Page 15 of The Team

“Fuck no. Not one.” He could only hope that now he’d shown this part of himself, as a human, that maybe Yin would offer the same. “What about you?”

Yin inhaled deeply and gave a half-smile. “My parents had strict expectations. Very strict, and they demanded things of me. Military service is not compulsory for us, but I volunteered. And for two years I was free.”

Free? In the military? That was the one thing they were not, but Rhett didn’t say that.

“I exchanged my parents’ orders for the orders of my superiors,” Yin said quietly. “But it was my choice.”

“The one thing you could control,” Rhett offered.

Yin gave a nod. “My parents permitted a two-year service, thinking I’d have my fun, then return to the life they wanted for me. But I stayed, and they were not happy.”

“No?”

Something like regret flashed across his face. “No. No promotion or medal would be good enough.”

“It matters to us,” Rhett said. “To those who know what it takes, what it means. We know the honour, the sacrifice.”

Yin stared at him, eyes searching his.

Rhett shrugged off the scrutiny. “It’s true. Only other servicemen will understand. Civilians have no clue.”

Yin blinked a few times, Rhett’s words clearly hitting home, then went back to watching Chen and Jay. “I was the youngest member of the Jialong Commandos in the Yemen incident,” he said quietly before he stopped, as ifhe was embarrassed and not sure why he’d divulged that about himself. “If you know what that is...”

Of course Rhett knew what the Yemen incident was.

Just the evacuation of almost 600 Chinese citizens and over 200 other foreign nationals from Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes against the Houthi rebel group.

It was a massive joint operation involving many countries.

“Hell yes, I know what that is,” Rhett said. “You were there? The youngest?”

Damn, if Yin didn’t look embarrassed, proud even. Well, as proud as his Chinese modesty would allow.

Rhett was about to ask if the scars all over his body were a result of that time but decided not to push his luck. He’d gotten more out of Yin than he ever thought he would.

“Hey, boss,” Jay said, sliding his empty beer bottle on the table in front of Rhett. “Everyone’s bugging out.”

He looked over, and sure enough, Echo was putting on his coat, Chen was making Coyote laugh, aaaaand Sid and Azrael were bickering again, this time about football by the sounds of it.

Yep, time to go.

“Good idea,” Rhett said, standing up. He turned to Yin. “You guys good to get home?”

Yin rolled his eyes.

Jay laughed, and Rhett couldn’t even be mad. He felt good about how this night had played out. He’d broken ground with his newest team members. Well, with Yin. Chen already seemed to be friendly with everyone. Rhettneeded to meet Yin head-on, and it seemed they’d done that tonight.

Rhett slung his arm over Jay’s shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

Well, home in London.

It was a barely equipped one-bedroom safe house. Nothing like the fancy places they used for special ops in movies. This was nice enough—small, basic, but inconspicuous, and with three ways to leave the building undetected.

Plus, they were never there long enough to feel cramped. It was small, yes, but it was more than enough. And they got to stay together.

And it was the onlypersonaltime he and Jay ever got. During the day, during meetings, during fitness, during any mission, they kept their relationship professional and kept their hands to themselves.

But they were allowed to share a flat in their downtime. And as soon as that door was shut behind them, professional was out and personal was in. They didn’t give a fuck if the place was bugged, or if their handlers or superiors were listening. Rhett hoped they enjoyed the audio porn they provided most nights.