Page 48 of France Face-Off
Lucie had said she’d send a car to pick him up and take him to where Alex’s tracking device had stopped. The only vehicle waiting for him on the tarmac was a sleek black Ferrari sports car. As he ran toward it, Lucie filled him in via the communications headset.
“It appears she’s at the substation where the Nord Stream pipeline connects with the pipe that runs under the Baltic Sea,” Lucie said. “There will be guards on the gate. I have someone who wants to talk to you. I’m adding him to this call.”
A moment later, a familiar voice sounded in his ear. “Striker, Ace Hammerson here.”
“Nice of you to finally acknowledge your existence,” Striker said as he strode toward the sports car.
“I would’ve called earlier, but I needed all hands on deck in Edinburgh, including me, to manage a situation. My flight from Edinburgh has been diverted to the airport at Greifswald. We’ll be landing shortly. We sent another Brotherhood Protector over from Berlin to assist you in breaching the facility. He’s a former Navy SEAL on loan to us from the Colorado office, John Griffin. He’s been working a mission in Berlin, just wrapped it up and was about to fly back to the States.”
Navy SEALs were members of a small, tight-knit community. If he hadn’t fought alongside each one, he might have trained with, or at the very least, heard of others. “I’ve heard of Griff,” Striker said. Everyone had heard of Griff, the sole survivor of a mission that had gone terribly wrong.
“He’s a good man,” Ace said. “Lucie is looking into setting off an alarm inside the substation that will get the people inside to evacuate. If that happens, the confusion should allow you to get in easier with less collateral damage. Since you’re in Germany and the Germans are considered allies, we can’t risk sending in a large team to recover Alex unless absolutely necessary. I urge you not to take any more lives than are necessary. I’d prefer no lives were lost in this effort.”
“Understood,” Striker said as he reached the vehicle. He didn’t like going into a hot situation with someone he hadn’t worked with before, but, since the man was a former SEAL, he could make it work.
As he neared the sports car, he noticed a man sitting in the driver’s seat. It had to be Griff. Striker rounded the vehicle, opened the passenger door and folded himself into the seat. He turned to the man behind the steering wheel and held out his hand. “Nice ride. Dane Ryan. My teammates called me Striker.”
The man looked familiar in the light from the dashboard. He shook Striker’s hand. “John Griffin. Ace Hammerson sent me. He said you’re a former Navy SEAL.”
Striker nodded. “I am.”
“I thought your name sounded familiar.” Griff started the engine and shifted into drive. “Although I don’t think we were ever on a mission together.”
“Not that I recall.” Striker stared at the man whose face was illuminated by the lights on the dash. “I’m sorry about your team. I trained with two of the men who died on that mission.”
Griff’s lips pressed together. “It was a shit show. We lost some great frogmen. But I’m here to make sure we don’t lose another. I’ll have your back.”
“And I yours,” Striker promised.
Griff handed him a tracking device.
Striker studied it eagerly, feeling just a little bit closer to rescuing Alex just by seeing on the map where she was located. The device was new and appeared expensive. “How long have you worked for the Brotherhood?”
“A couple of years now. However, I’m now based out of the Colorado office, working with Jake Cogburn, another former Navy SEAL. I’ve got a good team to work with.”
“And a great location. I’ve been there a couple of times skiing.”
“I love it there.” Griff drove away from the airport. “I hear you’re a new hire for the Brotherhood Protectors International Division. The assignments are a little different, and working with a multi-national team has to be interesting.”
“I’m only just beginning to understand that,” Striker said. “I didn’t know I was working for the Brotherhood until earlier today. I thought I was working as a mercenary for a mysterious woman who called herself Lucie.”
Griff chuckled. “Ah, Lucie. I’ve learned you can’t judge a hacker by her hair color. But for someone so young, she’s super smart and knows her shit.”
“How old is she?”
“I think she just turned twenty-two,” Griff shook his head. “She changed her hair color from blue to purple for the occasion.”
“I’d never have guessed. On the phone, she sounds so...”
“Normal?” Griff grinned.
“I pictured a middle-aged female Bosley, like on Charlie’s Angels, when I spoke with her on the phone.”
Griff laughed out loud. “She’d love that. I met her in Zurich prior to my mission in Berlin. She’s kind of goth, has piercings and colorful hair. Dmytro introduced her to Ace on one of their earlier missions, and she’s been with them ever since. She’s highly adept at breaching firewalls and getting to data.”
“She might be good at what she does, but I wasn’t happy that she didn’t tell me who I was working for until today.” Striker shrugged. “However, I’m relieved to know we’re working for Ace Hammerson and Hank Patterson, not some random mercenary organization.”
“Yeah, had Ace had the opportunity and time, he would’ve brought you on board himself. He and the rest of their team were busy in Edinburgh in the middle of a war between two mafia gangs.”
