“I also need to get documentation. I don’t know what that means, but apparently, I need a birth certificate and some other things.”
Ellis lifted her hand and waved it. “Oh, I have some free days. I can drive you around.”
“Okay. That sounds good.”
Clove met her gaze and smiled. “Like I said, we’ve got you covered.”
Flora nodded, feeling weird having to ask for help but hopeful that they could really help her. She lifted the glass of wine and sniffed, surprised by the scent. She took a sip and almost gagged.
“Oh my goodness, that is awful,” Flora said between coughs.
They all chuckled and some of them nodded. “It’s an acquired taste, which means some people find it awful,” Ellis said.
Clove took the glass from her. “Yes, it’s not required you drink. How about some juice instead?”
“I don’t think I’ve had juice, either.”
“Well, you’re in luck because Neo still likes some juices.”
Clove poured some juice into a glass that was made from three fruits she’d never heard of. It tasted much better than the wine. None of the women were making fun of her for drinking juice. Social pressure in the community where she’d grown up was huge, but these women didn’t seem to exert any pressure. They accepted her as she was.
She hoped other people would accept her. If she learned a skill and got a job, would the people she worked with make fun of her? There was so much she still needed to learn.
15
Qhated leaving Flora at home, but the guys promised their women would help her out. She had come from such a strange world and was having to face living in the real world alone. He knew he needed to push the worry away and focus on the job at hand, but he was having a hard time getting over the worry.
“Hey, you okay?” Rider asked as he took a seat next to him.
The flight to Brazil had been long, but now they were on the ground, doing last-minute planning to take out the jerks who were trying to make their lives hell.
“I’m good. I just need to push away the worry.”
“Yeah, you do. I know when Andie came to live with me, it was the first time I ever had to leave someone I cared about at home. I can promise you that Andie and the rest of the women will look after her. She will be fine. They won’t let anything bad happen to her.”
He nodded. “I know. Thank you for coming over and confirming it. I need to keep my head in the game. I swear, I’m going to focus and get past this.”
“Good. Do whatever you need to now because we are about to start, and we don’t have room for your thoughts to be elsewhere.”
“I’m good. Or I will be by the time we go.”
Rider stood and patted him on the shoulder before he walked off. Q closed his eyes, pushing away the fear as he focused. Before becoming a SEAL, he hadn’t been into meditation, but he’d learned the value of clearing his mind before a mission. He needed to push away everything outside work before they got into a hot zone. Just being in Brazil was dangerous. The Brazilian military was badass, and they could have handled this on their own, but they wanted the US military here to take the jerk running the group out of their country. If he had been imprisoned in Brazil, he would still have connections in prison. They needed him gone so he couldn’t call the shots.
When he finished centering his mind, he joined the rest of the group. They were having a last meal before heading out. They had the most up-to-date information on the group’s location and were ready to roll out.
Just as they were about to leave, their contact with the Brazilian military came in. “Hold up. We received word there was a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Rider asked.
“The compound is on fire.”
“What?” Rider shook his head, and the rest of them groaned.
“What the hell happened?” Trip asked.
Q hated missions like this. He hated it when things went to hell. How the heck could they have screwed up so much? Had anyone known this would happen? Q glanced around, checking their surroundings. “This isn’t an ambush, is it?”
Their contact shook his head. “I can assure you it isn’t an ambush.”
