Noah’s heart sank further and further as Murphy droned on and on, talking them through a variety of images, maps and scenarios. This mission was quickly chalking up to be a nightmare, with or without the presence of Tobias and Squad C.
“Finally, know that anything witnessed on this assignment will be highly confidential. All your squads will go through an intense debriefing, where it will be made explicitly clear to them what they can and cannot share about anything discovered on the farm.”
Noah gritted his teeth. From Leonie, he already roughly knew what they’d find there. Clearly, whoever she was working for somehow managed to get them assigned to this mission. Regardless, he didn’t want any part in filming surreptitious recordings. He’d complete the mission, stick to the script, and if Leonie popped back up at the fire pit to shout at him, he’d tell her to go to hell.
“Absolutely Captain,” Tobias’s voice drawled. “We won’t let you down.”
Inwardly, Noah groaned. How would he get through forty-eight hours side-by-side with this obnoxious arsehole? He caught Lowenna’s eye across the table. She raised her eyebrow slightly, her lips twitching. Likely she was thinking the same thing. Perhaps with her in the mix, it wouldn’t be so bad. Or so he could kid himself.
As he left Murphy’s office, an uneasy feeling came over him. His uncle was seemingly a highly wanted man, threatening to reveal state secrets, and now Murphy wanted to send the nephew of that man on a highly classified mission? Something wasn’t adding up, but Noah couldn’t quite put the puzzle pieces together.
twenty-eight
Zeke
Zekebecameincreasinglyawareof Noah’s mood spiralling downwards each day that passed as their Tuesday mission became ever larger on the horizon. He’d been oddly enigmatic about it when he relayed the information from Captain Murphy. Even when Zeke pressed him for more information later, in private, he’d said very little. His irritable, quiet demeanour and snappy temper rubbed off on Squad E, who quickly gave him a wide berth. By the time Monday evening rolled around, he was intolerable.
“You go talk to him, Zeke.”
Frankie, shivering from the light drizzle, leant against a fence alongside Zeke in the training field. A short distance from them, the rest of Squad E formed a tight circle, talking in raised voices with arms crossed. Vitt was gesturing wildly.
They’d been running through low-light target elimination drills when Noah fell into an argument with Brodie Campbell. Apparently, the way Noah did things was too different from his old lieutenant for their new member to cope with. In his late thirties, Brodie was easily the oldest of them, and was not taking well to following orders from a man a decade younger than him. Tensions had risen over the last few days, bubbling over in tonight’s cold, damp evening training session. Zeke hadn’t actually heard their final blows at each other, only Noah announcing the session was over, storming away from Brodie in the compound’s direction, Wolf following at his heel.
“What?” he replied. “Me?”
Even in the fading light, he saw Frankie roll her eyes. “Oh, come off it. You’ve got a better chance than even Vitt of getting him to calm down.”
“I doubt it,” Zeke mumbled, forcing himself to keep his expression neutral.
“Come on. You’ve seen what he’s been like lately. With everyone apart from you, that is. He doesn’t even bother to look up from his breakfast until you come down. Then he’ll at least respond to direct questions.” She shook her head. “Just go and try. Tell him Brodie wants to apologise, and he needs to come back and stop acting like a baby. The others aren’t going to let this behaviour from our CO slide for much longer. I’m not sure what’s going on with him, but we need the old Noah back.”
Zeke peeled himself from the fence, flicking his hood up so he wouldn’t feel the stares of Squad E as he walked past them, following Noah’s path. It didn’t take long to find him sitting hunched over on a bench a few metres down from the wooden gate, Wolf curled up at his feet. Noah’s eyes widened as he sat down next to him.
“You’re making a habit of appearing when I need you.” Noah crumpled into him, balling Zeke’s coat with his fist.
“What’s going on?” He smoothed Noah’s hair back in the particular way that comforted him the most.
Noah sighed against his chest. “He just got under my skin. Kept going on and on about how J does things so much better than us. He acts like I personally petitioned Murphy for him to be transferred to us.”
“It must be shit for him to be fair. I can’t imagine being moved away from you guys.”
“Still. He should focus on building relationships with everyone instead of criticising every instruction I give. That’s what I was telling him before he started shouting back at me a second ago.”
“Write him up then. Show him you mean business.”
Noah slumped down further into him and made a strangled noise. His lack of resilience alarmed him. Months ago, Noah would have laughed off Brodie’s defiance with quiet confidence. Now, his first response was screaming and storming off.
“I can’t go back there. God only knows what everyone thinks now.” Noah groaned, burying his face into Zeke’s neck.
Zeke pulled Noah back upright. “Noah, you need to get your shit together. Seriously. You need to act like our CO. The others are worried about you.”
“They should be. I’m their lieutenant and I’m an absolute mess.”
He calculated his reply. Denying Noah’s words seemed futile. “Even so, they’d still follow you to the ends of the earth if need be. They love you. Maybe you could try and lay off them a little?”
“We’re literally already at the ends of the earth.”
“Well, there’s nobody I would rather be here with than you.” Zeke held Noah’s face in his hands. “We’re going back to face them, together. By now, Habib’s hopefully already threatened to beat some sense into Brodie, anyway.”
