Page 15 of Renegade (The Santini Assassins #2)
“ALPHA’s located in Tysons and my wife, Providence Luck, co-runs it. You’ve been brought in to work under my group, BLACK OPS. We’re a specialized group that, like ALPHA, doesn’t exist on any org chart. Only a handful know either group exists.”
“My division chief, Maria Konya, couldn’t even brief me,” Caroline said.
“Despite her security clearance, she’s not privy to the organization or to our mission.”
“Which is?”
“BLACK OPS is a joint operation between the FBI and CIA. Our team eliminates the most violent career criminals in the world—wherever they might be—or we deploy our rescue team on save-missions both here and abroad.”
This is cool… and I want in.
Caroline acknowledged him with a nod.
Dakota spun the laptop around. “The password must be a minimum of sixteen letters, numbers, and symbols. Commit it to memory.” He rose. “Take your time with it. I’ll grab us waters from the break room.”
“Any chance there’s coffee?”
“I got you. Black, cream, sugar?”
“A little milk or cream or whatever you have.”
After he left, she leaned back and exhaled.
This is crazy.
Though having been with the CIA since graduating college, she was thrilled to be hand-selected for such an elite mission. She couldn’t wait to learn more about an organization she hadn’t known existed less than an hour ago.
After typing in a password, she re-typed it, and was granted permission. The laptop was a bare shell. No files existed, she couldn’t even click on an email icon because there was nothing there.
Dakota returned with a coffee and two waters.
He spent the next thirty minutes doing a deeper dive about the organization and the expectations .
“This is temporary, right?” Caroline asked. “Chief Konya told me I should think of it like an overseas assignment.”
“It depends,” Dakota replied. “If you’re happy here, and you bring value to the group, you could transition into BLACK OPS.”
He pushed out of his chair, stood in front of a wall scanner next to a closed door. The light turned green and he entered a walk-in closet, exiting with a Glock, a harness, and a Kevlar vest, which he set in front of her. Next, he handed her a picture ID with her photo on it.
“These are yours,” Dakota said. “I’m quoting Providence since she’s not here to onboard you. ‘The Kevlar does you no good if you’re not wearing it.’”
She stared at her picture ID and the name on the badge. “So, my alias is Rebecca Slater and I work for the FBI?”
“Since ALPHA and BLACK OPS don’t exist, use this when you question a suspect or a witness or you work the case with an agent from another agency.”
“Got it,” she said as she pulled on the harness.
“Normally, Providence gives you badges from multiple agencies, but you’re working with the B-team today.” Dakota pointed to himself.
She tucked her weapon into the holster. “One badge works.”
One badge or several wasn’t the issue. Her concern? She hadn’t fired a weapon since her training days at the Farm.
A tall man walked in who looked identical to Dakota, except his hair was slicked back and his beard a little thicker. He set several carry-out bags on the desk.
“Hey,” the man said to Dakota, then shot her a smile. “Sinclair Develin. I go by Sin.”
She shook his hand. “Caroline Austin. I answer to either.”
“Have you been briefed?” Sin asked.
“On the organization,” she replied .
“We had to push the meeting to one-thirty,” explained Dakota.
“Why?” Sin asked.
“Our primary flew to California to talk to an asset,” Dakota replied.
“How’d that go?” Sin asked.
“No idea,” Dakota replied. “He went dark.”
Sin picked up the carry-out bags, slid his attention to Caroline. “You good with Mexican food?”
“Sure.”
“Let’s eat,” Sin said.
“You’re like clockwork,” Dakota said with a smile. “I don’t even have to look at the time. I know it’s one.”
“I get up at five. Breakfast at seven,” Sin said. “I’m hungry by noon, but I’m always too busy to stop. By one, I’m on the hunt.”
On a chuckle, Dakota stood. “I gotta say, I love when you give me the minutia of your biological needs.”
Sin smiled. “Look, I’m hungry.” He regarded Caroline. “Are you hungry?”
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “My stomach’s kinda in knots right now. I’m still not sure what I’m doing here.”
The men laughed. “We get that reaction a lot,” Dakota said.
In the hallway, Sin stopped in front of the next office, knocked on the door frame. “Addison, lunch.”
Within seconds, Addison was by Caroline’s side. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I’m starving.”
As they made their way down the hall, Addison said, “These two are great to work for. They seem harmless, but they’re two of the most ruthless men I have ever known. On the other hand, we’re on the rescue team, which means we walk straight into danger, no hesitation.”
A man rounded the corner. “I smell food,” he said.
“Nicholas Hawk, meet Caroline Austin from Langley,” Dakota said .
“Call me Hawk,” he replied. “Good to finally meet you. Addison has told me a lot about you.”
They entered the break room and everyone moved into action. Caroline stood there watching them set out plates and silverware, then open the containers of food. They moved like a group who’d done this a million times before.
“It’s Caroline’s first day,” Addison said handing her a plate. “You go first because if the guys do, it’s all over.”
“I got extra,” Sin protested.
“Because you’re so damn hungry?” Dakota asked with a smile.
“Exactly,” Sin replied. “I love that eventually you catch on.”
After filling their plates, they made their way to the conference room. As everyone sat around the table, Caroline was surprised no one sat at either end.
Addison pulled out a chair. “For you,” she said to Caroline who eased down next to her.
They were quiet for a few while they dug in, and Caroline appreciated the brief respite. She was thrilled to have been hand-selected, eager to learn what the mission was, and still trying to take in everything she was learning.
“A few months ago,” Dakota began, “we discovered that a group within the Haqazzii terror cell had infiltrated the country.”
As he and Sin explained the situation, her guts knotted, and she stopped eating. It was a stunning revelation to hear that these men had gotten in unchecked and had been living in the country for months.
“Where are they now?” Caroline asked.
“We don’t know,” Addison said. “We’ve got a small team at ALPHA doing research. We’ve also got some great hackers trying to figure it out, but the terrorists changed their aliases after they got here. ”
“What we do know,” Sin said, “is that they’re here to blow up eight critical locations on May thirty-first.”
“They’re calling it the Day of Destruction,” Addison added.
Dakota opened a tourist map of DC and laid it on the conference table in front of her. She moved her plate out of the way and eyed the circled buildings.
The White House, the Justice Department, the FBI, the State Department, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Capitol. There were two Virginia targets off-map that were indicated with an arrow. The Pentagon and the CIA.
“How are they going to breech these buildings to blow them up?” Caroline asked. While she was no explosives expert, she was confident they couldn’t waltz into the building with home-made bombs.
“That’s what you and your partner—along with the team—have to figure out,” Dakota replied.
“And stop it by the end of May,” Hawk added.
No pressure there.
Caroline shook her head. “That’s less than two months away.”
Dakota tapped the remote and a screen lowered on the far wall. He got busy on his laptop. Seconds later, several mugshots filled the screen.
“We know of these international criminals,” Sin said, “but there could be more.”
“How many agencies are involved?” Caroline asked.
“Just BLACK OPS,” Dakota answered. “We need to keep this tight. If the press gets word, it’ll create a national panic?—”
“That will have a global reach,” Sin added.
“Not to mention all the amateur sleuths who’ll want to get involved,” Addison added.
“In other words,” Hawk said, “it’s a cluster fuck that you’ve been brought in to stop.”
As she regarded each of the people around the table, a sense of confidence filled her soul. She knew this terror cell well, maybe better than anyone.
Almost anyone.
The conference room door opened. Backlit by the hallway light, Grey Stone loomed large in the doorway.
Ohmygod.
Her breath caught in her throat, adrenaline shot through her, and she gave him a once-over… more than once.
“Speak of the devil,” Sin said. “Welcome to the show, Greystone.”