Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Zenko turned the Jeep he’d been driving since they got off the damn plane into the ruins of the building and followed the vehicle ahead through what remained of the entrance.
Thank fuck for that.
He was pretty sure the clutch was on its way out, the damn shift stick had slipped out of fifth often enough that he’d spent half the drive waiting for the piece of shit to give up completely, and every pothole they’d hit had reminded him the CIA must consider functioning suspension an optional extra.
He shifted in the seat, trying to get some feeling back into his ass.
“My ass is asleep.”
“You’re whining,” Drax muttered from behind him.
“Yup,” Reese agreed from the back seat. “You think Max challenges himself to find a location that will crumble around our ears from the vibrations of someone shouting loud enough?”
Zenko followed the Jeep ahead around what remained of a wall and through another gate into an inner courtyard.
“At least we have a roof this time.”
He slowed down as he scanned their temporary home.
Two walls were still standing, with a stone pillar holding up the roof at the third corner, while the rest of the building looked like it had given up the fight years ago.
It could be worse. The guys remaining behind at TOC would have some protection from the sun, and there was enough open ground around the ruins that nobody should be able to walk up on them without being seen.
“Bet there are fucking spiders,” Shaun muttered as he leaned forward from the passenger seat to peer through the windshield at the ruins.
“Jeez.” Zenko lifted the shades covering his eyes and propped them on top of his head before shooting Shaun a look. “Whatever you do, don’t mention the possibility to Castiel or nobody is getting any sleep tonight.”
Shaun glanced away from the ruins and toward him. “You’ve been here before? Kuwait, I mean?”
Zenko pulled his gaze from the building to Shaun.
“Yeah, in two thousand and three, shortly after Saddam Hussein, his Ba’ath Party, and their regime fell.
Kuwait was one of my first combat zones.
” The memories that came with that admission weren’t ones he particularly wanted to unpack while sitting in a piece-of-shit Jeep in the middle of the desert.
Some of them would find him later anyway.
They always fucking did when an operation took him back somewhere he’d fought before.
He killed the engine and climbed out. “Come on.”
Noble and Max were already leaning over the hood of their vehicle with a pad between them, which meant Max was probably sketching out where he wanted everything.
“Quicker we get shit unloaded, the quicker we can get this mission started and send out the drone,” Max said.
“How secure do you think this location is, Boss?” Max asked Noble.
Zenko heard the question as he carried another box into what remained of the building, Shaun coming in behind him with their sleeping kits.
Most of what they were unloading was gear the two of them would need for the insertion, while Max had already started setting up his TOC equipment in the back of one of the Jeeps.
Zenko had worked enough missions with him to know why.
If they had to pull out in a hurry, Max could shut the laptops, slam the doors, and move without leaving half their operational capability scattered across the ruins.
Replacing specialized equipment on this side of the world could be a bitch, but compromised intel in enemy hands could be a hell of a lot worse.
“Safer than in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Noble answered Max from somewhere outside. “But not as safe as home.”
“Jeez, gimme a bit more than a we are, but we’re not, will ya?
” Max grumbled as Zenko set the box down with the others.
The familiar bitching made him smile as he straightened and headed back outside for another load.
This was how Red Squadron had set up temporary camps for years, everybody giving everyone else shit while they worked without needing to be told what came next.
Saxon brushed past him with an armload of wood and dumped it beside the fire pit Reese had already dug.
Across the courtyard, Castiel and Drax were working out the delivery of the helicopter while Max connected cables to laptops and power packs in the back of the Jeep.
Zenko stopped for a second and looked around at his brothers settling into jobs they had done together more times than he could remember.
They had spent more time living out of packs, sleeping wherever they could, and preparing for missions in places like this than they ever had sitting around a permanent base.
Yup. This right here is home.
He caught sight of Shaun carrying the last of their sleeping kits inside before coming back out and stopping near the entrance.
For the first time since they’d arrived, his guy looked like he had no fucking clue what to do with himself.
Red Squadron had fallen into routines built over years of working together, and Shaun was smart enough not to start inserting himself into jobs when he didn’t know how they divided them.
He’d helped unload their gear, stayed out of everyone’s way, and now stood watching the activity around the courtyard while Zenko wondered how long it would take before Shaun got bored enough to clean his weapons for the second time that day.
Apparently, not long. Except it wasn’t his weapons that caught Shaun’s attention. Max opened one of the equipment cases beside the Jeep, and Zenko watched Shaun’s entire focus lock onto whatever was inside. His guy crossed the courtyard before Max had finished lifting it out.
“Holy shit, Max, is that a new model?”
“Nah.” Max didn’t look up as he checked the rotors and wingspan on the drone. “It’s standard military issue, but I customized it for our team. It has an extra camera, stronger night vision, and some other little bits and pieces that I always wished the standard issue had.”
Shaun crouched beside him for a closer look, his interest obvious as he studied the equipment Max had spread around the case.
“Holy shit. Our tech guy would give his left nut to get his hands on one of these babies.” He reached toward one of the components, stopping short of touching it until Max gave him a nod.
“You should patent the changes, Max, because that is some seriously cool shit. If we had those features available to us, it could be a game changer for intel gathering.”
“Right now, I’m just testing it,” Max told him. “I have a backup standard-issue one, too, just in case this one fails, or the battery drains too quick.”
“Better hope that doesn’t happen, Max.” Shaun nodded toward the modified drone. “You lose it out there with all your added extras still attached, and the people who pay the bills are gonna have a fucking shit fit. Especially if somebody gets their hands on her before you do.”
Max finished checking one of the rotors before glancing at Shaun. “Want to help me get Betty here in the air?”
Shaun looked from Max to the drone and frowned. “Betty?” He pointed at it. “Max, why the hell did you call your drone Betty?”
Max gave him a look as if the answer should have been obvious. “You’ve heard of the Bouncing Betty, right?”
“Sure.” Shaun shifted his attention back to the drone. “German S-mine, buried in the ground.”
“That’s the one.” Max turned the drone upside down so Shaun could see the three legs and body from another angle.
Shaun tilted his head as he studied it, then snorted. “Okay, I can kinda see it if I look hard enough. Were you drunk when you named it?”
“Nope, Saxon was.” Max grinned at him. “He called it Betty and the name kinda stuck. But it works for her, too, doesn’t it, girl?” He gave the drone an affectionate pat before carrying it toward a clear area in the center of the courtyard. “She can be a stealthy bitch when she needs to be.”
Shaun followed him without hesitation. “You know, I completely get why you talk to her. Ghosts would probably give me shit for admitting it, but we rely on our equipment almost as much as we rely on each other. Give me new tech, explosives, or a weapon I haven’t seen before, and I’m gonna want to know everything about the fucking thing.
” He helped Max clear debris from a flat rock and set Betty into position.
“So if you need somebody to help you test your modifications, I’m volunteering before one of your guys beats me to it. ”
“What the fuck do you mean we only have MREs for tonight?” Noble’s voice carried across the courtyard, loud enough to pull Shaun and Max’s attention away from Betty.
It caught Zenko’s, too, and he glanced toward his boss to find Noble pacing beside the supplies with his fingers linked behind his neck.
Oh, somebody fucked up.
“Uh-oh,” Max muttered as he followed Zenko’s gaze. “Someone fucking up on packing our food gets latrine duty.” He nodded toward Noble before looking around the courtyard. “Looks like that is Saxon this time.”
“Thank Christ it’s not me,” Shaun muttered, turning his attention back to Betty.
“Agreed.” Max crouched beside the drone again and reached for the controls as Noble’s voice continued carrying across the courtyard behind them.
Shaun moved in beside Max as he settled in front of the laptops, staying far enough back to give him room to work but close enough that he could see the screens.
Zenko watched from across the courtyard as Max started typing, his fingers moving rapidly over the keys while Shaun tracked whatever was appearing on the screen with the same concentration he’d given Betty.
Max eventually looked up at him with a grin, and Shaun shrugged. “What?”
“Gotta admit, it’s kinda weird to have someone as interested in this stuff as I am.”