Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
PARKER
I was doing my best to try and concentrate on what Matthew––my team leader––was saying, but I kept going back to last night.
After we ate dinner, Molly and I moved into the living room where we continued to get to know each other while a movie played in the background. It was one of the nicest nights I've ever had, and I looked forward to doing it again.
I was so lost in my head that I didn't pay attention when a pen was thrown across the table until it hit me in the side of the head.
"What the fuck?" I glared in the direction the pen had come from and found Oxford glaring right back at me.
"Get the fuck out of your head and pay attention," my teammate snapped.
I looked around the room. Rhett and Matthew were smirking at me, but every one else was merely shaking their head.
"What did I miss?"
"Vegas," was Caden's response.
"What about it? The mission was a success. We rescued the women and children plus took several scumbags off the street. I consider that a job well done."
The target package we were given from DHS––Department of Homeland Security––was complete for once.
We had gotten lucky that all the players were contained to one location and we were able to strategically hit it without too much of a hiccup.
Sure, there was gunfire, but I would've been more concerned if there hadn't been.
All of the women and children made it out alive even though the conditions they were in were deplorable.
"Maybe a little too perfect," Logan grumbled.
I pointed at my teammate. "See that, right there, is your problem. You always have to find the negative. Why can't you just be happy we had a successful mission?"
"Because it wasn't successful." Matthew crossed his arms and looked around at us sternly.
"Aw, fuck." I dropped my head to my chin. Damn the universe for mocking me. "What the hell did I miss while I was busy daydreaming about my wife?"
I glanced up just in time to see the smirks on my teammates’ faces. I had a feeling I knew what they were smiling about, but Graham confirmed it, "It's good to hear you talking like that, my friend."
I smiled in return. Referring to Molly as my wife was becoming second nature. The thought of calling her anything else made my stomach sour.
"One of the women who was rescued finally talked. Her English was a little broken, but they brought in a translator. She said there were more bodies than the ones we rescued."
"Are we sure they're alive? I know that sounds awful, but considering the condition we found them in, some might not have made it."
I hated thinking like that, but a person didn't go into my line of work with rose-colored glasses.
There were always casualties in human trafficking.
The people who smuggled humans didn't give a fuck what happened in transport and oftentimes moved more bodies than they needed with the knowledge that some wouldn't make it.
It was a cruel damn world we lived in.
"She was asked that, and she's adamant there has to be another location. She was separated from her sister and swears she's healthy enough that she would've survived."
I dropped my head at the mention of a sister. I couldn't imagine how the woman felt knowing she was rescued and not her family. That had to be hard on her.
"What is the DHS saying?"
"They are sticking to their guns that we intercepted the full shipment."
I couldn't stand the way the agency described humans like they were nothing more than cargo. I knew it helped them keep perspective, but damn, it pissed me off. These were flesh-and-blood people for fuck's sake.
"So now you're thinking there has to be another player or players. More than just the ones the DHS provided in the target package, and obviously another property that wasn't linked to the original target."
"That's what I'm saying. We all know the information we're given isn't always complete. I think this is one of those times."
Matthew wasn't saying anything new. The amount of times we were given only a piece of the information was more often than not. Alphabet agencies weren't known for sharing. They liked to keep things close to the vest, but damn, if they weren't quick to call us when they wanted something.
"So what's our plan?"
I knew Matthew and Black had to have some kind of plan. Neither of them were a fan of leaving things unfinished even if the DHS didn't order us to do anything.
"At the moment, we are in a holding pattern until the DHS gives us the go-ahead, or Caden discovers a tangible lead we can follow."
My team didn't like the sound of that. It was obvious based on the groans everyone gave. None of us wanted to sit on our hands while children were being trafficked in our own fucking country.
"I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but we can't just go back to Vegas and spend an unlimited amount of time there."
"Fuck no." That was from Rhett.
"Absolutely not." Graham that time.
"Yeah, I'm not a fan of that." That one was all me. Now that Molly and I agreed to see where things could go with us, I didn't want to be spending wasted time away.
"I know my opinion doesn't matter, but Vegas doesn't sound like a bad place to spend some quality time." Oxford gave the three of us a wicked smirk. Fortunately Rhett managed to throw a pen at our teammate before I could.
"Sometimes, I swear, I lead a daycare instead of a team of former Special Forces operators.
" Matthew huffed and shook his head. It was obvious he was frustrated over the situation and not in the mood for our antics, but in this line of work, it was either have a dark sense of humor, or we would go insane from the things we said.
Humor was the lesser of two evils.
"Well, if you think about it, the team’s split in half these days. Three old married folks and three younger studs."
It was my turn to whip a pen but at Logan instead. Matthew was standing next to him though and managed to snatch it out of the air. "Enough with throwing pens," Matthew reprimanded us.
"We could be throwing staplers instead." Rhett shrugged his shoulders.
"Let me rephrase. Enough with throwing any office supplies."
"Technically it's four single guys. Caden isn't married either, and tell me again why we can't throw shit?" Oxford gave his two cents.
"Last time I checked, we weren't old," Graham snapped back.
"Because we aren't fucking children."
I'm not sure when the conversation went off the rails, but I was all here for it. Especially because Matthew's head looked like it was ready to explode.
"Go find something to fucking do at this point." Matthew threw his hands up and pointed at the door.
Rhett and I looked at each other and snickered. We successfully managed to tick off Matthew which was our goal at least twenty-five percent of the time. The other seventy-five percent was completing actual work.
Okay, now that I thought about it, that was probably flipped around.
Oh well. I never said I had a boring job.
But in all seriousness, I wanted to find out if there was still someone out there working the drug pipeline we tried to shut down, so yeah, I would be spending the afternoon looking into things.