She let out a flabbergasted noise. “Do you not see the issue?”
“Uh, no. I don’t. It meant nothing—to either of us.”
“That’s absolutely not the point.”
I set my ankle on the opposite knee and gripped it. “And what exactlyisyour point, Claire?”
“No fucking the team members!”
“When in Rome.” I shrugged nonchalantly, because quite frankly, I’d missed stirring her up.
Her nostrils flared comically. “We weren’t in fucking Rome!”
My burst of laughter couldn’t be contained. “That’s what hesaid.”
“Hallie, this is not fucking funny!”
Folding my arms under my breasts and kicking back, I didn’t bother fighting my grin. “Hey, I’m assuming you did background checks before approaching me?”
She nodded impatiently. “Of course.”
“I’ve never hid who I am, Claire. Be thankful for that.”
“I’ll be thankful when you don’t screw the crew.”
“It won’t happen again.”
She sent me a dubious glower. “See that it doesn’t. Now, moving forward, I’ve got an assignment for you.”
I sat forward in anticipation. “What type?”
“Code Red extraction of three adults from the Mexican Cartel.” She slid a folder across the table, then flicked her wrist to check the time. “Lexa, Mac, and Nevada are also on this assignment, so I won’t go into details until they arrive. I just needed to have a word with you prior.”
“Fuck,” I murmured, flipping open the file and already moving on from her reprimand.
Two males, one female, all US citizens, being held at ransom by the Cartel.
“These guys must have fucked up badly. What’d they do?”
“They tried to investigate human trafficking to make a documentary out of their footage, all while undercover posing as buyers.”
I tsked and shook my head. Questions gathered on my tongue, but I held them for the moment.
Lexa, Mac, and Nevada all arrived at the same time a few minutes later and took their places around the table. Claire distributed files identical to mine, then started the brief without preamble.
“Ladies, we have a Code Red.Op Nahual is a “locate and extract” mission to be conducted in Chiapas—the southern Mexican state borderingGuatemala. Three US hostages—two male and one female—have been captured by a local guerrilla group believed to be the orchestrators of a long-established and prolific human trafficking ring in the area.
“The hostages’ intentions were to break into the ring to document and expose trafficking across Mexico, using the Chiapas state as an example of how bad the problem is. Only, the guerrilla group quickly figured out what was going on and has ransomed them to the U.S. government. Our government is reluctant to get involved, so the father of one of the men—who is a multi-million-dollar business tycoon now living in the UAE—contacted us.
“Instead of paying their ransom, he’s specified that we’re to bring his son and his comrades home, dead or alive. Preferably alive, obviously.”
Mac scoffed. “That’s the plan.”
A series of sworn agreements sounded around the table. We’d already switched our mindset from here at the compound to trained killers solely focused on the mission ahead.
“Rules of engagement?” I asked.
“Lethal force as required. At this stage, it is unclear exactly how many women and children have been collected for trafficking, but it’s believed that they are being held at the same location as the hostages. There are rumors that the hostages will be executed, which is why I’ve already got Shaun and Zeke prepping the helo for departure. Once hostages are extracted, all innocents will be handed over to local authorities, and the hostages will be extracted via the team helo.”