Brodick planned to auction her off to the highest bidder. The girl was only twelve. What the fuck was wrong with people?
On the monitor, Curtis signaled that it was my turn to speak, so I stood at the head of the table, looking at the other agents around me. They were all good men. I’d worked with most of them on missions before. The only one I didn’t really know was Matt Williams. He was from the Canadian Secret Service. Pretty quiet, but he did his job and did it well.
“All right, so we have the location of the girl. This is the compound.”
I clicked the remote and accessed the map. “The girl is the priority. We would like to capture Brodick, but that’s not priority number one. The girl’s safe recovery is, so we don’t go in hot. I repeat,” I said as I glanced at Rhodes, “we do not go in hot.”
Rhodes threw up his hands. “Fuck, you know how to cripple someone’s hard-on, don’t you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Team one, you’ll go in here.” I pointed on the monitor to the east entrance. “Supported to the south by team two. Team three, you’ll be on the west side. You will have the difficult task of clearing us an exit. We cannot leave the scene in the same way we came in.”
One of the other agents, Bill Garret, raised his hand. “Right, who’s getting the girl out?”
I nodded. “One of you will need to get her to me over here,” I marked the spot on the map, “and we will all exit that way. The rest of you,” I circled another egress route, “will go out this way. Hopefully, they won’t be chasing you. But if we’re discovered and they give chase, that’s where they’ll go to follow you, and we will get the girl out through the other egress point. There is an airstrip over here, about five clicks out.” I pointed to the northern end of the compound.
There were nods all around. Matt Williams raised his hand. “You’re not going in?”
“No, I’ll stay out this time around.”
Curtis nodded on screen. “We all have our roles.”
Matt scowled at me, and I frowned. What the fuck was that about? I barely knew the bloke.
“Any other questions?”
There was silence around the table, so I continued. “Updates are on your tablets. We know the auction will happen in forty-eight hours, and they’re planning for it to be live and in person. There will be some heavy hitters present as well. Again, their capture is not our immediate concern. We are planning to go in tomorrow, the day before the auction, when we know for sure they will have the girl on the premises. If other targets can be captured that’s fine, but if it turns into a firefight, we have clearance to eliminate them. But I’ll remind you again that the safe extraction of the girl is our prime directive.”
Everyone nodded their assent, and then I ended the meeting.
When Rhodes stood, he grinned at me. “Look at you, leading mission briefs and everything.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been doing this for months.”
“Yeah, you have. But you’re starting to settle into your skin a little. The look is good on you, mate.”
I lifted a brow. “Ah, you slipped into a mate there.”
Rhodes frowned. “Fuck. Don’t tell Curtis. He’ll make me go in for retraining.”
No one ever wanted to go back for retraining. Two retraining sessions and you were removed from assignment. Rumor was that when agents were decommissioned that way, no one ever saw them again.
It worked in everyone’s favor if you lived and breathed your training and had zero slips.
Rhodes had nothing to worry about with me. I knew he was solid. “You’re fine, mate. Question for you. What’s Matt’s problem? He seemed displeased when he asked me that question.”
“He’s miffed about the mission at the Bacchanal. And he went to Curtis about it.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“He said you were distracted. Off mission script. If it makes you feel better, I don’t think it’s personal. He had a partner die six months ago. Jack something or other.”
I frowned. “Jack Abbott was his partner?”
Rhodes nodded. “Yeah. The mission lead had other shit going on, and he lost his focus. Jack got killed. So Matt’s probably just putting you through your paces.”
“Bloody fantastic. All right, I’ll deal with him later.”
He nodded. “Were you distracted at the Bacchanal though?”
Yes. I’d been worried about Lyra. “No, I wasn’t distracted.”
“You sure? Your new girlfriend wasn’t a distraction?”
I stopped and stared. “For months, you, Michael, Curtis, Command, everyone has been riding me to get with the program. Get settled with someone and evened out. And what, now you’re giving me the third degree?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Look, a partner is meant to be your show piece. The pressure release valve. You can’t pick someone you actually want an emotional connection with. Fuck them all you want, but you need someone you can compartmentalize. You’re not meant to fucking fall in love and shit. You clock?”
I frowned at that. I did clock what he was saying. I just had no interest in it. “I like her. There’s something about her, but I’m not falling for her.”
Liar.
“Good. Then you won’t mind a double date.”
“With you and Pam? No thank you.”
He chuckled low. “It’s not a request, bro.” He was back to his Americanisms.
My gut clenched. “Fuck. Seriously?”
Rhodes shrugged. “Yeah man, I’m sorry. After the mission, I’m supposed to do an assessment for Curtis. See if this woman is capable of compromising you.”
“The target got away, but she had nothing to do with it.” I realized my voice was rising, and I quickly modulated.
“Yes, it happens. Don’t worry about it. Like you said, she’s
