Page 51 of The Team

That meant King had bypassed the Milvus council. He’d gone over their heads, outside his jurisdiction, evaded the leak.

“That whole compound is about to be a little busy,” Yunho said. “Your team needs to leave.”

“Roger that,” Rhett replied. “Medic, you need to get out of there.”

“I need to—” Jay tried.

“Agent Lin, fall back now,” Rhett barked.

And Jay knew Rhett meant business.

He gave a nod, said a quick goodbye to Myles and Kowalski, told them help was coming, and he re-entered the airlock. The light scanned him again, the air flushed out, and after the longest two seconds of Rhett’s life, of locking eyes with Jay and waiting, the light turned green and the door opened.

“Breathe,” Yin mumbled, nudging Rhett in the side.

Rhett shot him a look, which he only seemed to find amusing, then he watched Jay strip out of the suit in thedecontamination chamber and stand there, arms out, with the goddamn audacity to smile at Rhett through the glass.

“Okay, Captain Ouston,” Yunho said. “Your team needs to leave now. Medical team is on its way for your two men. ETA ten minutes. You cannot take them with you.”

Rhett knew that. But fuck, he didn’t like leaving them...

Goddammit.

Jay put his vest back on, then his helmet, and came to the door.

“How are they?” Sid asked.

Jay’s eyes flinched and he shook his head. “Not good. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Azrael’s at the rendezvous point,” Yunho said, and it was the push Rhett needed.

“Everyone back to the chopper,” he said.

The team all filed through the doors, up the stairs to the admin level. “What about these three?” Giardello asked, pausing where the three admin staff now sat against the wall, their hands zip-tied.

“Leave them,” Rhett ordered. “Not our concern. Keep moving.”

Rhett was the last one up the stairs to the roof, the last one to get into the chopper. As soon as he was in, the door shut and the skids lifted off the roof.

Jay sat beside Rhett, as he always did, and gave him an inconspicuous nudge with his knee. Rhett growled at him. “What you did in there? Yeah. We’re gonna talk about that when we get back.”

Jay laughed, his grin wide. “Can’t wait.”

Sid groaned out a sigh. “We’ve all got audio, you know.”

Jay laughed, and Chen did too. Even Yin smiled. Rhett resisted sighing and even considered telling everyone to shut the fuck up, just as Yunho said, “You’re being diverted to Tehran where you will rendezvous with Azrael, Velasco, and Director King. From there you will fly back to London.”

“Roger that,” Rhett said, relieved.

ELEVEN

TEHRAN MEHRABAD AIR BASE

Rhett ledthe team into the hangar that was now their rendezvous point, and Jay was only too happy to follow. He’d also had a quiet fiver with Sid and Echo in favour of Rhett walking up to King and punching him in the face.

Much to Jay’s disappointment, Rhett didn’t.

King was on the phone, and although it seemed an intense conversation, he was clearly relieved to see the Milvus teams. Azrael was already there, along with Velasco. She sat on one chair, her feet on another, crossed at the ankles, and she smirked as she chewed on a toothpick.