“I didn’t choose.” the blond at the wall said. “Can I get a refund?”
“I threw away the receipt long ago.”
“Jesus, all y’all are like a bunch of damn hens.” Noble bitched at them. “Shut the fuck up and focus. There are others on site.” he told Rick. “You’ll meet them as we go along.”
“I’m a gonna need those name tags you spoke about.”
“You and me both.” Noble agreed. “Red Squadron is expanding. We keep adding people or bringing them home like strays and they refuse to leave.”
“Hey,” Luc called from his place next to Roman. “I resemble that remark and Iamon leave.”
“Not when you are gearing up and going out with my team, you’re not.”
“Bah.”
“And Noah is…?” Rick needed them to get on with things. He wanted to know what was happening and who the players were. The only way he could get that was if Noble gave him the intel and seriously, with everyone chiming in as they damn well pleased, they were getting nowhere. He was more than a little curious about this other man they had mentioned, because apparently, Noah was the dude with the intel.
“He’s on a field trip.” Drax muttered. “I wasn’t allowed to go.”
“Last time you went on a fucking field trip, it resulted in you running across Europe with a damn terrorist on your ass.” Zenko smirked at Drax. “No fucking way are you going out without supervision.”
Field trip? There was obviously a story behind that trip across Europe. He’d have to remember to ask Drax about it sometime. But, yet again, they were getting off track. Claudio would have a shit fit if his team conducted a debrief like this. What the hell happened to Rules, Regs, and Protocols? Were Red Squadron always this… informal? “Noah…?”
“If you don’t got Supervision, you and Noah are not leaving the house together, D.” Shaun nudged Zenko. “Zen is right, you have a habit of getting lost in caves and shit when the two of ya go out together.”
“I’m thinking maybe I should move to Black Squadron.” Drax leaned across Castiel and Reese. “I am not appreciated here.”
Oh fuck, Claudio would kick his ass if he brought trouble home to Black Squadron.You’re planning on bringing Saxon home. He reminded himself.That’s different, Saxon is… um… Saxon… and different.How the hell did he answer this one? Diplomacy, he’d go with that. “I’ve no say on who is allowed in Blacks.”
“Damn it.” It wasn’t clear from either the look on Drax’s face or the tone in his voice if that was a good or a bad thing.
“Hey, ladies.” Noble smacked his hand off the table, reminding them that they were seriously taking the piss now. “Are we done with the polite shit? Can we go on now?”
“Sure, Boss.”
“Sorry, Sir.” Rick nodded. He was grateful Saxon’s boss had both done the introductions and allowed some of the team’s personalities to show themselves. “It’s easier for me to figure out what is going on if I know who is who.”
Noble nodded in response but spoke to Max. “Go ahead, show us what you found.”
“Like I said before,” Max spun his chair around with a laser pointer in his hand. “Noah reached out to Interpol. Once we realized Rick had been taken by one of the mafia families, we were reluctant to involve the Italian authorities in case of leaks.”
Saxon shifted in his seat, leaning his shoulder against Rick’s, offering both support and the knowledge that he didn’t have to do this alone. He would never admit it, but he just kinda liked sitting here next to Rick, with their shoulders touching.
“Kendrick Jones, Sr.” Max pressed the button on the laser, and a red dot appeared on the image on the left of the screen. “US Ambassador to Italy.”
Saxon studied the image of the older man on the screen, then turned to look at Rick. “You don’t look a bit like him,” he whispered.
“Thank fuck, I take after my mother’s side of the family.” Rick muttered out of the corner of his mouth. He didn’t want to be the one to interrupt the intel debrief again. “I don’t want to look like that dick.”
“Jones, Sr. owns CDC LTD., manufacturing and supplying UAVs to the civilian market.” Max hit the command on the keyboard to change screens. “In the last six months they have doubled their production to meet the demand of Christmas and shit like that.”
“I don’t see how this is connected.” Shaun studied the screen.
“Dude, I’m just getting started.” Max scowled across the room. “They’re connected, we looked at this stuff in Naples before we went after Rick.” He waited for Zenko to smack Shaun on the back of the head before continuing. “Three months ago, CDC hired this man.” The screen changed again. “This is Vincenzo Mancuso. Nephew of the head of the ‘Ndrangheta family who organized Rick’s abduction. The ransom note originated from his computer, within CDC’s Italian headquarters.”
“Fucker.”
“Shh, Sax,” Max frowned. “I get it, his people took your man.” He pointed the laser at Rick, the dot lining up on his chest. “You got him ba… what the fuck is he doing?” He stared as the table flipped over, papers and notepads went flying. Red Squadron sat open mouthed staring at Rick like he’d lost his damn mind, most of them holding coffee mugs they had grabbed when the table flipped over.
