Page 14 of The Team (The Milvus Files #3)

They had a plan in place, not without its risks, of course, but Rhett was confident. Then King dismissed him, with a promise to speak to him and his team when Alpha Two arrived, and Rhett went in search of his team.

He walked into what was essentially an empty mess hall of sorts, and he walked into a tense standoff.

His team, and a few faces Rhett recognised from the Iranian transport team from their truck escort earlier, were all glaring at each other.

The air was static, charged, and Rhett had no clue what had transpired, but given Coyote was standing on the offensive, Rhett assumed he was in the thick of it.

The bigger of the Iranian men sneered and murmured something and Coyote burred up, ready to throw hands. Before Rhett could say anything, Yin was between them. He stared up at the Iranian, who was easily a head taller and maybe twenty kilos heavier, with a calm expression.

Yin murmured something, and the Iranian stared bitterly, nostrils flared, jaw clenched.

Yin took a small step closer, staring, unblinking, cool as fucking ice. And he stared until the Iranian took a step back.

“My money’s on Yin,” Jay said, putting his hand up with a five-pound note. “Any takers?”

Jesus Christ.

Rhett sighed. “Enough,” he barked, walking in to give the tall Iranian soldier a glare of his own. “We got a problem here?”

The soldier grumbled and sneered again, but he turned and walked away, his men following.

Rhett turned to Yin, who was still staring at the door the Iranian soldiers had disappeared through with a quiet, seething glare. Then he noticed Coyote; he had one hand on the EF88 strapped at his chest, the other on the hunting knife in his thigh holster.

Fuck’s sake.

“What was that about?”

Yin met his gaze then and conceded a nod. “Seems our friends here take issue with other nationalities. Mostly Americans,” Yin said.

Coyote gave Rhett a resigned but still-pissed sigh, then clapped Yin on the arm. “Thanks for having my back, man.”

“No problem,” Yin replied.

“What did you say to him?” Sid asked Yin. “He backed up pretty fucking quick.”

Yin smirked. “I asked him nicely to be friends. ”

Coyote snorted. “Yeah, right. Now, I don’t speak Farsi, but I know you damn well didn’t ask him nothin’ nicely.”

Yin shrugged. “It was more of a suggestion.” He then went back to his seat next to Chen and the big guy gave him a nudge with a laugh. Then Yin knocked Jay with the back of his hand. “Five pounds? Is that all you’d bet on me?”

Jay laughed. “No takers, either.”

“I offered ten,” Azrael said. Then she pointed her chin at Sid, Echo, and Chen. “And I noticed none of you guys stood up.”

“Yin had it covered,” Sid said defensively. “He could fuck those guys up in a blink. We saw the footage of him kicking Captain’s ass.”

Rhett sighed, frustrated and annoyed. “He did not kick my ass. I was holding back so as to not draw attention to myself. Christ.”

Echo laughed. “Whatever you say, Captain.”

“You could have a rematch,” Azrael said, grin wide. “I got ten on Yin.”

Rhett stared at her. What the fuck?

“What about you?” Chen asked, nudging Jay’s knee with his own. “Who you put money on?”

Jay stared at him, wide-eyed, like what the fuck . Then he looked up at Rhett and cringed. “I mean, Rhett for sure.”

Everyone laughed, and while Rhett actually loved that his team had bonded to the point where they could mock each other, he also couldn’t believe it.

What the actual hell, Jay?

Rhett ran his hand over his face. “I’m not mad,” he said, acting aloof .

“Just disappointed,” Azrael, Sid, Echo, and Coyote all echoed.

Rhett couldn’t help but smile a little, but when Jay looked up at him, Rhett pointed a quick finger at Yin and mouthed, “Him? Over me?”

Jay shrugged, and when Chen laughed, Jay shoved the big guy. “You threw me under the bus.”

Chen’s smile died. “Bus? What bus?”

Laughter and chatter erupted around the team, and Rhett couldn’t even bring himself to be mad.

This was what he wanted for his team. To have each other’s backs, then to sit around and laugh about it when all was said and done.

Except two of his team were still missing.

“Any word on Kowalski and Myles?” Sid asked, and a quiet fell over their group.

Rhett gave a nod. “They have a location where they believe they might be.”

Coyote stood up. “Then let’s go. What the fuck are we still doing here?”

“Because we’re not on extraction,” Rhett said.

He was met with narrowed eyes and confused faces.

“We’re on priority one.” He put his hands up before they could argue.

“I didn’t give the order. We’re waiting on Alpha Two to arrive, then we roll out.

We have a time and location to take down our two targets. Alive, if possible.”

Or not.

Rhett didn’t exactly have a lot of faith in the judicial and legal systems. Too many instances of money and power overruling right and wrong. Evidence rarely meant jack shit when money and power were at play .

But that was not his decision, not his problem. Not his mission.

Echo cocked his head for a second, then pointed his finger upward. “Blackhawk incoming.”

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Rhett could hear the familiar sound, and he gave a nod. “I’ll join the welcome committee. Stay here and try not to beat the shit out of any soldiers.”

He turned to leave and heard Chen ask, “How you hear before?”

“He can hear shit none of us can,” Sid replied. “Tell ’em about that time we were in Portugal?—”

Rhett smiled to himself as he went outside. Despite the stifling heat, the parched dry air, and brighter-than-hell sun, and despite the tasks at hand and the reason for being there, Rhett was pleased with his team.

He met with Director King and a few Iranian brass who were his new entourage.

The chopper cut the rotors, the doors opened, and Alpha Team Two filed out and headed directly for them, Captain Mateo Giardello at the front.

He’d been in the Italian COFS, and from what Rhett knew, he was very good at his job.

Rhett was better, but still.

Rhett had done some training with him when Milvus was first formed, and he had liked the guy. He ran a tight team of eight soldiers, like Rhett’s Alpha One team, from every corner of the globe.

They’d rarely been in the same hemisphere since then, let alone the same room.

“Director King,” Giardello said, shaking his hand. Then Rhett’s. “Captain.”

“Captain,” Rhett replied. “Good to see you. ”

“Sorry to hear about your men,” he replied as they walked back to the admin buildings. “We’ll get them back.”

Well, that was the plan.

Part of it, anyway.

“Thank you for coming,” Rhett offered. “Pulling your team out of South America can’t have been easy. I do appreciate it.”

Once they were in the office, Giardello pulled his helmet off. His hair was a little shaggy, in need of a cut, but his blue eyes were laser sharp as always.

Director King gave him a quick rundown of events, everything the same as he’d told Rhett.

“And the extraction?” Giardello asked. “Who’s getting our two agents?”

Rhett liked the way Giardello included his men as his own.

“Iranian military,” Director King replied. “They’re preparing the go-team right now.”

“I’d like two of my team to accompany them,” Rhett said.

King cut him an annoyed look. “That won’t be?—”

“Those are my men,” Rhett hissed, trying to keep his temper in check.

“My team. My responsibility. Those Iranian soldiers out there have already shown exactly what they think of us, and I won’t have Kowalski and Myles jeopardised because of those asshole’s prejudices.

Two men,” Rhett repeated, holding up two fingers.

“Someone on our side needs to be there.”

“Take one of mine,” Giardello said with a nod. When King shot him a look, Giardello shrugged. “If they were my team in there, I’d want someone on our side too. ”

King let out a displeased, slow breath. “The Iranian military are on our side,” he whispered.

“Tell that to the three men who wanted a piece of Coyote twenty minutes ago,” Rhett said.

King’s gaze narrowed. “What?”

Rhett shrugged it off. “It’s fine. Yin de-escalated it.”

“Jesus Christ,” King murmured. “Did he kill any of them?”

Rhett snorted. “No.”

Rhett held his gaze until King released a sigh and conceded defeat. “Fine. Two of ours on their go-team.”

“Ritchie will go,” Rhett said. Sid wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

“I’ll tell Diaz,” Giardello said with a nod.

“Right,” King said, disgruntled. “I’ll go make arrangements. Team briefing in five minutes.”

Rhett didn’t wait to be dismissed. He turned and walked out, Giardello quick to fall into step beside him.

“Shit’s about to get real, huh?” he said.

“As real as it gets.” Rhett checked his watch. He opened the door into the hall his team was in to find Alpha Two in the mix. Jay was with Chen and Bisgaard, a big guy from the Jaeger Corps in Denmark.

He was a nice enough guy, from what Rhett knew of him. Kicked ass in the field and was Giardello’s right-hand man. Jay was making him laugh, which wasn’t surprising. Jay could make anyone laugh...

“Sid,” Rhett called out. He was standing with Azrael, who was talking to Audinet, a French parachute commando. Rhett thought Audinet was a bit of a wildcard but reasoned most of the parachute commandos probably were a little crazy .

Giardello called Diaz over, and Sid came straight up, serious. “Wassup?”

Rhett clapped his shoulder. “You two are in the go-team for the extraction of Kowalski and Myles. Director King will brief you.”

Sid gave a serious nod. “Understood.”

“Bring them home.”

“Yes, sir.” His gaze met Rhett’s. “Thank you, Captain.”

Sid and Diaz ran out of the room, and Rhett knew all eyes were on him and Giardello.

Rhett clapped his hands together. “Okay, team, this is how it’s gonna go.”