Page 13 of The Team

Yin looked at him as if it were the stupidest question he’d ever heard. “No. You?”

Rhett smiled. “No. First time in England with the English government knowing?”

Yin snorted and sipped his beer, but he didn’t answer. Instead, keeping his eyes on the guys playing pool, he said, “He speaks Mandarin.”

Rhett tried not to let that bother him. He wanted to sayhe has a name, but he couldn’t show any bias.

“He does. And Malaysian and Indonesian.”

Yin’s lips twitched as if he found this tug of war for details funny. “You and he were together last night.”

Rhett sipped his beer, contemplating how best to answer, and if Yin noticed how hard Rhett was holding the damn bottle, he never let on.

“We are every night,” Rhett said, tone as neutral as he could manage. “Have been for eight years.”

Yin’s gaze cut to his—a reaction unschooled—before he looked back at the pool game. Instead of speaking, he sipped his beer.

“Your intel not divulge that?” Rhett asked. He’d be a fool to think the Chinese military didn’t have the full brief on this team before they sent two of their men to join it. “Thought you woulda had the rundown on everyonebefore you got here. I mean, you knew where we were last night.”

Yin looked at him again, the corner of his lips curling up. “Intel, yes. Two Australians, not... not that you were...”

“Together?” Rhett shrugged. “Gay?”

Yin was suddenly back to being stoic, impassive. “No.”

Rhett put his bottle on the table. He had zero time for bigots, and there wasn’t any way he was putting up with it in his team. “Look,” Rhett said, voice low. “I don’t give a fuck what you think about it personally. If it offends you or is looked down upon in your world, not one single fuck. But here, in this world—in this team—it won’t fly. Go have yourself removed from my team. No skin off my nose.”

Yin’s gaze remained on the pool game, though his jaw ticked. “I don’t have a problem with it. I didn’t expect to see you dance.”

Rhett snatched up his beer. “Okay, first of all, I don’t dance. Jay dances. And second, we saw you watching us, and Jay was going to ask you to join us on the dance floor.”

Yin turned his head so fast, Rhett wondered if it hurt his neck. He stared at him, mad and shocked, and it pleased Rhett greatly to elicit such a reaction out of Mr Stoic.

Rhett laughed. “Just kidding.”

Yin seethed, his lips a pressed line, eyes narrowed at where Chen and Jay were now attempting to play darts. Rhett couldn’t help it. He liked Chen, and he got the feeling everyone did.

“So,” Rhett hedged. “Totoro.”

Yin looked at him again, not quite schooling the disdain from his eyes. “What about him?”

“He’s funny.”

Yin’s temper, or perhaps his defensiveness, deflated. “He is.”

“He’s like Jay. Hard not to like the guy.”

Yin gave a nod and nothing more.

“Known him long?”

“Six years.”

“Were you in the same squad back home?”

Yin’s face went back to stoic, and for a long beat, Rhett thought Yin wasn’t going to answer. But then he gave a slight nod. “Yes.”

Rhett was just trying to make amends, make conversation while getting to know his team members better, but this guy was a steel trap. It was like trying to get blood from a stone.