Chapter 1 #5
Kyle looked over at Alexei, watching as his brother moved photos around, copying out what tattoos he could see into a separate file for further review.
Bratva tattoos told a story, much like all gang tattoos did.
From identifying what group owned them to how many people they’d killed, the ink gang members sported was as much a calling sign as an identity.
A lot of gangs nowadays limited the areas their members could sport ink, with some groups not letting any members wear tattoos at all. But some traditions just would not die.
“>” Kyle asked in Russian.
“>” Alexei muttered, still pulling out tattoos.
Kyle left him alone and refocused on the table at large, switching back to English. “We were a mile away. I don’t know how they could’ve found us out.”
He knew he sounded frustrated, but he couldn’t help it.
Kyle hated when a mission didn’t go right, and this one had gone wrong in ways that set his teeth on edge.
He’d been made by targets before, a rare occurrence, but it happened, just not like this.
Not by people who were prepared with a perfectly placed bomb meant to take them out.
“Did any of the other floors in the building have bombs?” Nazari asked.
Madison shook her head. “No. It was a small enough blast that it only took out the office area on the floor we were hunkered down in. No secondary blasts occurred. I don’t know if it was set off by timer or remote detonator because Kyle got us moving, but we barely escaped it in time.”
Kyle ran a hand through his hair, the crispy ends rough against his fingers. “Yeah. Barely.”
Alexei tapped his fingers against the table, and replicas of the tattoos popped up in front of everyone’s seat. Alexei leaned forward a little to look down the table at where Nazari sat at the end. “Is maybe Presnenskaya Bratva. Not certain. Not all marks clear.”
Nazari eyed the magnified tattoo markings in front of him with a frown. “The Presnenskaya gang is a Moscow-based one with international reach.”
“Da. They main bratva in Ukraine and contested region when I grow up. Other bratva there, but Presnenskaya worst.”
“We do know Mexican cartels, French right-wing gangs, and some Russian mafia were working together on the experiments last year. This could be an outgrowth from that,” Jamie said.
Kyle grimaced a little at that offhand reminder of his and Alexei’s first mission together with Alpha Team.
The trafficking ring that transported Mexican migrants over the southern border to a town in Kansas in order to teleport them to the Eastern European contested region came to an end when Alpha Team blew up the base in the Carpathian Mountains.
None of them were na?ve enough to believe that was the end of the problem.
Cora Everly’s employer or partner had never been clearly identified, despite how deeply MDF analysts dug.
What the team had uncovered last summer was an alliance between criminal organizations spanning the globe.
All of them were attempting to create metahumans for their own uses and not any government’s by inflicting Splice on captive test subjects.
Considering the kill rate of the chemical, very few metahumans had been created according to the limited amount of data Katie had managed to retrieve off that base’s server last year during their escape.
It was still enough to put all government-run metahuman agencies on edge and try to dig deeper into those criminal organizations.
Any push into finding a vaccine to inoculate the world’s population against the Splice chemical bombs terrorists had no qualms about using would eventually take away their most dangerous weapon.
It was fifty-fifty if all governments were dedicated to finding a supposed cure.
War was big business: for criminals, for third-party government contractors, and for the governments themselves.
Kyle was cynical enough to believe he’d never see a viable anti-Splice vaccine in his lifetime.
Nazari tapped the fingers of one hand against the armrest of his chair, staring at the holopics of the tattoo markings. “Walk me through what happened. I want every detail, no matter how innocuous you think it is. Give me everything.”
Kyle didn’t hesitate to start talking, already knowing this debrief was going to be long.
The sooner they gave the director what he wanted, the sooner they could all get cleared by Medical and go home, or in Jamie’s case, start his leave before his family upped their fight with the MDF for his attention.
Kyle didn’t know why Jamie had stayed behind to backseat drive the mission, but he had a feeling Jamie’s family wouldn’t appreciate the way he’d prioritized the team over his time with them again.
* * *
A warm hand settled on Kyle’s shoulder, squeezing gently.
He looked up into Jamie’s concerned gaze as he finished tying the laces of his boots.
He’d cleaned up in the small exam room’s adjacent shower after his brief time under Dr. Gracie Gold’s care and changed into a clean service uniform another agent had dropped off for him.
He no longer smelled like smoke, which was nice.
“I’m all right,” Kyle said quickly as he straightened up and got to his feet. “We all are. It got a bit dicey there for a second, but we pulled through.”
“I know,” Jamie replied, letting his hand drop away.
Kyle snorted. “Sure you do.”
Jamie shrugged, not even arguing with Kyle.
They both knew Jamie carried a long-lived fear of losing his teammates in battle the exact same way he’d lost most of his platoon of Recon Marines over three years ago in Tripoli, Libya.
Fear was never rational, but they learned to work through it.
It’s why Kyle, Alexei, and Madison had endured Jamie’s continued presence after the debriefing was finished and they were dismissed.
This mission had been Katie’s to command, but she hadn’t fought it when Jamie took over.
They left the private medical room Kyle had been corralled in for the duration of his short checkup.
They found Katie, Donovan, and Annabelle taking up a couple of seats in a nearby waiting room, each of them munching on a high-calorie nutrient bar.
Metahumans had faster metabolisms due to their powers and got hungrier quicker than almost everyone else.
In Kyle’s admittedly limited experience with the people in Medical, he’d discovered early on that the nurses tended to automatically feed them during their after-mission examinations, either with nutrient bars or an IV.
He’d devoured his own nutrient bar a little while ago.
“Everyone good?” Jamie asked.
“Still fine, just like the last time you asked,” Annabelle replied a bit teasingly.
Jamie had gotten in the way of more than one nurse earlier in his need to make sure they were all okay, even Annabelle, who hadn’t been anywhere near the explosion.
The only person he hadn’t quietly pestered with his presence was Gracie.
The head of the MDF’s medical personnel and Donovan’s girlfriend was a metahuman whose power could heal others.
Jamie knew better than to get in the way of Gracie doing her job.
“I like to make sure. You know that.”
“That we do,” Donovan said with a brief smile.
“Others getting released soon?”
Katie didn’t look up from her tablet. “I think they’re almost finished. Trevor’s wrangling them.”
Jamie nodded. “Good job today, despite the outcome.”
“Job isn’t over.” Katie waved her tablet at him. “Still have to log my report.”
Kyle made a face as he flopped down in the nearest chair, which happened to be next to Donovan. “I swear, the MDF has more paperwork than Strike Force ever did.”
“Welcome to the industrial side of the military-industrial complex. They got paperwork for everything,” Donovan drawled.
Kyle knew they still needed to submit an after-action report no later than tomorrow evening to go with the oral record Ceres had taken down. Kyle wasn’t looking forward to the hours of work ahead he still needed to get through.
Donovan reached over and ruffled Kyle’s damp hair. “Got a little too close to the fire this time.”
“You’re telling me,” Kyle said a little wryly.
“Let’s not make a habit of it,” Jamie said.
Kyle rolled his head against the back of the chair to look at Jamie as their four other teammates finally edged into the waiting room. “Why aren’t you in New York?”
“I wanted to hear about this mission in person.”
Kyle wasn’t buying that excuse as the whole reason Jamie chose to stay. “You’re stalling.”
“Of course he is,” Katie said, side-eyeing Jamie with a familiar look of exasperation in her blue eyes. “Not that I blame you, Jamie, but Kyle has a point. You have somewhere to be, and it isn’t here.”
Jamie sighed deeply. “I see who really runs this team.”
“Blonde, blue-eyed, but it sure as hell isn’t you, boss,” Madison teased before taking a bite of her nutrient bar. “Blergh. These never taste any better. Who’s up for tacos?”
The resounding chorus of Me! from nearly everyone made Madison pump her fist in the air in victory.
Katie gave Jamie a pointed look. “We’ll see you later. Go deal with your family.”
Jamie rolled his eyes as he waved goodbye to everyone and left.
Not for the first time did Kyle wish he could reach out and hold on to Jamie in public without fear of being discovered as something more than teammates and friends.
That they were two men wasn’t an issue, but Jamie being his direct superior officer was.
Neither liked hiding their relationship from everyone except the team, but they’d both agreed months ago it was the only option they had if they wanted to be together.
Still, living by the rule of secrecy in order to be together was tiring some days. It meant Kyle would have to wait until Jamie returned and they were home alone before he could kiss the other man properly and let Jamie know he was okay.
For a sniper, sometimes Kyle was terrible at being patient.
“They still want him for the campaign?” Annabelle asked once Jamie was out of earshot.
“When do they not want him for the campaign?” Donovan replied.
“It’s a mess,” Katie agreed as she stood. “He’ll handle it. I thought we were getting dinner?”
Kyle shoved himself to his feet and stretched until his spine popped. “Yeah, let’s eat before the paperwork kills us.”
“Is not fun,” Alexei agreed as he slung an arm over Kyle’s shoulders. “What if no taco?”
Madison was first out of the waiting room, a determined look on her face. “There will be tacos if I have to cook the damn things myself.”