Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
“That would be what we in the industry of humans living on Earth call a red flag.”
Yeah, I fucking got that. Thanks for the helpful tip.
“You’re the first one who’s told me that,” I deadpanned. “I told everyone it was a Hillcroft contract to avoid a lecture.”
He ignored me. “I only asked to get a sense of your knowledge of Hillcroft. Coach’s old man started the agency some thirty years ago, and Coach got involved around the same time Darius did. Danny and Emerson are instructors these days—Emerson was mentor to the Tenleys and Elliott. And Danny owes me ten bucks for a bet he lost, but he’ll never admit that.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss. Did you have to declare personal bankruptcy?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “No, rescuing punks like you has paid my bills just fine.”
Okay, something about this man annoyed me. He reminded me of someone.
“Your sense of humor is shit,” I said.
“What do you know about humor? You’re twelve.”
I smashed my lips together and faced forward. If I didn’t ignore him, presumably for the rest of the flight, this was going to turn into a pissing contest with a side of bitch fit.
“I win,” he said smugly.
What the fuck? I couldn’t help but stare at him again, and I was in fucking disbelief. Had he just said that? And he accused me of being twelve? Meanwhile, he was on the wrong side of forty-five and acted like my two-year-old nephew.
When we arrived in Nice the following day, Squeezy had arranged for a rental and…a shitload more. The woman had been busy. She estimated she needed another day to pin down Rafael Delgado’s last known location, but in the meantime, we were to go to an address outside of Cannes, which was not far from here, to pick up tactical gear and weapons.
Ryan wanted to drive, but I put my foot down. I’d spent six years getting my unit in and out of conflict zones rife with insurgents; I fucking drove. I was the first to throw my ass out of a plane, I drove the vehicles, I drove the Zodiacs.
“End of story,” I finished and snatched the keys from his hand.
Then I marched out of the rental office, which was just a bright-green room in the corner of the massive garage. Our SUV was pulled up right outside, and it was real nice. To blend in with the other expensive cars in Monaco, according to Squeezy.
Audi Q7. I liked Audi.
“You’re a bossy kid, you know that?” Ryan said.
“I do possess some skills I’m proud of,” I retorted, throwing my duffel in the back.
“Which indicates there are skills you’re not proud of,” he replied. “That’s an interesting tidbit to me.”
I threw him a frown before I got in behind the wheel.
He got in next to me.
“You were there in Belize, weren’t you?”
He nodded. “And?”
My God, was he challenged in some way?
“A failed mission doesn’t necessarily mean you fucked up,” he clarified.
“I blew our cover. I slipped and got my information wrong.” Which was why one might say I was hella fucking nervous about this op, because I might be forced to get close to Delgado using another persona. It all depended on how and where we located him.
I preferred violence.
“Well…” Ryan blew out a breath and scratched his jaw. “Okay, so maybe you failed—”
“Ha!” I couldn’t help it. That was funny—and self-deprecating humor was a must sometimes.
I drove out of the garage and punched the address into the GPS. This region of France was mountainous as hell—and damn beautiful if my first impression was accurate. I’d read up on the area enough to know that Nice had a major city center, but much of the suburbs consisted of clusters of buildings in the mountains that stretched for miles and miles.
“One failure doesn’t mean shit in the end, Crew,” Ryan told me. “You’ve clearly learned from it. Otherwise, Elliott wouldn’t have sent you here. And your old man said it best—being ready isn’t what matters. What matters is winning once you get there.”
I flicked him an incredulous look before I made a turn. First of all, that was a shitty quote that only fit in a specific situation, and mine sure wasn’t one of them. Second of all, “You’ve been talking to my fucking dad?”
“Of course. We email and play Wordfeud. Turns out we were in Kabul at the same time and almost crossed paths.”
Kill me. Just kill me and be done with it.
“I didn’t win when I got to Belize,” I pointed out. “Also, Dad didn’t come up with that damn quote. It was ironically painted on a wall at a base I was stationed at in Afghanistan, and I sent a picture of it to him.”
“I didn’t say he came up with it—I said he said it best,” Ryan defended. “The point stands. Even though we’ll always continue our training, you’re past that part. Now you just have to deliver, and you’re not gonna let one fuckup get in the way of that. We’re Marines, son.”