Page 32 of The Team (The Milvus Files #3)

Rhett put the muzzle of his gun at Frankston’s head. “You wanted us here. Why?”

“Not all of you. Just...” His eyes went to Yin.

Rhett pushed the gun harder against Frankston’s temple. “Last chance. Why him? Why Yin, and where the fuck is Jun-mei?”

“Because he’s the cure!” he cried.

Rhett stopped.

He’s the cure.

Yin stepped over, picked Frankston up by his shirt collar, and pinned him against the bookcase. “What do you mean, I’m the cure? What does that mean?”

Rhett had a horrible, sinking feeling . . .

“To the pathogen,” he said. “To the biochemical pathogen they made.”

Still holding Frankston to the bookcase, Yin glanced at Rhett, confused, then back to Frankston, and shoved him harder.

“When you were in South Sudan,” Frankston said. “You were exposed to it. They were running trials?—”

“The sickness . . .” Yin whispered.

“The reason the factory people were sick?” Chen said, voice booming .

“There was a contamination leak. Yin was exposed because he couldn’t fucking help himself. Had to help them. If you’d just minded your fucking business?—”

Yin pressed his forearm against Frankston’s neck. “You made them sick on purpose, you piece of fucking shit.”

“They blew the compound and you were supposed?—”

“I was supposed to die in the blast,” Yin finished for him. “I was in hospital for months while they put me back together.”

“Yes. But you didn’t die. You didn’t even show symptoms. Your bloodwork showed anomalies in your BH3-only proteins that made you immune.”

Then Chen reached over Yin and grabbed Frankston from Yin, roared something in Mandarin, and threw him against the wall by the door.

Literally threw him.

He hit with a thud and crumpled to the floor, and before Rhett could register that Chen had just thrown an eighty-kilogram man two metres into a wall out of nothing but pure rage, Yin stepped over and picked him up.

Frankston was dazed and winded and scared. And Yin was fucking livid. The rage rolling off him was enough for Rhett to be on edge.

Christ.

Yin pinned him to the wall with a hand around his throat. “Who? Who was behind the tests? The explosion?”

Frankston was gasping, but the fucker still managed to smile, and Rhett knew the answer wasn’t going to be good.

“General Yuan,” he said. “Your own government.”

Oh, Jesus fucking Christ .

Rhett pushed his comms button. “King, are you getting this?”

“Already on it,” came his reply. There was background noise, as if the room King was in was just as chaotic as the room Rhett was standing in.

Yin was stunned, pale, and Tan laughed. That fucker laughed, and Yin rounded on him like a rabid dog. He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. “Where is Jun-mei? Tell me where she is or I’ll rip out your tongue from your head.”

Tan sneered at him again, eyes wild and daring, and he mumbled something in Mandarin.

Yin took Tan, holding him to the floor and, using his boot, pried his jaw open.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

“Yin, don’t do it,” Rhett said.

Christ, he was gonna see a repeat of Harrigan...

Tan flailed and tried to kick and yell, but Yin was literally stepping on his jaw, seriously trying to pull out his tongue.

Before Rhett could tell him to back the fuck up, Chen was in the middle. At first, Rhett had thought Chen was trying to stop him... but no, he was helping.

Then Sid had his rifle pointed at Frankston. “You’re next, traitorous motherfucker. Tell us where she is.”

Frankston made a gurgling noise around his smashed nose, still holding his balls, and Rhett was wondering how the fuck this had all gone to hell when Jay called out. “She knows! She knows.”

The room fell quiet, and everyone stopped and turned to Jay, who was crouching down near the sister. “She says she knows where Jun-mei is. ”

Yin stood up, and with a final slam of his boot, he broke Tan’s jaw. The man writhed and groaned, holding his face. Until Chen booted him in the balls, and he groaned and coughed.

Azrael still had her gun aimed at his head.

Rhett and Yin went to the girl next to Jay.

Yin knelt down in front of her and she recoiled—considering she’d just watched him snap a man’s jaw, that was hardly surprising—but he spoke gently in Chinese.

She nodded and replied. Yin looked at Jay and then at Rhett.

“She says she’s here. There’s a safe room.

Not detectable on radar. And she knows the code. ”

“Captain Ouston,” King said over their comms. “Situation’s changed. Military’s incoming to conclude the mission. Wong and his sister are to be left alive.”

Rhett’s gaze went to Wong and Frankston. “And the other piece of shit?”

“No longer required. We have all we need.”

“Understood.” Rhett gave a nod to Sid. “You and Coyote take Wong downstairs. Zip-tie him. His government can have him.” Then he gave a nod to Jay. “You and Chen take the girl out of here.”

Jay nodded, seeming to understand what he meant.

Rhett looked at Yin. “Tan is no longer required.”

Yin smiled, then pulled out his EF88 and put the nozzle to Tan’s forehead, ignoring his disfigured hanging jaw. “My face will be the last thing you see,” he whispered, then pulled the trigger.

He stood up, and with a sigh of satisfaction, he gave Rhett a nod.

“Go get Jun-mei,” Rhett said, and Yin darted out the door .

Echo was at Wong’s laptop, clicking the keyboard, but he gave Rhett a shake of his head. “I can’t read any of it.”

“Leave it,” Rhett ordered. “And Frankston’s tablet. Leave it all. We don’t need it.”

Echo walked around the desk, stepped over the blood pooling from Tan, and he grimaced at the mess that Frankston was making on the floor. “What are we doing with him?”

Rhett pointed his rifle at Frankston’s head, at his pitiful eyes, broken nose, at the blood and drool, and Rhett pulled the trigger. “That.”

Jay followed the woman down the stairs through the hall to a study. While he wanted to believe she was innocent in her brother’s business dealings, Jay kept his finger on the trigger guard and his eye on her every move.

“I saw them bring someone here,” she said. “When I asked Bo-chen, he told me it was a friend of Mr Frankston and they wouldn’t be staying. But I never saw her leave. And,” she said as she stopped by the door. “I see guards bring food.”

She went to the far corner in the study, between a bookcase and light sconce, where she pushed the edge of the wooden panelling. It clicked and popped forward, revealing a... wine cellar?

A freaking temperature-controlled cellar the size of Jay and Rhett’s London apartment, stocked floor to ceiling with racks of bottles.

Jay cast her a look.

She gestured inside. “This way,” she said quietly .

Jay pointed his rifle. “You first.”

“Where is she?” Yin demanded.

That made her move faster. She shuffled inside to one rack in particular, pressed something, and stood back. The rack slid to one side to reveal a metal door.

No handle, no keypad. Just a small black LED screen.

“How do we open it?” Jay asked her.

She put her middle finger on the screen and the door swung inward.

Yin was first through, pushing past Jay and rushing in.

The room was small, maybe three metres by three metres.

No windows, just one overhead light, and a single metal bed.

On the bed was a small person with the blankets pulled up, startled, afraid.

Her hair was short, jagged, spikey. As soon as she saw Yin, she burst into tears, mumbling something over and over that Jay couldn’t understand.

Yin rushed to her, sat on the bed, and pulled her close, cradling her, kissing her head. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’m here. I’ve got you. You’re safe now, but we need to go.”

She shook her head and cried. “You can’t be here, they’ll hurt you. They want you. You must go.”

Yin shook his head. “I’m not leaving without you.”

Chen went to them and put his big hand on her. “Can you walk? I will carry you.”

She cried again when she saw it was Chen, her hand trembling. Then, like she remembered something, she looked at Yin and touched her chopped hair. “They cut my hair. All my hair is gone.”

Yin looked at her hair and ran his fingers through it. “You’re still beautiful. ”

That just made her cry some more.

Jay went to her. “We need to move. Can you walk? Are you injured?”

She nodded. “I can walk.” She pulled back the covers, showing she was wearing her nurse scrub pants and a T-shirt. Yin pulled the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around her, helping her stand.

Jay pressed his comms. “We have her. On our way up to you now.”

“Roger that,” Rhett replied. “Make it quick. Military incoming, and we need to be gone.”

Yin bundled Jun-mei up with the blanket and kept his arm around her. Jay led the way, escorting Wong’s sister up to the living room. She went to her brother, who was on his knees with his hands zip-tied behind his back.

Rhett paused only for a moment when he saw Yin with Jun-mei, and Jay saw the briefest flicker of Rhett as his gaze softened before Captain was back. “To the boat. Now. We’re about to have company.”

And sure enough, before they could get to the terrace doors, a team of Chinese soldiers in full tactical gear—special police force, Sea Dragons, Jay wasn’t sure. They weren’t wearing any identifiable tags.

But then again, neither was Milvus.

They swarmed into the house, focusing on Wong and his sister, like none of the Milvus team were even there.

Completely ignored.

Not important to their mission.

Or acting as if Milvus were never there.

If any of them recognised Yin or Chen, they never showed it.

Rhett led their team through the grounds, silent and without incident, down to their dinghy. They boarded, pushed off the shore, and set off into the dark night to the waiting boat.

The water was inky black, the air and sea spray mist cold and damp. Yin kept the blanket around Jun-mei, holding her tight and rubbing her arm, her back, kissing the top of her head. Jay found himself smiling at them, and when he looked at Rhett, Rhett’s eyes met his, and he smiled.