Sin shook her head. “Deb, I can’t allow you to—”
“I’ve spent the past eight years in the Navy. I didn’t become an officer and a surgeon to fix papercuts and pick splinters out of some Colonel’s pinkie while he or she stares at my rack. I’m coming with you and that’s that.”
“I think I’m in love,” Johnson mumbled.
Sin stared Deb down but said nothing in rebuttal. Turning back to the table, she said, “Remember, no one kills Onyx. You leave him to me. I want eyes on him if possible, but no one takes him out.”
Garcia stood up, arched his back, and stretched. “You lead, we follow, Boss Lady.”
“Like old times,” Marcus grinned.
“Only difference,” Wilson said, “is in the past we all had weapons.”
Garcia padded his chest and pants and held up his on-duty semi-automatic. “I knew something was missing. This pea-shooter is kind of useless.”
“Follow me,” Sin said.
“I’ve stayed quiet up till now,” Frank said, “but I have serious concerns about this plan.”
“Oh.” Sin said.
“You can’t shoot up an entire city block without guaranteeing that there won’t be any civilian casualties.”
“I haven’t guaranteed anything, Director,” Sin said. “Maybe it’s time you headed back to Washington. If you hurry, you might be able to catch a ride on Air Force One.”
Sin didn’t wait for a response, she just spun on her heels and took the stairs two at a time.
Frank was about to go after her when he was stopped by Fletcher. He went to jerk his suit coat from Fletcher’s grasp but Fletch wasn’t letting him go.
“Let her go,” Fletch said.
“I can’t in good conscience let her proceed with this mission,” Frank said.
“You don’t have a choice.”
“What do you mean?”
“You can pull her creds, hell, you can pull all our creds, but it won’t stop her. It won’t stop any of us.”
Frank leaned back against the large table and looked around at the men. “You know her better than probably anyone, help me out here. Help me understand what makes her tick.”
“Justice,” Fletcher said.
“Family,” Garcia added.
Everyone nodded.
Frank just stared back at them. “Isn’t that what drives us all?”
“It’s not the same,” Fletcher said. Not with Sin.”
“I don’t understand,” Frank said.
Fletcher leaned his back against the table next to Frank. “Have you ever seen Sin in action? On a mission?”
“In simulation.”
Fletch shook his head. “Not the same.”
“Then, no. I haven’t.”
“If you did, you wouldn’t question her. Not her ways or her motives. I know you think she is fiery and uncontrollable, but out there, in the field,” Fletch said, “she is a storm, a tsunami—”
“That’s my point,” Frank said.
Fletcher wagged his finger at him. “Let me finish. The field of battle is where Sin is in her element. She is a controlled storm at all times.”
“It’s beautiful to see,” Garcia chimed in.
Frank crossed his arms and stared down at his wingtips.
“Do you know how she got her moniker?” Fletch said.
Frank lifted his head. “No. I just figured it had to do with all the bodies she leaves in her wake.”
“That’s what most people think. What Sin wants them to think.”
“But?” Frank said.
“Garcia, you tell him,” Fletch said.
“I gave Sin her moniker after she saved my life for the third time. I can’t explain it, no one here can; although, we’ve all experienced it. It’s like she truly is an angel. Just when you know it’s your time to meet your maker, she’s there. Saving your life.”
Frank eyed the room. All of her team were nodding.
“Her name, La Perla Ángel de la Muerte, isn’t because she takes lives, it’s because she saves them. She is the angel that keeps death away.”
“I don’t know what’s going on down there,” Sin yelled from the top of the stairs, “but the tea-party is over. Meet me in the library, pronto.”
Fletch tapped Frank on the back. “Think about what you just heard and make your decision. Either way, you have our respect.”
Frank was the last to leave the room. At the top of the stairs, Sin and the team were waiting. “I have one more concern with this mission,” Frank said.
“Yeah?”
“I’m concerned I’m not part of it. I’ll tag on with Team Alpha.”
The team was silent. All eyes on Sin.
Sin’s eyes brightened. “Thanks, Frank. We can use all the manpower we can get.”
Once everyone had made their way to the library, Sin opened the top drawer of file cabinet next to the desk. She reached in and found a button that was recessed under the front lip of the drawer. As she depressed the button, she eyed the wall to her left and heard a barely audible click. Moving to the wall, she ran her fingers along the seam between two boards until she felt the spot where she could get a finger-grip on the edge. She pulled on the board until the well-oiled hinges started to do all the work for her.
As the wall opened, she could see the bright florescent light click on behind it. With the door all the way open, she stood, hands on her hips and stared at an armory that would make any survivalist or militia weak in the knees.
“Clothing is on the left. Everyone is in a black t-shirt, black fatigues, and boots. Garcia, Wilson, Moesly,” she said, “sniper rifles on the back wall. Spotters, grab what you need. Everyone else, arm yourselves with what you’re comfortable with. I want each of you carrying at least one flash-bang and one cannister of smoke. The live grenades are on the far wall. We don’t know how heavily armed the Black 6 are, but from what we’ve witnessed so far, we know automatic weapons are part of their arsenal. I don’t want explosives used unless you have no other choice, but I want you carrying just in case.
Each man entered the vault, took what he needed and nothing more. Sin was last. She took a set of throwing knives off the wall and clipped them
