Page 48 of SEAL's Providence
“Yes, boss man. Loud and clear. Can we go now?”
“Go change. Put on the outfit you wore the other night or something similar. We want to blend in.” He stood up and set her on her feet. “I need to run out to my car and get my go-bag. I’ll be right back.”
Ten minutes later, they were on the road in Tony’s Jeep, heading for the rendezvous point.
Pat’s beat-up old Ford truck idled in the parking lot of the Greasy Spoon Diner. Someone had a sense of humor, at least. Tony pulled up next to him, but in the opposite direction,so they could roll their windows down and talk without getting out. The fewer people they encountered, the better.
“Hey boss.”
Tony saw his old teammates in the truck, Adam Stone and Evan Marshall. “It’s great to see the team back together.” The men tipped their chins. They hadn’t gotten together in too long. Seeing them now made him miss his operating days even more. “Any word on Mike’s ETA?”
“He’ll be here any minute. He knows the location if we want to start without him,” Pat said.
Tony leaned back so everyone could see Providence. She leaned forward and waved as he introduced her. “This is Dr. Providence Sheridan. She’s along for the ride tonight. She’s R&R only and not armed. I’ll shadow her until she makes contact.”
The men in the Ford answered in unison, “Copy that.”
“Pat, did you bring them up to speed?”
“Of course. Do you want to take one vehicle or two? Mike is bringing the van with a stretcher for the injured woman.”
“Two. It’ll make it easier to disappear afterward. We’ll use the old hangar if we capture a tango.”
Pat passed two comm units through the window. “Need anything else?”
Tony knew his grin was pure evil. “Nope, I’ve got enough knives on me to take out half a platoon.”
The team’s answering grins amped him up. Yeah, he’d missed operating. The camaraderie of the men and the thrill of successfully completing a mission. “Ready?”
“Hell yeah.”
Tony handed one of the comm units to Providence and put the other one on. Providence had dubbed them knights in shining armor, so he’d used it for their call signs. “Comm check, Knight 1.”
“Knight 2,” Pat replied.
Mike was Knight 3 like the old days.
Adam answered, “Knight 4.”
Followed by Evan’s, “Knight 5.”
Providence was last and had been excited to find out she’d be able to hear everything going on. Hearing her soft southern drawl say, “Knight 6,” made him squirm. That was definitely a first.
“Comms only until we have an all clear,” Tony ordered.
After a chorus of “copy that,” Tony pulled out of the parking lot and headed down Fremont Street. As he approached their target location, heturned off his headlights and pulled into the first open spot. Pat did the same. A black panel van further down the street flashed its lights twice. Tony grinned. The last member of their little mission team had arrived. Now that Mike was there, they were a go.
Mike climbed out of the van and headed their way, and Adam handed him his comm device. Tony doubted he needed any more knives; the man loved them even more than he did. Hearing Mike’s voice brought back even more memories.
“Glad you could join the party, Knight 3,” Tony said.
“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Knight 1. But what’s up with the knight shit?” Mike asked.
“That was me. You guys are the women’s knights in shining armor. Without your help, I don’t want to think about how I’d have saved them.”
His men looked at each other. From their expressions, none of them knew how to respond to Providence’s comment. It’s what they did, and they didn’t need any thanks. Maybe they didn’t work for the government anymore, but every one of them still did what they could to keep the world a safer place—one contract at a time.
Tony met each man’s gaze and nodded. “Knight 2, do a recon with your new toy and verify the location of the flowers.”
