Prologue #3
Jessica retrieved a phone from the pocket of her rain jacket.
She tapped at it a few times and offered it to him.
“That reporter recently captured in Tehran was executed two nights ago. She didn’t have to die, but the CIA was denied approval for a mission to save her.
” She motioned with her finger for Finn to swipe right.
More and more images of lives lost because no branch of American government was permitted to carry out a rescue or recovery mission.
Each loss weighed heavily on Finn’s heart. How could they not? And this was one reason he didn’t watch the news. It hurt too much to peer into the eyes of someone on screen, knowing that his people might have been able to save them.
“We are needed. And sometimes, rules are meant to be broken when you’re saving a thirteen-year-old girl from terrorists.” It was as if the woman had dipped into his head, then reached for his very soul and tugged.
A few seconds later, Finn swallowed around the giant lump in his throat, tore his eyes free from Jessica’s ice-blue ones, and returned her phone. “What if I say no? Isn’t it risky approaching me without having me sign some nondisclosure documents first?”
Jessica and Luke swapped a quick look, and Luke tipped his chin as if prompting his sister to take the lead.
“You’ll be thirty this year. You have nearly ten years dedicated to the Navy.
You’re a rule follower, but from what I’ve heard, you’re also willing to put people over policy when need be.
You had a tough life, but you never quit.
Never let adversity hold you back. You fight for the people you love.
You stop at nothing to do the right thing. ”
Her words gripped him by the throat, and he fought the urge to reach up and claw away the invisible hands.
Memories.
Painful. Fucking. Memories.
They haunted him every night before bed.
But didn’t every Teamguy have them?
He needed to shut out the pain and focus.
“I know a lot about you, Finn. Your favorite junk foods are beef jerky and Twizzlers. In your opinion, the best Star Wars movie is The Empire Strikes Back. And you—”
“I get it. You did your research on me.” Finn didn’t need to hear any more about himself.
He was painfully aware of the details of his life.
How many times had he wished for a way to go back in time without triggering some freaky butterfly effect?
“You knowing random shit about me doesn’t explain why you’d assume I’d say yes to this. ”
As Finn watched Jessica tuck her phone back into her pocket, the answer dawned on him.
This tough-as-nails CIA officer—excuse me, former CIA officer—had preyed upon his emotions with those photos.
“Those cases you showed me.” Finn shook his head. “The lives the military couldn’t save. You knew I’d say yes because of them. For them.”
“According to your teammates, you can’t seem to stop yourself if you know someone is in trouble. You never back down,” Jessica confirmed his theory. “And we want someone like you on our team.”
“You just described every SEAL I know,” Finn remarked with a forced casual shrug, trying to keep his emotions in check. Of course, why bother hiding from this woman? She was able to read him as if she had the master key to his innermost thoughts.
Loud moaning began to compete with the music in the room next door, and Finn bit back a smile when a blush crawled up Jessica’s neck and onto her cheeks. Ah, so there was more to this woman than Just the facts, ma’am. Good to know.
“Okay, okay.” Luke didn’t bother to hide his grin as the music and moaning was joined by the headboard rhythmically banging against the wall. “You came highly recommended.”
Finn smiled, doing his best to ignore the awkward entertainment from next door. “Who?”
“Wyatt Pierson. And Chris Hunter,” Luke quickly answered.
Finn had worked with Wyatt a few times. He was well-known to everyone on all Teams. British born but an American citizen. One of the best snipers in the world, right alongside Liam Evans.
And Chris was from the Boston area, like Finn, and they’d bonded over that fact whenever their paths had crossed in the Middle East.
“They’ll be on this team, then?” It’d be nice to work with familiar faces if he were to say yes.
“Yeah. Two teams. Bravo and Echo. I’ll head up Bravo, and we’ve tasked Wyatt as Echo One. Our second sniper will be on Bravo. Looking to recruit Liam Evans.” Luke paused for a moment. “We need a medic, so we were hoping you’d join Echo.”
“You have a medic for Bravo?” Why did it feel like he already committed?
“Charlie Bennett.” Jessica’s cheeks bloomed even brighter as the woman next door proclaimed to find God.
“Ah, you mean Knox.” Jessica wasn’t on the DL with nicknames, huh?
Finn brought a fist to his mouth and coughed, a feeble effort to distract from the antics in the adjacent room. Knox’s dad was rumored to run for President one day. How would that work?
But what he really needed to be asking himself was how the hell would this new team prevent the world from learning their identities when not even the Department of Defense was able to keep a lid on what DEVGRU Tier One guys did?
“We have a cover story,” Luke answered his thoughts as the couple next door finally finished. Thank God the man was a sprinter and not a marathon-type guy. “Scott and Scott Securities. Cyber protection. Bodyguard jobs. Kidnap and rescue. And so on.”
“And we’ll have retired SEALs working actual cases to keep up with appearances.
” Jessica’s rigid stance eased up a bit.
“Maybe we’ll even take a few jobs between ops in the beginning.
But if we’re ever captured or identified on a mission, the President won’t take responsibility for our actions.
We’ll say we were hired as private security. ”
“So, it’s our asses, not POTUS’s.” Isn’t that how it is every day, anyway? It was the men and women outside the wire who risked their necks, so this wouldn’t be much different, right?
“We need an answer soon,” Luke said. “I know this seems fast, but we’ll be heading to Argentina for our first op in two days.”
Two days? Fuck. “You’re expecting a group of ten guys who will be new to working together to drop in on a target without knowing each other all that well first? Or without prep?”
“Of course not. That’s why we’re getting there early,” Luke commented with a slow smile crossing his lips.
“You’ll need to sign some NDAs once you say yes,” Jessica noted.
She knew damn well he wasn’t going to be able to turn her down. “Can I ask you something? Has anyone you tried to recruit said no?”
Luke and Jessica exchanged another quick look. “No.”
“Is Liam your last recruit?”
Luke nodded. “What do you say? I know it’s a big ask without much time.”
“I’m supposed to be reporting to Jalalabad and—”
“POTUS has it covered,” Luke cut him off.
Finn closed his eyes and thought back to the cemetery he’d been unable to walk through. Then he thought about the phone number he’d pulled off the drug dealer. “I need a day to do something first.” His lids slowly parted to look at them. “And then I’m all yours.”