Chapter 37
She heated a breakfast burrito, hash browns, and poured a cup of hot chocolate. He did the same except with black coffee.
“The Three Colonels?” She made it both a title and a question as soon as they settled.
Derek started a review of what little they knew. “Means it’s as real as hell. Colonel Gibson? There’s never been a better soldier. He, all three of them I guess, have a real penchant for surviving. Must say I like that.”
She nodded her agreement. “Dilya?”
“You’re the one who recognized her.”
“Don’t know much, but did you see her badge?”
He shook his head. After tugging off the hot-pink parka, she’d tucked it away before he could see it clearly. No… “She purposely held it so that you could see it. Didn’t look like an accident now that I think of it. She must have some reason she wanted you to know.”
Abby shrugged. “She’s Yankee White. Cleared to be armed around the President. Which means…” she thought about it a bit “…she wanted one of us to know not to underestimate her.”
Neither of them had that level of clearance, not that they had any need for it. But between that and Dilya being with the Three Colonels, it brushed aside any doubts that something heavy was going on. So, he moved on from the players to the objective they’d just been briefed on.
“All this because of one woman? A rescue?” That’s what they said, but it didn’t sit well enough to not be questioned.
“Or are we kidnapping her?” Abby must be feeling the same uncertainty.
“They’re not going to bring along a civilian and her dog, no matter who she is, if it’s an execution.”
“So, when they said rescue, we should probably trust them on that.”
“For now.”
Derek liked the easy synchronicity of their thoughts. Yet another thing to like about Abby, as if he needed more.
“A test?”
He should have thought of that one. He inspected the plane, the scale of the crew they’d brought aboard, and that the colonels had come themselves despite two of them being retired. He shook his head. It didn’t fit. “The last two nights…”
“Those were our tests.” Abby finished the thought for him. “Unknown objective. Unknown opposing forces.”
“How do we plan when we don’t know anything. Yeah, I hear you.”
They sat through half a burrito each but neither of them had anything to add.
He tipped his head back, indicating the front of the plane behind them. “We’ve got a large crew here, but only a few of us in the know for what little bit of good that’s doing us. Security could be a real issue. Unless we use them…”
“…without using them,” Abby nodded slowly at first but then offered him the first real smile since they’d passed out in each other’s arms last night.
“A full-on Delta/Night Stalkers demonstration over here…”
“…so that no one notices whatever our small team is doing over there. I wish we had Trisha along.”
“Why?”
“The way she thinks is pure, out-of-the-box evil.”
Derek smiled. “Oh, I think the 1st Special Operations Force Detachment-Delta might be up to doing a little of that.”