Castello knew his eyebrows had risen at that little nugget of information, before he shrugged as if he didn’t give a shit one way or the other. He figured it was a ruse to give whoever was coming to meet them time to get to the gate. He scratched Balas under the chin, making the dog groan out loud in pleasure. “Good boy.” Castello crooned to the dog as he waited for an update.
“You rock at riding shotgun, buddy.”
“Okay, Mr. Moran,”the woman said,“you are cleared to enter. Tellyour guys we need to see each of their faces.”
Shit, Zack was not going to like that. Still, most of Panther had seen his face a few months ago. “Yes, Ma’am.” Castello told her, “Ignore the grumpy one driving, his face is set in a permanent scowl.”
The sound of the woman’s soft laughter made Castello smile.
“Don’t you worry about grumpypants, Mr. Moran, I have a coupleof my own that I handle just fine.”
Castello filed that little nugget of information away; if she had a couple of grumps, then this likely made the woman Allie Kennedy… Right? Sister of Micah and life partner of Grif and Rock. He swiftly sent a text message to Sage, telling him to have them all step out of the vehicle so their identification could be verified. They would grumble and bitch about it, but they would do it. Every single one of them understood the risks. They knew Delta Operators, even former ones, were on every terrorist hit list across the globe. In the mirror he could see the doors of Zack’s truck opening.
Boss?
The rapid response from Sage told Castello that his guys weren’t too happy at this development.
Asses out of the damn truck now.Castello swiftly sent back via
message.That’s an order.
The phone pinged again, indicating he had another message, he glanced at the screen,
…
Castello stared at the message from Zack in confusion,What the fuckdoes ‘dot, dot, dot’ mean?
“Are you okay there, Mr. Moran,”the woman asked,“are y’all goingto sit there all day? If so, will you let me know so I can ask the boys tofeed my kid while we wait for your team to find their… er… courage?”
“No, Ma’am,” Castello blew out a breath, he could hear by the laughter in the woman’s voice that courage was the last word she had wanted to use.
She probably wanted to say, ‘if his guys could find their balls,’ but was trying to be polite. “Damn it,” if the assholes wouldn’t get out of the truck by themselves, then maybe they would if he put his ass in the line of fire. After all, their focus had been to cover his butt for the last few years. He leaned across and pulled on the handle next to Balas, “Out you go, buddy.” As soon as the dog’s paws hit the ground, he opened his own door and stepped out. He was going to kick their fucking asses. Castello took two steps toward the truck carrying his guys before the door opened.
“Get your asses up here.”
Finally! His team emerged from the truck as if they were on a mission in the sandbox. Weapons at ready, covering each other.
“Mr. Moran, are you planning an invasion or a meeting?”
“A meeting, Ma’am.” Castello gestured to the camera mounted on the gate post. “Get your asses up there, so the good lady can verify who you assholes are.”
Sawyer stepped up to the gate and gave the camera a cheeky grin, “Tell Hawkeye there better be cookies.”
“Hello, Sawyer,”the red light on the corner of the camera blinked to green,“Micah is waiting to meet you.”
Sawyer’s teeth flashed as he grinned at the camera, “Hawk got his ass kicked for not telling Micah and Creed about me, huh?”
“Just a little.”
“Good.” Sawyer raised his hand in a mock salute and stepped back to allow Connor in his place.
“You are verified too, Mr. Nash.”
Connor moved aside, making room for the next Lynx member in line.
Rafe whistled to Balas, calling his dog back from where he was sniffing at the gate to stand at his side in front of the camera.
“I recognize you and Balas, Mr. Anderson. Your dog is the one whotook down the intruder on the White House lawn a couple of years ago?”
