Page 30 of The Team (The Milvus Files #3)

“And yet,” Jay joked, “no one has sent me the sex audio tapes. I’m very disappointed in a lot of people.”

Rhett’s smile slowly faded as he cast his gaze out across the water. “It is pretty here.”

He was far too melancholy for Jay’s liking. He nudged his knee with his. “This mission will go just fine. We have all the intel, and at the end of it all, we have the Chinese military behind us. And we have you. We can’t fail.”

Rhett nodded but his eyes tightened, those beautiful blue-grey eyes troubled.

“Frankston wanted us here,” he said. “Feels like we’re walking right into his trap.”

“Okay, so this self-doubt needs to fucking stop,” Jay said.

“What the fuck, Rhett? Where’s the guy who walked into a Chinese military base, looked three generals in the eye, and basically told them to get effed?

Where’s that guy? Because we need him. Yin and Chen are in there suiting up right now and they need you. ”

Rhett sighed, looked miffed for half a second, then rolled his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, okay. Message received and understood.”

“Good,” Jay added. “You’re the best. This team is the best. And don’t fucking forget it.”

That made Rhett smile, his eyes meeting Jay’s, and that stormy grey was gone, more like steel now. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now get in there and do what you do.”

Rhett went back to where Yin and Chen were putting on wetsuits, and when Jay looked at Az, having clearly heard their conversation, she smiled at him.

“And people think he’s the boss of you,” she said with a scoff and a shake of her head.

Jay laughed. “Yeah, no. He wishes.”

Jay closed up his kit and pulled the strap before he went to where Yin and Chen were now fully suited up, doing a final check on their tanks and earpieces.

“We can track you but won’t have contact with you until you reach land,” Rhett said.

Chen chuckled. “Yes. We know. We do this many times. Hundreds or more. We train in this water.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Rhett said with a wince. “Echo’s got nothing on the sonar. You should have a clean run.” He ran through the water temperature, current, and tide specs, but it was pointless. It was the equivalent of telling Azrael how to hold a gun.

Rhett really was nervous.

Yin clapped him on the arm. “We’ll be fine. See you on shore.”

“Okay.”

Chen put in his mouthpiece, and before Yin did, he stopped and looked at everyone. “Thank you, all of you. You defended me and stood up for me, to include me on this mission. It means a lot, and I won’t let you down.”

“You’re buying beers when this is all said and done,” Coyote said.

“And pizza,” Sid added.

Yin smiled and fitted his mouthpiece, then with a nod to signal they were good to go, he and Chen slid into the water without barely a splash.

Attention went to the sonar. Echo put his hand to the ear of his headphone. He tilted his head and listened for a long moment before he smiled. “They’re quiet. How can scuba gear be so quiet?”

“And fast,” Sid said, nodding toward the tracking screen. “Jesus H Christ. Are they part shark?”

It was long, quiet drawn-out minutes of watching. The silence and the waiting were starting to make Jay nervous.

Rhett put his hand to his earpiece and turned away from the conversation, which Jay knew meant incoming intel. “Affirmative,” he said. He looked Jay in the eye. “Roger that. Alpha One team is ready on your go.”

The rubber dinghy was ready, their gear ready. They were ready.

“Breach team eighty metres and closing,” Sid said.

“We got this,” Jay said, giving a pointed look to Rhett. “Just another day at the office.”

“We can do this shit all day,” Sid said.

“All day long,” Az agreed.

“Hooyah,” Coyote hollered.

They were psyching themselves up, getting their heads in the game, and Jay appreciated the normalcy.

Azrael double-checked her EF88 before sliding it into her chest pack. “Tell me again: how many of this so-called SWAT security team are there?”

“Five,” Rhett replied.

“How many can I have?” she asked him seriously.

“All of them.”

She grinned, and they all kept their eyes on the screens.

Rhett let out a low breath. “We wait for Yin’s signal.”

They all watched.

Waiting.

They were fast, yes. But fuck, the wait.. .

“Ten metres and counting,” Sid said. “We should get audio in three, two...”

They waited, and Jay held his breath.

There was a soft crackle and the next sound they heard was barely a breath. “Breach team has contact,” Yin whispered.

“Roger that,” Rhett replied with a smile.

“He’s not even out of breath,” Echo mumbled, shaking his head.

“I’d need a nap,” Sid said.

“Because you eat shit food,” Azrael replied. “Have you considered eating a vegetable?”

Rhett put his hand to his earpiece, which was also a code for the team to shut the fuck up. “We have thermal eyes on you,” he said.

On the screen, Jay could see Yin and Chen stripping off their tanks and belts, then they began up the rocky embankment to the stone wall.

They watched as Chen gave Yin a boost up the wall, then Yin leaned down and pulled Chen up. They were fluid, fast, and efficient.

“Damn, they’re good,” Sid whispered.

Then one by one, they slid the deflector devices onto the three cameras.

And just like that, King and Zihao—and presumably Shanghai’s military’s best cybersecurity team—had control of the visual while inside the building had no idea.

They’d see nothing but looped footage showing nothing out of the ordinary.

“Okay, that’s our cue,” Rhett said. “Let’s load up.”

The rubber dinghy hit the water, the motor cutting through the inky surface with ease, and Jay kept his head down from the cold. Rhett held the tablet screen, watching Yin and Chen.

“The alarm’s ours. Gate’s open,” Rhett said.

Yin and Chen were so fucking good.

Coyote steered the boat toward the shore, and two black figures slinked out to greet them. Chen pulled the dinghy up onto the sand without a word.

The team jumped out, and Jay threw the gear bag at Yin’s feet.

“Alarm is disengaged,” Yin said as he pulled his wet suit off.

Jay knelt at the bag and handed up their shirts and then their pants. They hadn’t been exposed to extreme temperatures, but they’d been wet and cold long enough.

And Rhett was going to need them to move, and fast.

“We’ve got four minutes to find her,” Rhett said, reading his watch. “Then I want us gone.”

God. Just four minutes.

Chen pulled on his boots as Yin, already fully dressed, clipped in his EF88. “Then let’s go.”