“What did Rylee call it?” Jasper asked.
“Devil cash?” Dakota said. “As soon as he hears rumblings about counterfeit money, he attaches to one of the other disaster groups. Neesa and Rylee said cash is king, but the U.S. dollar is the pope. He probably has no idea his face is on film. The WorldCares body cams are integrated with their radios on their shoulders.”
“You think he’ll bite?” Kumar asked. “He’s pretty close in Israel.”
“He’d have to have a way of knowing which teams are going where,” Jasper said. “Friend? Ally?”
“WorldCares has an up-to-date website,” Dakota said, bending to take the towel back from Tank, who was lying on the cement floor, gnawing on it. “Their being wheels up for Turkey is already on their front page. They need people to know where to donate their dollars. So if I were a betting man, I’d lay a wager he’ll be there. If—and this is a big if—he has the counterfeit currency with him to exchange.”
“Call Hailey over at Iniquus,” Jasper said. “See if you can’t get your ass on that plane.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Hailey
Sunday
The plane had made it as far as Amsterdam.
While they were refueling and changing to a tactical aviation team that was comfortable going into an orange zone and camp on the plane until the Iniquus protectees were evacuated, Rylee went inside to use the bathroom and buy a salad and some fruit.
It would be a while before she’d have access to fresh produce again.
She jumped out of line when her phone rang, and she saw it was Casey Andrews’s number.
“Where are you?” Rylee asked, scampering away from the crowd to stand in an empty corner.
“I’m not telling you,” he laughed.
“Well, I’m in Amsterdam, and I was told we’re waiting for another passenger. I hoped it would be you. Is it you?”
“I’m sorry, but no,” Casey said. “Langley caught me up on the shit show you and the Secret Service are putting up with. Sorry about that. Listen, until it’s solved, Langley doesn’t want me to wear your logo or connect with your people.”
Rylee gasped. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Operational integrity. I can’t get called into a courtroom. My name can’t go into anyone’s news article.”
“No.” Rylee moved her hand to her throat. “I understand that. I would never knowingly endanger you. But selfishly, I feel like your not being with us is putting my team in danger.”
“Was my showing up part of your risk calculation, Rylee?”
“On paper? No. In my head, absolutely. WorldCares classifies the village we’re heading toward as orange. With the breadth of the quake impact, I’m concerned.”
“Could you reroute to a different assignment?
“We’ve agreed to work in proximity with an Iniquus team, and we’re on their plane with our supplies filling the hold. So sure, we could bail, but that might burn bridges of trust. We go into the orange areas. Everyone knows there’s risk in this job.”
“Look, it’s not up to me. I can’t go. But I can pull the intelligence I have on the area and send it to you to share with your team and Iniquus. Iniquus goes in contractually, which means they’d crawl under flying bullets to save their protectees. It won’t change anything for them except an awareness level, and possibly your adrenaline load. Sorry, they’re calling my plane. I’ve gotta go. I’ll send that information on. Stay frosty.”
Rylee blinked at her phone.
Well, shit.
Closing her eyes to compose a text that everyone would understand but wouldn’t reveal anything to those outside the loop, Rylee texted Hailey and Neesa:Refueling in Amsterdam.Heard from our friend who wears the WC logo. He can’t deploy with us until this $ issue is solved. He will share what he knows about the area.
When her phone rang, Rylee expected it to be Neesa. Instead, she saw John Madoc’s name. “Hey John, if you’re calling because your ears were burning the other day, I was thinking about you.”
“Hello, Rylee. You were?” John asked.
