“Good, you’re here.”
Cade nodded in response to Rock’s statement and let out a slow breath when his eyes landed on Rio. He was in one piece, which with these two was a bonus. But any relief he felt at seeing him, retreated under a hail of fury when he spotted the devastation in his man’s eyes. “You okay?” He turned his gaze from Rio, missing his answering nod, to Rock and Grif. One of them was going to get punched. The only thing that stayed his hands and kept his fists at his side was the slight pause he needed to decide which one to hit first.
“You are going to have to use words,” Rock eyed his coms tech, but directed his dry comment to Rio, “I don’t think he saw you tell him you are okay.” He kept his gaze on Cade. He got where the Australian was coming from, but if he punched him, he would be doing triple PT for a fucking month.
“Cade?” Rio leaned far enough sideways to reach him, and tugged on his sleeve, “I’m okay, swear.”
“Then what is wrong?” Cade’s words were clipped. He struggled to tamp down on the irrational rage. Damn it, Rock and Grif were family. He should not want to kick their asses for something his logical side knew was necessary.
“They confirmed everything I already knew,” Rio lifted one shoulder in a shrug, “Knowing it and hearing it laid out step by step… two different things.”
“Sit down, dumbass.” Rock pointed at the chair next to Rio, “We only told him shit he needed to know.”
“But—”
“Plant your ass,” Rock grumbled, “Before you start bitching, he has agreed to help us figure out the players.”
“You are staying?” Cade spun to look at Rio.
“Yes, for now.” Rio lifted one shoulder, “I may not know much, but I will tell you what I do know.”
“Give him the suite next to yours.” Rock scrawled his signature on the relevant paperwork, “And set him up with a level four access code.”
Yes!Doing an inward fist pump, Cade nodded at his boss. This had to be one of the few times ever he struggled to keep his expression blank. No need to give Rock and Grif any more reasons to bust his balls. “Yes, Sir.”
Level four access codes would give Rio the ability to move more or less freely around Dreamland, except for the level where Rock, Grif, and Allie had their family suite and a couple of other levels which required top secret clearance to enter. Level four was typically given to other visiting special ops teams, most recently Castello Moran and his Task Force.
“Here,” Rock opened a drawer and pulled out one of the blank access cards that Cade would need to format. “You’ll need to order more of those.”
“Yup,” Cade made a mental note to do so. “Fingerprint-locked access cards were difficult to come by here in Mexico, I’ll put them on the list for our next supply drop.”
Rock folded his hands in front of them, and glanced at Grif, who still stood behind them near the door, a silent conversation going on between them. He huffed out a breath as if what he was about to say annoyed the hell out of him. “Are you two going to cause me shit?”
“Uh—No,” Rio stumbled over his response.
“Probably.” Cade didn’t want to lie. He didn’t know if Rio was aware of the rules POTUS had put in place since the fuck up in Lebanon, but he figured giving Rock and Grif a heads up was better than blindsiding them.
“Here,” Rock gestured to the secure laptop in front of him, “do your thing so we can get back to work.”
Cade didn’t need telling twice, he rounded the desk and entered his safety lock code. As soon as Rock and Grif did the same within a five-minute window all the computers in the War - Room would be operational again.
“You want me to put him to work straight away or can we grab his gear and bring it to his suite?”
“What things?” Rio gestured to himself. “What you see is what I have. When I brought you here, I didn’t know I was staying.”
“Fit him with gear from storage.” Grif hit return on the keyboard. “We should have enough shit there until we do a supply run.”
“Is there anything you need from your house?” Cade figured it was better to ask the question here in front of his bosses. At least this way, he could have approval if they needed to go back.
“No,” Rio shook his head, “Everything there is replaceable, except the house itself. And I can’t really bring that here.”
“Fuck, don’t say that,” Rock grumbled, “Lover boy there will want to find a way to make it possible.” He waved toward the door, “Go on, get sorted and then we can get to work in the morning.”
“Roger that, Boss.” Cade practically dragged Rio out of the chair and hustled him toward the door. He didn’t want to give his bosses a chance to change their minds. Rock rarely, if ever, allowed outsiders to come to Dreamland. Before he pulled the door shut behind them, he turned to look Rock straight in the eye. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Rock shrugged as if he hadn’t done shit, “Don’t fuck it up.”
* * *
