barbaric, and if they survive—and that’s a really big fucking if—they won’t ever be the same.”

King put his hands up. “I’m not saying Ouston wasn’t justified. I’ve seen the medical reports... I know what you saw.”

He knew what I saw?

The truth was, Jay was surprised to hear Kowalski and Myles were still alive. The skin blisters, the swelling, the short raspy breaths—and that was what he could see. They looked as if they’d been thrown into a vat of hot oil, but Jay had no doubt the internal injuries to lungs, oesophagus, mouth and sinuses, and brain were far worse than the exterior.

Kowalski was the worst of the two, and Jay had to wonder if any attempts to keep him alive were even humane at this point.

Jay sneered at King. “You don’t know what I saw. You saw pictures, probably. What I saw was two of our teammates, two of our brothers, being eaten alive by some fucking chemical cocktail. Myles tried to speak to me, but he wasn’t capable. I think he was asking me to kill him, and I’m telling you it’d have been fucking merciful. What that fucker did to them was worse than death, and you know what? He’s lucky Rhett shot him in the fucking head because I’d have made him suffer. I’d have done to him exactly what he did to them and cheered as he screamed when his skin melted off his body. You wanna talk about medical reports and what I saw, put that in your fucking report?—”

Rhett was there then, kinda pulling Jay back a bit but putting himself between Jay and King. He handed himback his phone. “Tell us what you know,” Rhett said to him. “All of it.”

King gave Jay a pointed look, let out a sigh and conceded a nod. He then looked at the two Milvus teams who were watching him, waiting, and seemed to steel himself.

“I am hesitant to admit this, and as much as I wish it were otherwise, I believe what Captain Ouston here said earlier is true. Milvus is compromised. Someone on the council, someone in head office, I don’t know who, wanted us to fail. And not just fail,” he said, nostrils flared. “They wanted us dead. The Iranian base we were at was targeted by Russian drone attacks and long-range missiles. We had evacuated all personnel only because Ouston’s informant had forewarned us, so there was no loss of personnel or property. It is believed the attack was to take out both Milvus teams,” he paused, looking at the faces in front of him. “And myself. That’s why they put me on the ground with you. To get rid of us all in one fell swoop.”

Murmurs broke out between the teams.

Jay had trusted Rhett when he’d said Milvus was compromisedbeforethey’d taken out Askarov and Gordian, but it made him feel ill to hear it confirmed.

After all, the intel had come from Yunho, and Garin and Harrigan, and Jay trusted them with his life. Hell, he trusted them with Rhett’s life, and that was all he needed to know. If they said it was true, then it was fucking gospel.

“What do we do now?” Giardello asked. “Where do we go?”

King’s brow narrowed. “We go back to London.”

“What?” Giardello asked. “When you say they wantedus dead and now we’re expected to just go back into the lion’s den?—”

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