Jagger.
“You have a better idea, Brooks?” she challenged back. “Would you rather the people of Chicago know the details of the danger cartels are attempting to bring into their streets? Or maybe you want to be the one to tell a bunch of worried moms that a drug lord-slash-weapons dealer wants nothing more than to put an Uzi in the hands of their kids.”
The room grew silent. Natalia waited, but when no one else said anything more, she took it as her cue to continue.
“A plan to intercept the shipment of weapons has already been drafted,” she informed the team. “I believe it’s our best course of action, and the appropriate channels agreed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given permission to read any of you in on this until early this morning.” Her head tilted to the side, her focus finding Jagger once more. For his benefit only, she added a sugary sweet, “Hence the last-minute, early-morning pow wow.”
“Touché.” There was a glimmer of something she couldn’t name in his eye as he dipped his rugged chin.
You’re damn right.
“Okay.” Brody cleared his throat and sat up a bit straighter, his short sleeves stretching over his toned biceps as he rested his elbows on the table. “So we’re hitting the port in two days. Only problem I see is that’s a lot of dock space for the six of us to cover.”
“I agree.” Natalia nodded. “That’s why we’re sending in a second team to serve as back-up.”
Several shifted in their seats as they processed the news.
“Second team?” Cade looked at his teammates and back to her. “What team?”
“You’ll each be paired with a member of R.I.S.C.’s new Echo Team.”
A pin could’ve dropped and she would’ve been able to hear it.
“Echo Team?” Liam frowned. “I thought those guys weren’t slated to open up shop for a few more months.”
“They’re not. But McQueen wants a real-time assessment on each one of them before that happens, and Ryker agreed, so…here we are.”
Jake McQueen was not only the creator of R.I.S.C., but until a few years ago, he was also the leader of Alpha Team. While McQueen no longer worked ops in the field, he was still very much the final voice of the renowned organization. It also didn’t hurt that he and Ryker—Natalia’s boss—were thick as thieves.
There was a lot of history between those two. A lot of stories she’d most likely never hear. But from the ones she had heard—and the classified case files she’d personally reviewed—McQueen and Ryker were two of the toughest, most patriotic men to ever grace the face of the earth.
Just like the members of the four private security teams. Including the one she was staring back at, now.
“Since when is it our job to babysit newbies?” Brody grumbled beneath his breath.
“Since McQueen asked us to,” Christian answered before she could. To the group, he further explained with, “He called me this morning with a heads-up, right before I got the call from Agent Foster.”
“So.” Jagger shot her a pointed stare. “When do we get to meet the men of Echo?”
“Men andwoman,” Natalia clarified. “An operative by the name of Gwendolyn Winslow was selected as Echo’s demolitions expert.”
“Sweet.” Liam grinned, sounding impressed.
Rocky seemed to share the other man’s sentiment, though he simply dipped his chin in a stoic nod. “Raegan will be stoked.” The blond wall of muscle referred to his FBI agent wife. “She’s always on me about why Alpha’s the only R.I.S.C. team with a female operative and how we should consider adding a chi…uh…womanto the team.”
Natalia didn’t miss the man’s self-censorship. As if he’d assumed she’d take offense by another woman being referred to as a “chick”.
Please. That’s nothing. Lord knows I’ve been called a hell of a lot worse.
Still, she couldn’t help but appreciate the effort Rocky had put forth to remain professional in her presence.
“From what I’ve been told,” she continued, “not only is Winslow a top-notch explosives expert, she’s also damn good at undercover work. Something that will almost assuredly be required given that Echo will be based out of D.C.”
“No offense to these other guys…a-and gal…” Cade cleared his throat with gusto. “But how can we be expected to pull off an op of this magnitude with a team we’ve never met? I mean, we have no clue how Echo operates, what their skill sets are, their level of experience in the field…”
The man’s trailing doubt was not only expected but warranted. And why Natalia had come to Chicago prepared.
As Cade spoke his concerns, she handed Christian a small stack of manilla folders and motioned for him to take one and pass the rest along.
