“So, since she’s staying at your place, does that mean you guys are dating?” Kirk asked.
Lennox absently thumbed the pages of the closed book in his hand as he considered that. “I’m not sure. I mean, we had fun taking the kids to Legoland and hanging out together, but I don’t think she handled that call from headquarters very well. I get the feeling she doesn’t like the idea of sitting around waiting for me to get home.”
Simon flopped onto the other end of the couch that Kirk was sitting on. “Can you blame her? You finally get to spend time with a woman you like and out of the blue you’re dropped on aplane bound for South America with no clue when you’re coming back or what you’re going to be doing. Not that you could tell her even if you did know. No woman in her right mind would want to put up with that.”
It sounded like Simon spoke from experience. Lennox couldn’t disagree with the guy. Why would a woman put herself through all the crap that came with having a relationship with a SEAL?
“That’s exactly why I don’t get into serious relationships,” Kirk said wisely.
“Is that why you volunteered for that new classified training program?” Colt asked. “Because you have no one waiting back home for you?”
Lennox would be interested in knowing the answer to that too. The selection process for this secretive training program was all anyone in SEAL Team 5 could talk about lately. Mostly because no one had a clue what the training would entail or why headquarters was being so tightlipped with the details. It wasn’t like every SEAL on the team didn’t already have a Top-Secret clearance. Why couldn’t they know anything about the training until they’d already been selected?
To make things even more bizarre, the people running the training had limited their search to Darwin, Simon, and Kirk’s platoon only.
“It’s part of the reason I volunteered,” Kirk admitted. “Though to be honest, it’s mostly the chance to be involved in something challenging and exciting.”
If you were SEALs like they were, then challenging and exciting was pretty much your life.
“I thought no one knew what this training program was about,” Lennox said. “How do you know it’s going to be challenging and exciting?”
“Well…that’s true…Idon’tknow what I’ll be doing,” Kirk said. “But the fact that they’re being so selective means it has to be awesome, right?”
Colt snorted. “I’m not sure if that logic is valid. But hey, if volunteering for something you know absolutely nothing about is your thing, go for it.”
Lennox looked at Darwin. “Did you toss your name in the hat too?”
“Yeah,” Darwin said. “I figured it might fun.”
Lennox glanced at Simon. “What about you?”
“Sure did.” Simon grinned. “I had to. Kirk and I have been side-by-side since BUDs. I couldn’t let him take off on this adventure on his own.”
Lennox got that. He and Colt had gone through the hell that was SEAL training together, so he’d have no problem volunteering for something if his friend did, even if he didn’t know what the training involved. Swim buddies for life.
“We have two vehicles approaching,” Darwin announced from his position by the window. “Looks like we’re finally going to find out what we’re doing in Brazil. Unless this isn’t the CIA and they’re here to kill us.”
“Way to look on the bright side, Darwin,” Lennox muttered.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“This whole thing doesn’t add up,” Colt said softly from where he and Lennox hid in the darkness behind one of the warehouse’s heavily cluttered shelves. “The CIA drags the five of us all the way down here to Brazil claiming they need our help dealing with a new international terrorist organization and yet they have us sitting on an unguarded building on the edge of the city while Joe Hawkins and his SOG Team are covering a high-security target filled with precious metals and uncut gemstones in Cuiaba’s industrial zone?”
“Well, Joe did say that this new terrorist group likes to run heists in the same city they recently attacked to help fund future operations,” Lennox murmured from where he leaned against the wall. “And with that bombing at the sustainable energy company in the city’s main square two days ago, I assume the CIA probably thinks there’ll be a theft soon.”
“That still doesn’t explain what we’re doing here. I somehow doubt this new terrorist organization is going to waste their time stealing a bunch of cheap DVD players and black-market movies.”
To emphasize his point, Colt nudged one of the boxes on the nearest shelf, snorting as a thin plastic case fell out, revealing a picture ofRoboCop.
“You’re not wrong there,” Lennox agreed. He hadn’t even been born yet when that movie came out. Why would anyone need a box of them? “Which is why I’m hoping this is a case of Joe and his SOG team wanting to take the more obvious target while leaving us with the less likely location.”
Colt snorted. “Nice to be part of the team. And if that was a bet, I’d take it. Joe hid it pretty well, but those other guys on the Special Operation Group weren’t thrilled to see us here, regardless of how badly they need our help.”
Lennox silently agreed. He thought back to the briefing Joe, the senior operative in charge of the SOG Team, had given them back at the house. According to him, there was a new player in the international terrorist game—or an old player under new management. Either way, this new group had been connected to multiple bombings, targeted assassinations, and high-payoff thefts throughout South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. All of the operations, especially the heists, had been conducted with cold, calculated military efficiency. And the group’s MO seemed to be one high-profile attack followed by one extremely lucrative heist.
Apparently, nobody had taken credit for any of the attacks or thefts yet. Which was strange since the most modern terrorist organizations thrived on headlines and attention. There was also the fact that the bombings and assassination targets didn’t come close to matching the normal terrorist MO. Most of the time, terrorists went after large groups of people in open, easily accessible areas with little risk. Other times, they’d strike at symbols and political leaders of the opposition they rejected and hated. All of the attacks would be designed with one major goal—to make a big splash in the news in order to sow as much fear and doubt as possible.
But this new group seemed to focus on behind the scene political operatives and powerful corporations from the energy,defense, banking, pharmaceutical, and technology sections. It was a bewildering target list, and the CIA had been trying to find a connection between them for months with no luck.
