“Well, it’s a true fact that you’re a hell of a lot easier on the eyes than any of the team. If you have room for me, I’ll stay with you. I can sleep on the floor.”
She smiled and slowly shook her head. “My bed or nothing. Your choice.”
He frowned down at her. “There is no choice, then.”
“Get a room, you two,” Blade growled as he slung his duffel over his shoulder and claimed one of the bedrooms down the hall. “We’ve got a war to conduct not a porn flick to film.”
When everyone was settled and the equipment had been set up, Owen convened a meeting in the downstairs rec room. As the men moved downstairs, Kit pulled Mandy aside.
“Can you give us a few minutes? Owen and I need to bring everyone up to speed. We’ll have you brief us about what’s been happening afterward. Gather up your files covering the construction project and bring them when I call for you. Greer and Max will start digging through them tomorrow.”
“No problem. I’ll be ready when you are.” Mandy collected her files and stacked them near the stairs. She poured herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen and discovered the new team had brought in a ton of food supplies in coolers and bags. She stored what she could in the freezer, fridge, and cupboard, then boxed some of it to take down to the bunkhouse in the morning. It began to feel as if they were preparing for a siege. The whole thing was terribly unnerving.
Downstairs, the guys settled around the room, some sitting on either of the two sofas, some leaning against the walls. Greer and Max turned their desk chairs to face the room instead of the long, white tables loaded with equipment. Owen closed the basement door. “Did you sweep the basement for bugs?” he asked Max.
“We’re clear,” Max said.
Owen nodded for Kit to begin the briefing. “Tremaine Industries provides security and intelligence services to various U.S. government agencies,” Kit said to Rocco. “They’ve been contracted to work on a case out this way involving an Afghan druglord whom Blade, Rocco, and I know quite well-Abdul Baseer al Jahni-and the Wyoming- based organized hate group he’s aligning himself with.” Kit looked at Rocco and Blade.
“Is al Jahni in the country?” Rocco asked.
“We think so. And his hate group of preference is the White Kingdom Brotherhood, or the WKBs.”
Kit sent a look around the room at the rest of the guys. “At the beginning of this year, the three of us, Blade, Rocco and I, executed a kill order to take out a warlord named Ghalib Halim. Rocco had been positioned to collect intelligence on him. Halim wasn’t merely a village elder, a fierce general, and a Taliban officer, he was also a pivotal link in Abdul Baseer al Jahni’s drug trafficking infrastructure. al Jahni replaced him with Amir Hadad. Amir’s a graduate from the University of Colorado. He is the one facilitating al Jahni’s partnership with the WKB to distribute al Jahni’s heroin here in the U.S.”
“What do we know about the WKB?” Kelan asked.
“They’re a white supremacist gang that’s thriving-in prisons and out-in Wyoming and nineteen other states including California, Florida, and Virginia,” Owen answered. “They have about ten thousand members nationally who are not currently incarcerated. They’re making alliances with any criminal group of any racial mix that helps them grow their power network, including the Mexican drug cartels and Afghan druglords.”
“I gave you the identities of the WKBers who got through to Ghalib Halim,” Rocco reminded Kit. “They bragged to us about getting men in their squad killed while on patrols so that they could be taken by Halim’s men. They caused some of the friendly fire incidents that hit the news. The bastards knew being captured was the only way to get close enough for a meeting with Halim. Their allegiance was only to the WKB, never to their units or their country.”
Rocco looked around at the team. No point telling them how easy it was to assume a false identity-they were all masters of that art. “I had the traitors branded before they left Halim’s hospitality. I wanted to be able to find them again if needed. And I made it clear that they were to make a similar mark on their brothers and associates- anyone Halim and al Jahni could trust once they came stateside.”
Kit slowly smiled, holding Rocco’s gaze. “What’s the mark?”
“A crescent moon and star right here,” Rocco said, pointing to the area below his left ear.
“It’ll be interesting to see how pervasive that’s become among the WKBers.” Owen said.
“We believe al Jahni is retaliating against the three of us for the damage we caused his supply chain. He’s learned who we are and where we live, and he’s sending a message to his associates-allies and enemies-that he’ll recoup an eye-for-an-eye if anyone dares move against him. At anytime. In any country. He may be building this into a
“This situation is a Pandora’s Box. If it isn’t quickly contained, there could be a flood of retaliatory actions taken on our soil against our troops, peace officers, and even civilians-families of our warriors. Our warriors’ identities are concealed during missions, but not on base, not from the public, and not from the Afghan askars working with us. Once an enemy knows our name and our point of origin, they have everything they need to hit us hard here at home.”
Kit sent another look around the room, waiting for the full impact of his words to settle in. “Tremaine Industries has been retained to discover who al Jahni’s operatives are, how he manages them, how he put his team together, how he’s funding it. When we have our information, we bring them in for further questioning. We do not, and I repeat-we do not-have kill authority. We take the motherfuckers alive if it’s a kill or capture situation.”
Owen gave Rocco an assessing look. “So now you know what we’re up against. Before we go any further, I need to know if you’re in or out.”
Kit nodded, his expression grim. “Rocco, you met some of the key White Kingdom Brotherhood liaisons. You speak the languages of all the warlords in al Jahni’s network. You’re intimately familiar with their culture, their thinking, and their strategies. We need your knowledge and expertise.”
Rocco met Kit’s hard gaze. Truthfully, he knew he didn’t have what it took to do another long-term undercover assignment. “I’m done, Kit. I can’t go under again like I was.”
“We won’t be sending you overseas,” Owen told him. “We need you here working with us-stateside. I need you to stay in the game.”
Rocco looked away. It was no fucking game. Men’s souls were at stake. But Mandy was also in danger. So were these men and others like them-and their families. He looked around the room at the men Kit had assembled.
Val, Max, and Kelan were men he considered brothers, as were Kit and Blade. The others had to be made of the same steel, forged in the same fire. They had all survived the Program to become Red Team members. Every one of them was a well-honed killing machine. He glanced at Blade, who started to grin.
“Aw, hell. I’m in,” Rocco caved.
Kit came over and shook his hand, pulling him in for a bro hug. “I never thought you were out. Let’s get Mandy down here to go over what’s been happening.”
Mandy walked through the basement door that Owen held for her. She looked around the space that had served various purposes to her family since she was a child, but none this terrifying. In the short time they’d been here, the new team had assembled an entire war room, with maps, white boards, and computers lining the circumference of the rectangular space.
The old rec room, which was large enough for two suites of living room furniture, seemed to shrink in on itself with nine very large warriors in it.
She set her folders on one of the folding tables the team had brought, then went to stand near Rocco. He reached over and took hold of her hand, providing an anchor in a world that had gone crazy.
“Mandy,” Owen started, “as you may have surmised, the problems you’ve been having here aren’t the work of mischievous kids. It’s intentional sabotaging by some enemies of the United States, enemies your brother, Blade and Rocco faced overseas. It’s a big deal, and it’s why we’re here. Those enemies have brought the war stateside, and they’re using it as a distraction to cover their real purpose-growing their drug network.”
Mandy couldn’t hide her shock. She looked from Owen to Kit, then Rocco. Their serious faces drove home the fact that this was a major issue.
“The people in question are teaming up with the White Kingdom Brotherhood. You may have heard of
