“I recruited Rick to Black Squadron four years ago.” Claudio explained. “He is a hell of a SEAL and shit hot at recon and intelligence.”
“Okay…” Noble folded one arm over his chest and rested the fingers of the other against his chin, his fingers stroking through his day-old beard. “What has this to do with what happened and him being kidnapped in Naples?”
“That’s what I am trying to figure out.” Claudio said. “I don’t give a shit what the call records say. We didn’t call you, Rick.”
“Uh, yeah, you did?” Rick spun around to face the screen. “I answered the cell myself, spoke to you.”
“No!” Onscreen, Claudio kept his focus on Rick. “I. Did. Not. Call. You.”
“But…”
“No.” Claudio cut him off. “About two minutes after that call was made to your cell, our tech called me, telling me we had a breach. We hadn’t even figured out who or where, when Bauer called me asking for permission to act in Italy.”
“And when he said it was me he was looking to rescue, our tech knew where to look?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” Rick lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. “How sure are you that I won’t put Red Squadron in danger if I stay here?”
“I’m not?”
There was nobody who could give that guarantee. Red Squadron’s names were on terrorist hit lists all over the world. Someday, someone would come looking for them. That was a fact of life they lived with. It was the price they knew they may have to pay for serving their country in the manner they did. All they could hope to do was to minimize the damage to the people they loved when that day happened.
“Then I’ll go to ground in my backup location.”
Saxon wasn’t surprised that Rick had a bolt hole. Almost everyone within the Spec Ops community did. Usually off grid. Hidden behind offshore accounts or buried under false names.
“It’s compromised.” Claudio looked like he wanted to be telling Rick anything but these details. “It was one of the files accessed.”
“Shit.”
“Then he stays here,” Noble decided. “We tell nobody. Everyone agree?”
“Yes, Sir.” The answers from Red Squadron came so in sync they sounded as one voice.
“I…” Rick coughed as if to clear his throat. “Thank you, I’ll take you up on that.” He looked from Claudio to Noble and back again. “I want permission to go active should the need arise.” In other words, if shit was happening on this case, he did not want to be sidelined.
“I’ll assess it if the need arises.” Noble said.
“If Bauer is sure it doesn’t compromise his team or you,” Claudio said, “Then I have no problem with that.”
“We’ll figure out the logistics later,” Noble told them. “Claudio, you need tech help?”
“Maybe.”
Noble studied his friend on the screen for a second. It had surprised him that he was admitting he may not be able to fix this himself. “I’ll contact some mutual friends and ask them for their help.”
“Who?” Wariness filled Claudio’s voice.
“You’ll know him when he contacts you.” Noble told him. “Verification details will be sent to the place we used before.”
Saxon had no idea what Noble was talking about, but obviously Claudio did. It wasn’t a surprise that Noble and Rick’s boss had ways and means to communicate off the grid. Both looked about the same age. If he had to guess, Claudio came up through SEALs and had probably worked down range with Noble in the past.
“Copy that.” The sound of someone calling his name off screen had Claudio turning his head. He listened for a second before turning back to face them. “I gotta go.”
“Okay.” Noble picked up the remote which would switch off the screen, “Claudio?”
“Yeah?”
