“So, what, we’re kidnapping people now?” Everett asks, out of breath.
“No. Maybe? Look, we can’t just leave her there and we can’t kill her. Get her to the PTN and we’ll work it out.”
I pause, realizing that DB is in the room with me, and I probably should have deferred to his judgment. He’s looking at the screen, nodding as he shoots me a quick thumbs-up. I’m not sure if I should take that as a good sign or not, but I’m going with it.
Thane produces a syringe of ketamine and gives her the full dose. Not yet recovered from the stun gun, she stays down. Thane quickly pops her over his shoulder and steps with Everett behind the angle of the door.
The asshole, who drove himself home, stumbles to the front door and lets himself in, unconcerned with the fact that it is not locked. The second he crosses the threshold, Everett comes in behind him, immobilizes him, and injects him with enough potassium to kill a small horse. As the guy begins to seize up, Everett catches him and carefully walks him over to the couch, letting him slump over the arm. After a small eternity, or perhaps just thirty seconds, Everett checks the man’s pulse and nods to himself.
I tap the comms. “Everett, if blood was spilled when you two were getting your asses handed to you by somebody half your size, please make sure to remove that section of sheeting.”
He looks out the window in the direction of Rafi’s scope and tilts his head so I can see his reaction. Still, he pulls a knife from his tactical vest and bends down, cutting out a section of the sheeting in question.
Parker elbows me. “Good call.”
I turn to her and shake my head. “It’s nice to know that I’m capable of at least one good call tonight.”
I reshuffle my papers, my face heating up. Fuck, this is so embarrassing. How the hell did this all go so wrong? How the hell did I miss that she was security and not his assistant?
DB grips my shoulder and I turn to him, biting my lip so hard, I taste blood.
“I know this was a shit-show, but you recovered well, and we still accomplished the mission. We’ll figure out what to do with her, and where we got the intelligence wrong, and we’ll move on. You did a good job tonight. Truly.”
Not sure why he would call that a good job, but I’ll take what I can get.
The next guy we have to take down is a matter of urgency, and that operation will have way more moving parts. Looking at the three-ring circus we just witnessed, I don’t trust myself to get it right from within the walls of the PTN.
“DB, I hate—really, truly hate—asking you this, but I think I need to be in the field for the next op.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t think the East Texas job was enough for me to fully understand the ins and outs of how you do what you do. I’m not chomping at the bit to do this, but I think I need to go on at least one more op—maybe more—so I can make better decisions in this room.”
DB tilts his head left and right, considering it. “It wouldn’t hurt to have an extra pair of hands. And you did damn fine work in East Texas.” He pauses, then nods to himself. “Let’s do it.”
I shake his hand. “Thanks, DB. I just wanna get this right.”
DB grimaces. “You know he’s not going to like it.”
“I know. But it’s not up to him.”
6
Thane
I don’t have much experience with kidnapping someone, but this woman is a total nightmare. And I kind of like her for it.
“Why do I feel so drugged?”
“Because we drugged you.”
“With what? Why did you drug me?”
“Ketamine. Because you were getting in the way of our objective.”
“Which was?”
Finally, I turn to our captive. “Hey, lady. Just in case you didn’t realize, you’re not the person who gets to do the interrogating. If you’re lucky, our boss will interrogate you. If you don’t shut up, my friend will interrogate you, and you don’t want that.”
