Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
R onan watched the two Jeeps come over the ridge into the valley where the IDP camp was. Deacon, Ranger, Ace, Bandit, and Rip were a hell of a team, and since they’d done more than their fair share of missions together, they were all damn good friends. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the Jeeps. As soon as Deacon saw him, a wide smile spread across both of their faces. Fuck, it had been almost eight months since he’d seen his brother in person.
As soon as the Jeep stopped, he grabbed his brother and pulled him in for a hug. “About time,” he said as they hugged.
“Damn straight,” Deacon agreed .
When they released, Deacon looked around. “So, this is home sweet home?”
“Not so sweet, but home base for now. Our tent has room for everyone’s gear until you get set up.”
“Perfect, we brought some noise makers and another fifty cal.” Deacon nodded toward the small trailer the second Jeep was pulling behind it.
“Another fifty is always welcome. How much do you know about what’s going on?”
“I had a long discussion with Gabby and Charley in the torture chamber they call a SCIF at Al-Tanf.”
“The broom closet?” Ronan laughed.
“Is that what it was? Holy hell, man, I’m not claustrophobic, but that booth tried to make me one.”
“I know. Unwedging my ass and falling out of that thing made me second-guess my physical fitness.”
“Right? Do we need to stop eating?”
“Either that or finish the fucking mission and never have to use the closet torture communication system again.”
“Exactly. You know Gabby and Charley were both put out about different things and chomping at the bit to find answers.”
Ronan narrowed his eyes. “Let me guess, Charley wants to find the bastard inside, and Gabby wants to know why the camp is closing.”
“You got it. Gabby’s working on it and calling in favors to get to the bottom of the closure. She seems to think it could fall under UN protection. Smoke has Charley busy, so she should stay out of your operator’s business. But you know her. She can’t drop something once she gets it in her brain.”
Ronan chuckled. “So, what you're saying is we could have another visitor?”
“Wouldn’t put it past her.” Deacon shrugged. “Smoke tries, but no one can control that woman.”
“Well, hopefully, we can figure it out before she commandeers an aircraft and jets her ass over here. Dude is working on the financials. He’s combed through all the staff and, as of now, hasn’t found anything. He contacted me about an hour ago. He wants to try one more thing in the morning, his time, and then he's hitting up Jewell if he doesn’t get anything.”
“If she can’t find it, no one can,” Deacon said, looking around. His men were unloading. “Where’re the guys?”
“Stryker and Wolf are sacked out in the tent. They’re pulling mids. Jug is on swings, and Wraith and I are days. Wraith and Jug are in the compound or checking on the militia posts. Come with me over to the anti-trafficking tent. I’d like to introduce you to someone.”
Deacon nodded. “Ranger, two are sacked out. Keep it down around the tent.”
“Roger,” Ranger said and lifted a hand to Ronan, who returned the gesture.
“Damn, is Ranger getting bigger?”
“Think so. He’s always pushing weights when we have them or doing bodyweight exercises. I’d call him hyper, but he’s so fucking chill, it would be a misnomer.”
“Wraith will be glad to see him. This way.” They moved away from the tents, and Ronan nodded to the tent next to the one Fleur occupied. “That tent belongs to the camp lead, Miller Dupre.”
Deacon nodded. “Noted.”
“And this one belongs to Fleur Buchanan.” He opened the flap, and Deacon went in ahead of him.
“Hey, you.” Fleur smiled up at Deacon and then noticed Ronan. Her eyes went wide. “Holy smokes. You guys are almost identical. You didn’t tell me he was your twin, did you?” She walked over to Ronan, and he dropped his arm over her shoulder.
“I can’t remember. Fleur, this is Deacon. Deacon, Fleur. ”
She extended her hand, and Deacon took it. “A pleasure to meet you. He talks highly of you.”
Fleur blushed. “Yeah, well, I think he’s pretty awesome, too.” She smiled up at him, and then her face fell. “I’m glad you’re here. Camp Seven can take most of our IDPs. They’ve added four acres of tents.”
“When do they want us to bring them?”
“We can start tomorrow, but that isn’t what you wanted.” She glanced at Deacon. “Does he know?”
“He does if you’re talking about the Tuesday connection,” Deacon answered for himself. “So, let’s go tomorrow. We can take one through without any concerns and ensure we have the route scouted.”
“I’d need to make notifications and, at a minimum, let my superiors know what’s going on.” Fleur rolled her bottom lip between her teeth.
He reached up and, using his thumb, pulled the lip out of her teeth’s clutches. “Stop worrying. The three of us will review the notification checklist, and we’ll identify the notifications we want you to make.”
Deacon nodded and pointed to Ronan and then himself. “And we’ll take the heat if someone gives you a rash of shit about being left out of the circle-jerk. ”
Fleur blinked and then laughed. “He’s just like you.”
“Pretty much,” they both said at the same time.
Ronan pulled her notification notebook toward him. “Okay, so let’s cut the fat and all the bullshit out of this list.” He flipped it open and pointed to the first page.
Deacon flipped the page and then flipped another. “Well, this won’t work.”
“Right?” Ronan laughed. “I think I can remember five calls that need to be made. Six if you push it. She has four pages of bullshit. People wanting to be important if you ask me.”
“No doubt.” Deacon sat down. “Do you have a marker?”
“I do.” Fleur gave it to him. “It’s permanent.”
“Good,” both he and Ronan said at the same time. Deacon started to cross out the notifications that were complete bullshit. Ronan pointed to those that would endanger their route and the ones that made his eyes bleed from rolling so hard. By the time they finished, Fleur had four notifications to make.
“Okay, so I should make these … when?” She looked at him, then at Deacon, and then back at him.
“After we roll out tomorrow morning,” Ronan said .
Deacon nodded. “Concur.”
“He’s going to have a small fit. He’s going to know as soon as we start loading.”
“Then we’ll tell him at that point.” Ronan shrugged. “He’s not going to stop us from going.”
Fleur leaned down, looked at the box, and drew a deep breath before letting it out. “I hope you’re wrong about Miller.”
“So do I,” Ronan said, but he was damn near certain he wasn’t. There was too much circumstantial evidence mounting against the man.
Deacon stood up. “Let me check on my guys, and then I’d like you to take me on a tour of the camp.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll be there in a minute.” Ronan waited until his brother walked out of the tent before he went up to Fleur. “I need something.”
She frowned. “What?”
“This.” Sliding his arms around her, he lowered for a kiss. The hit of dopamine was instantaneous. Hell, maybe it was the oxytocin or serotonin. It didn’t matter what the shit was. The pleasure slammed into him immediately, intense as fuck, and he craved it with an intensity that knocked him on his ass. He lifted away slowly, watching as she opened her eyes. “Fuck, you’re irresistible. ”
She smiled at him and licked her lips. “Right back at you.”
“We’ll get through this shuttering, and when we return to the States, you’ll come to Colorado with me.”
She cocked her head. “That didn’t sound like a question.”
“It wasn’t. There’s no question we need to explore this more. We’ve agreed on that already.”
She smiled at him. “We have.”
“Then there’s no argument. You come with me.”
“Only because I want to.” She lifted her eyebrows a couple of times.
“I’d never make you do anything you didn’t want.” He lowered for a slow, intense kiss. When he finished, she sighed and leaned against his chest. “I know, and that’s why I’ll come with you. But I already told you that.”
“I wanted it confirmed when we weren’t in the after-effects of mind-bending, reality-altering sex.”
She laughed and looked up at him. “It is confirmed. I’m in complete control of my faculties.”
“Good to know.” He kissed her forehead. “Promise me you won’t do anything to attract his attention.”
“Promise. He’ll be pissed he wasn’t notified sooner, so I don’t think he’ll be around much, but I can keep tabs on him.” She looked down at the thick notebook beside her notification checklist. “I need to let these people know they’ll be leaving tomorrow. Rana, Tammara, and I will do it. They have no reason to believe Miller doesn’t know, so they won’t talk to him about it.”
“I’ll brief him in the morning. That will keep you out of his target range.”
“I’m not afraid of him.”
He knew she wasn’t, but he wished she were. Caution always motivated him to be aware of his surroundings. “Just be cautious. Hoping things aren’t true is all right, trusting someone who’s been identified as suspicious isn’t the way to play this.”
“I promise. I’m suspicious of Miller. I won’t do anything stupid.”
He smiled at her. “You’ve never been stupid.” He kissed her one more time then let her get back to her work.
Deacon was walking toward him when he came out of the tent. “This way.” Ronan bypassed Miller’s tent and headed into the camp. Ronan explained the two instances of poaching that had happened since they’d been at the camp.
“How many did they get each time?” Deacon stopped short as a young boy ran out from between two huts and darted between another set. “A lot of kids here, isn’t there?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure the camp knows how many. It’s a best-guess type of situation. The camp isn’t a controlled entry or exit like the ones the local ISIL or their government runs. Here, people can come and go as they like, and with the drawdown, there are only a couple of people doing registration.”
Deacon looked around. “Sanitation is good.”
“Yeah, they have a well, which helps. The chow hall is over that way. Now that they have supplies, most people process through for one meal daily. At least that’s what Fleur tells me.” Ronan led him to an outside track around the tents. He lowered his voice as he continued to talk. “The local militia commander told us there was a drop area in the ruined capstone rock area at the main gate. Wraith and I set up a camera last night after most of the camp went to sleep.”
“A drop for what?” his brother asked as he took a piece of taffy from his pocket. Deacon offered one to him, and he took it.
“Instructions on when and where to cut the fence line.”
“And this has been going on the entire time? ”
“Fleur said it has been, but when the new militia lead came in, it slowed.”
“So, whoever was doing this could have been doing it all along, and they wouldn’t have known.”
“Pretty much.” Ronan nodded, popping the now unwrapped candy into his mouth. “Fleur doesn’t think it could be Miller.” He sighed.
“And you?”
“It makes me suspicious. When Jug suggested we toss all the tents to find the wire cutters, Miller was present. Then he’s in the anti-trafficking tent unattended, and Fleur finds cutters in her file cabinet. Al, our agent in the camp, suspects him, and that guy has eyes and ears everywhere.”
“But no obvious financial gain.” Deacon pondered the same thing he’d been thinking.
“Right.”
“Why else would he do it?” Deacon stopped and looked at him. “What about blackmail?”
“He’s being blackmailed to do it?” Ronan frowned. “Could be a reason. Why the fuck didn’t I think of that?”
“Because I’m smarter than you?” Deacon said and was punched in his arm as a reward for the smartass comment .
He tapped his ear and laughed as Deacon unsuccessfully tried to punch him back. “Dude.”
“Go, Skipper.”
“What if someone was blackmailing our person inside to cut the fences?”
“Damn. All right, I’ll have Tink start looking for skeletons in closets. I’m almost through with the staff. I don’t have much hope. Jewell will have to take a crack at it. I’m not making any headway.”
“That works. Nobody’s leaving the country anytime soon.” Which was a damn good thing. A foreigner would have limited ability to travel in the country and even a more limited way to get out of the country without going through ports of entry Guardian could monitor.
“I’ll get the info to you as soon as possible. Tink and I are working doubles to get it all processed.”
“I’ll mention that to your employer and see if we can get you a raise in pay.”
“Nah, just a week off so we can sleep.”
“Deal,” Ronan said and terminated the connection.
“He should have the financial information tomorrow. His methods are coming up with goose eggs, so he’s up-channeling it to Jewell. ”
“Hopefully, that’ll give us the information we need.”
“We need to discuss tomorrow’s convoy.”
“Want my team to drive the transport trucks?”
“Yeah, and Jug, he’ll be driving the bogus transporter with the fifty. We’ll take yours in the same truck and change it if necessary. A Jeep with Wraith and I in front and Stryker and Wolf will be in the back. Everyone armed to the teeth.”
“Did I mention I brought you some noisemakers?”
Ronan nodded and accepted another piece of candy from his brother. “You did. What did you snag?”
“Had some leftover rockets for the SMAWs. Figured you could never have too many.”
“So true. So true.” Ronan chuckled. “If we’re hit tomorrow, it could get dicey.”
“For them.” Deacon sighed. “We just need to make sure the riders know to get the hell down as low as they can get if we stop.”
“I’ll tell them as they load up.”
“Yeah, you’re a bit more fluent in Arabic than I am.”
“And you speak Mandarin better than I do.”
“Guess it evens out. ”
“Usually does.” Ronan chuckled. “Heard from Mom or Dad?”
“Not much. Last I heard, they were in London. Frank and Amanda were with them. Since Dad officially stepped away, they’ve been all over the world. They said they wanted to do things before they couldn’t.”
“About time he gets to enjoy retirement.” Ronan laughed. “How many times did he un-retire?”
“Ten or twenty at least,” Deacon guessed. “Are you seriously considering a desk?”
Ronan nodded. “I am. It all depends on how things work out in the future, but I think Fleur and I have a good shot at one hell of a relationship.”
“She seemed nice. Intelligent. She’s hot, too.”
Deacon ducked the punch that time. “Mine, asshole. Stay away.”
“Dude, she only had eyes for you. That much was completely clear.” Deacon chuckled. “I’m happy for you.”
“You’ll find your woman.”
Deacon laughed and shook his head. “I’m not looking. Not yet. I need to run wild for a few more years.”
“That’s what I thought, and then bam, Fleur was there. I had no option. I walked straight into one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”
“She it, huh?”
“Think so. It has happened so damn fast, but we’re committed to giving it all we have. She’ll come back to Colorado with me. Gabby’s working on her clearance and a job. She’s a project manager.”
“Lord knows we have enough projects going on.” Deacon chuckled and then tapped his arm. “Incoming.”
Ronan turned to look in the direction Deacon indicated. Miller. “Alexander, what the hell is going on? More Guardians?”
Ronan crossed his arms over his chest, and Deacon mimicked his position. Miller’s eyes grew wide as he bounced his gaze from one to the other. “Miller, my brother Deacon. Deacon, this is Miller Dupre, the camp lead.”
Miller nodded at Deacon, and neither offered a hand. “Why wasn’t I notified that there would be more Guardians in camp?”
“My brother happened to be in the area and offered help. I wasn’t aware I needed to inform you of my decisions or actions. Children’s Hope International hired me, not your organization. I told Fleur, who notified her superiors.” Or he assumed she did. She was a rule follower.
“I need to know when we bring more guns into the camp,” Miller blustered.
“Okay. There are more guns in camp,” Deacon said and cocked his head.
Miller narrowed his eyes. “Thanks,” he said snidely. Ronan tried to hide the smile at Deacon’s comment. He wasn’t too sure he managed when Miller narrowed his eyes further. “Does this mean you’re going to run convoys?”
“It does. Tuesday.” Which wasn’t a lie.
“Where are you going?”
“To whatever camp will take them.” Ronan nodded toward the huts and tents. Again, not a lie but not all the information either. “The more we draw down, the less you’ll need to stress, Miller. We’ll stop the bastard cutting the fence by moving all the people.”
Miller rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s true.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Ronan offered the man a piece of candy. Miller shook his head, so Ronan opened it and asked, “Why is this camp closing?”
“Huh?” Miller blinked up at him.
“Well, see, my sister is on a multi-national board that works with NGOs, and from everything she knows, this country needs more camps, not less. She’s talking to the UN to try to determine who gave the orders to shutter the camp.”
Miller said nothing for a long time then shook his head. “I have no idea. I just got the orders to send them out and shutter it.”
“From who?” Deacon asked.
“Shit, that was almost a year and a half ago. I’d have to find the paperwork.” Miller rubbed the back of his neck again. “I can look for it for you.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Ronan said.
“Yeah.” Miller nodded. He looked at Deacon. “Good to meet you.”
“And you,” Deacon said, and they watched as Miller headed back toward his tent. “I can’t read him.”
“Exactly. I want to believe he’s innocent, but …”
“There’s a niggling in your gut. Mine, too,” Deacon finished.
“Exactly.”