Page 19 of Gwen's Delta
“Yes, sir,” the team replied in unison.
“Review the information in these folders. I’ll answer your questions in the morning. Dismissed,” Turano said.
They grabbed a folder and headed out while Turano and Sand continued their discussion at the table. Before he left, Merlin caught Turano’s eye and waited. Turano nodded, and Merlin headed to Turano’s office instead of following the team.
Ten minutes later, Turano stepped into his office. Thankfully, Sand wasn’t with him.
“I’m glad you can still read me,” Turano said with a slight grin.
“Always, sir. I apologize for questioning you during the briefing.”
“No need. It was a valid question. I would have been surprised if you didn’t ask. I’m sure you have a lot more questions, most of which I can’t answer. What I can tell you is that command wants us to appear to work with Sand, but our orders will come from command.”
“Why the charade?” None of this made any sense. Merlin had been on countless missions and never one with a “fake” POC.
“I’m not cleared to tell you that, and it doesn’t affect the mission. I know you disagree, but you need to trust me on this. Can you do that?”
“Yes, sir. Of course. I’ll have to inform the team.”
“I understand, but you need to wait until you’re in the air tomorrow. You won’t have your final orders until then.”
“Copy that.” Merlin rarely kept anything from his team, but he couldn’t disobey a direct order.
“This will be a Charlie Foxtrot all the way. But what Sand said is true—Delta 3 can pull it off.”
“Thank you, sir. But—”
“That’s all, Merlin.” Turano shook his head. “Nothing should change between now and zero eight hundred. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
“Yes, sir.”
Merlin left Turano’s office with even more questions and a tension headache pounded behind his eyes. He hoped whoever was running this mission knew what the fuck they were doing and didn’t get them all killed.
He had two hours before he had to meet Gwen at the restaurant. There was a lot to do before they left, but it didn’t involve cleaning his house. That he’d taken care of last night after they’d hung up. The hope had been that the work would take his mind off the sexy redhead. But it hadn’t worked.
Instead, after he’d finished laundry, he’d downed a shot of whiskey and headed to the shower to take care of himself. Merlin couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten so hard from small talk. Her voice went into his ear and straight to his dick.
Whatever this thing was with Gwen, maybe he’d be able to figure it out over lunch. He couldn’t stop thinking about her—her scent, how her hair almost glowed in the sunshine, how her eyes sparkled when she smiled. He’d never been so distracted by a woman. It was dangerous.
Merlin needed to get his head back in the game, review all the intel they had, and formulate a plan. But first, he’d have to deal with the team, and they were waiting for him as he opened the office door. This would be fun.
Their eyes followed him as he made his way to his desk and sat down. Merlin held up a hand. “I know, trust me. You don’t have to say a word. Roe knows this sucks, but we’ll deal with it. It’s not the first shit show we’ve been in, and it won’t be the last.”
“No fucking kidding,” Jangles said. “What did Roe want?”
“Mostly to tell me it will make more sense tomorrow. And he wasn’t pissed I questioned his authority in front of the asshat.”
“That’s it?” Duff grumbled.
“Yeah, afraid so. I don’t think they know enough yet, and that’s why they’re stalling. If we drop into the wrong area, we could make things worse.”
“That makes sense, in a fucked-up, CIA kind of way,” Woof added.
The others nodded. It was true. If the mission involved the CIA, more times than not it was a train wreck.
“Did you go through the intel yet?” Merlin asked. He’d expected more questions, and it was a relief not to get them.
“We’re working on it.” Zip looked at him, his expression easy to read.
