Page 9 of The Team

Sid waved his hands like a magic spell. “The beautiful enigma that carries souls to meet their maker.”

Azrael shot Sid a glare. “The day I get to send you to meet yours gets closer every day,” she said.

Rhett ignored their bickering. They always bickered.

“She’s our sniper,” Rhett explained.

Yin looked at her, and only then did he smile.

Figures.

She was beautiful and talented, true. Many men admired her. She never looked twice at any of them.

Sid noticed Yin’s smile too, and Sid rolled his eyes.

Rhett wasn’t in the mood for that bullshit today. “We have two members on assignment. Kowalski. Engineer sergeant, Polish GROM. And Myles, weapons, Canadian JTF2.”

Yin gave a nod but said nothing.

Rhett was pretty sure he was waiting for permission to speak, so he gave it. “Your turn.”

“Yin Tao,” he said. “Or as you would say it, Tao Yin. As explained before, I was a captain in the Jiaolong Commandos.”

“The Sea Dragons,” Coyote said, nodding his approval. “Nice.”

Yin gave a small nod of respect. “For ten years.”

Ten years as an elite tactical officer. That was pretty hardcore, Rhett had to admit.

Then Chen gave an awkward wave. “First name Hanyu, last name Chen. I am...” He looked at Yin. “In English?”

“Breachman,” Yin supplied.

Chen grinned. “Breachman. My English is just okay, but I learn.”

Breachman? From the size of him, Rhett was not surprised.

Then Jay said something in Chinese that Rhett couldn’t follow, but Chen grinned, and even Yin gave a small, surprised smile.

Rhett knew enough Mandarin to sayhelloandthank youbut very little else, and he knew the rest of the team had no hope. He looked at Jay for translation.

“I just told him I was happy to help with translations,” Jay said. “For a small man.”

Rhett smirked.

“You guys got a call sign or something?” Sid asked. “What do we call you?”

Chen grinned as he gestured to Yin. “His name is Fù-shé,” he said.

“For sure?” Rhett asked, wishing he hadn’t the second it was out of his mouth.

“Fù-shé. Is snake.” Chen motioned his hand like a snake striking.

“Pit viper,” Jay said. “Fù-shé is Chinese for pit viper.”

Pit viper, Rhett thought. He could see that, and it was a pretty cool name, though he still preferred Stoic.

Then Chen put his hand on his chest and proudly said, “Totoro.”

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