“Don’t let it go to your head.” Kawan’s smile disappeared. “Now, tell us what happens when this plan of yours goes to shit.”
“It’s not going to.” Lark looked him dead in the eye. “But isn’t that why you’re here? To be my safety net. To get me and my team out if bullets start flying?” She squeezed the ball in the palm of her hand. Sending an evac team was one thing. Sending a team who’d expected to be part of the mission? And the orders came from someone higher than Lorre? That meant either Lorre didn’t believe this mission would succeed under her command. Or that there was chatter she didn’t know about. Or someone else decided they didn’t completely trust her.
Based on past actions, it wasn’t out of the question.
“That’s what they told us.” Kawan stepped closer. Four hours’ notice, vague orders, classified briefing. We were sent in fast and quiet.
“What are you implying?” She held his gaze, knowing damn well where his head was at. Someone—Lorre—believed the mission was doomed. He had Grady send in the cavalry, making it look like it wasn’t him, because if she pulled it off, Grady’s the one who looked like an asshole. But if she didn’t, Lorre would still have the communication trail with Grady regarding sending in a SEAL team so late in the game.
He inhaled sharply, like he always did when he didn’t want to tell her the truth. “It’s not about trust, it’s about insurance.”
“Alright,” Thor said, stepping forward, diffusing the growing tension. “We’ve got your six. Just don’t keep us in the dark when the fuse is lit, and we’ll run the best evac plans both from the hangar and from town. As well as one or two mid-mission runs. I’ll get backup from the air. There are two places close by we can land a bird if necessary, as well as right here, and the other half of our unit isn’t too far away. You know the drill.”
“That I do.” Lark arched a brow, a slight smirk teasing the corner of her mouth. “Oh, Lieutenant Commander Armstrong,” she said, her tone dry. “The fuse was lit the minute that tech went on the black market by an unknown source inside the company.” She turned to the rest of the room, “Now it’s just a matter of who burns first. My team will fill you in on the rest of the details.” Spinning on her heel, she headed for her office, ears attuned to the noise her shoes made.
The sound of boots hitting the floor echoed behind her, but she didn’t need to glance over her shoulder to know exactly who followed.
Kawan.
Shit.
She'd hoped the mission prep would keep them too busy for private conversations.
She should’ve have known better.
2
MAKESHIFT HQ, SOUTH AMERICA
Kawan took off across the hangar with his heart pulsating in his throat.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Thor stepped out in front of Kawan.
“Ten minutes. That’s all I need.” Kawan glared at his team leader.
“To do, what, exactly?” Thor lowered his chin and arched a brow. “Because the last time I left the two of you alone in a room?—”
Kawan didn’t need a history lesson. “She’s a bundle of nerves. We need to know why.”
Thor’s jaw flexed as he glanced over his shoulder. “She’s got a lot riding on this mission, and then we show up, blindsiding her. I’d be putting my fist through a wall if I were in her shoes.”
“I know how she operates, and something besides all that has her teetering on the edge. We’ve both seen her handle pressure before. Watched her completely turn a mission around on a dime minutes before execution. This isn’t about orders not coming in a timely manner or being vague. It’s not even about using the AI. Something else has her standing on a cliff.” Kawaninched to the left. “Trust me when I say we need to know what that is, or we won’t be able to assist her and this team.”
Thor scratched the side of his face. “Can you keep this strictly professional?”
“I’m only concerned with why Lark’s vibrating off the wall,” Kawan said. “Because the last time she was like that, the mission literally went up in smoke, and two good men died.”
“That wasn’t Lark’s fault.”
“I know. I was there, too;” Kawan said. He remembered it like it was yesterday. Everything had been running smoothly. No red flags. He and his team were in place, waiting… watching… and then out of nowhere, an enemy convoy flew over the dunes and bullets erupted from everywhere. Lark hadn’t just carried the weight of two of her men dying. It was the civilian casualties that had affected her the most. It haunted her for months. Knowing her, it still did.“Something has her hackles up, and we need to know what that is.”
Thor stepped aside, waving his hand. “Just don’t piss her off.”
“That, I can’t guarantee.” Kawan strode off toward Lark.
She still moved like a storm disguised as a woman.
She didn’t walk—she prowled, coiled tension in every step. Her dark, shoulder-length hair was pulled back in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Her olive skin had darkened a tad from the South American sun. And her green eyes glimmered with questions—as usual.
