Rylee pulled the door open. “Agreed. Neesa’s here. Let me bring her up to speed, and we’ll stay in touch. I do need the cargo capacity ASAP, please.” And Rylee ended the call.
“Nice T-shirt,” Neesa said with a wink.
“Isn’t it?”
“Have fun last night?”
“Neesa, why are you here?”
“Mandy and I were going to Dos Chicas for breakfast when we got a call from Logistics. They need to spin up fast-response teams for a major seismic event in Turkey.”
“I was just on the phone with Hailey. They’re deploying Cerberus Bravo. I have first steps. Wait, you weren’t going to ask me to brunch? It’s literally two blocks away.”
“When Mandy drove by, I saw Dakota’s car, so I figured if I knocked on the door, you’d be busy.” Neesa elbowed her. “Orgettin’ busy. I wasn’t going to interrupt.”
“You know Dakota’s car?” Rylee looked up and down the street.
“I saw you drive off on the Day of the Dead, Potomac version.
“Okay. Where’s Mandy?”
“Parking and coming here. She has her work computer—here she is.” Neesa lifted her hand and waved. “Mandy! We’re here. Let’s go, girl. This is supposed to be a fast response team.”
As Mandy jogged up, Dakota came out of her bedroom dressed and shaven, Tank by his side.
Rylee walked over to him. “Sorry for the early morning chaos.” She rubbed a finger down his jawline.
“I saw a package of razors in your medicine cabinet last night. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Help yourself.”
“You’re spooling up?” he asked.
“Earthquake along the Turkish-Syrian border,” Neesa called out. “Good morning. This is Mandy.”
“Has everyone eaten?” Dakota asked as the women walked into the living room.
“No one,” Rylee said, heading toward her kitchen. “Is there any leftover pizza?”
“There is. But why don’t I dig around and get something on the table for you?” Dakota asked.
“Yes, please,” Neesa said. “Prioritize the coffee, though. Thank you, Dakota.”
“I’ll get that done, then I’ll take off.” Dakota picked up the coffee pot and held it under the filtered waterspout on her fridge. “Once I have you all fed, I need to run Tank before he gets the zoomies.”
Rylee came up on her toes and kissed him. “I appreciate everything.”
Neesa and Mandy were already setting up their computers at Rylee’s table.
Over eggs and toast with roasted vegetables and coffee, Rylee left a message for Casey Andrews, letting him know he had a spot on the forward team and to please call her as soon as he got the message.
“Azaz is minutes away on paper. It’s quite a bit farther to get to a regulated border crossing,” Mandy said.
“How is the stability in Azaz right now?” Neesa asked.
“Volatile. The intelligence report says various armed actors are posing political and security risks. They use words like fragile.”
“That’s never good,” Neesa said, nibbling on her toast.
