CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
River smiled at the team he’d picked up on the base after the private jet landed. His father was already here, along with his two uncles, Christopher and Ham. But this group of men were different on every level. More experience, somehow larger, and definitely more determined to stop Gorbeva.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” he smirked.
“Call me a cat again and I’ll have your tongue,” frowned Evie. River laughed, kissing the tiny woman on the cheek.
“Hi Aunt Evie,” he grinned.
“Hi baby. Y’all have fun. I’ll be available if you need me.”
She walked back onto the plane, ready to go home for a while. The trunks of equipment, explosives, and weapons were carefully loaded into the Army truck and taken to their personal hut.
When River walked in, they all turned and smiled and then just shook their heads. Jak, Rush, Tobias, Moose, Dan, and Connor nodded at Joey’s teammates as they walked by.
“I think I’m going to shit myself,” said Red. “Do you know who they are?” Joey just laughed.
“They’re my family. I thought you understood that,” he grinned. “They’re more than family if that’s possible. They sent the best, that’s for sure. All of these men know weapons, explosives, chemicals, tracking, all of it. They’re the best and that’s saying a lot in my family.”
“Don’t brag on us,” said Jak. “Our fathers, uncles, friends are the best. We’re just trying to carry on the legacy. Nice to meet you boys. We appreciate you be willing to help on this. Gorbeva is no joke and he’s going to be tough to stop.”
“Why? He’s just one man,” said Bullett.
“He is one man with the Russian crime bosses behind him. Not just them, but also the politicians. They’re all delusional because he’s convinced them he has what he needs to win back the ‘old country’ for them. We can’t let that happen and the POTUS has entrusted us with stopping him. More or less.”
“But how do we do that?” asked Bo looking up at Jak. He shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “Are all you bastards this tall?”
“Afraid so,” smirked Moose.
“Shit. And that wide?” Bo asked pointing to Moose’s shoulders.
“We get a lot of great food where we live,” smiled Connor. “Don’t worry, we don’t bite unless you’re a bad guy. Then, the bite is definitely worse than our bark.”
Rush turned and stared at River, frowning at him.
“You wanna tell us why the fuck you’re a Fed and not still on the teams?” he was half growling, half smiling, but River wasn’t sure which one he was more frightened of.
“It’s complicated, Rush. They needed me to go undercover with Giamanco and I was available. I’m not staying with the Feds. I’m a SEAL.”
“Good. Not that we have anything against the Feds, but you’re a damn fine SEAL. Where are Finn and Quinn?”
“Finn and Quinn?” asked Bullett.
“My brothers. We’re triplets. All the Jordans have triplets. It seems that’s all we can produce,” he laughed. “We’re all SEALs assigned to the same team. They knew where I was but I asked them not to tell anyone.”
Rush just gave a head nod and grunt, setting the massive container down at the foot of an empty bed.
“I’ll take this one,” he said staring at it. He pushed the crate closer to the foot railing and redistributed the bedding to allow for his feet to hang off the edge as comfortably as possible.
“I guess that’s a problem for you guys all the time,” said Bo.
“Yeah, pretty much. You should see my father and some of the others. We got guys that are close to six-nine and over three-hundred.”
“Holy fuck,” muttered Bullett.
The three Rangers just stared at the group as they hugged, chatted, and talked about what had transpired in the last few hours. When they finally sat down to discuss their next tactic, Joey took the lead.
“We’re still not sure who else he thinks he’s going to get from the group of students. They’re all in safe houses, spread out across the U.S., according to my FBI buddy,” he said smirking at River.
“We thought it would be better to separate them. It will be harder for Vasily and his men to figure out where they all are located.”
Moose and the others just nodded, not saying a word. Joey looked at them, then at his own father.
“What? What aren’t you telling us?” he asked.
“The other students were moved,” said Connor.
“Moved where?” asked Marissa. “Why weren’t we told they were moved?”
“They were moved without anyone knowing. No one except us. They are all located in a secure spot back home,” said Moose.
“Well, that makes me feel better,” smiled Marissa.
“Why? I mean, you can’t hide all those students forever,” said Red.
“Oh, you really don’t understand how this works at all,” smirked Christopher. “You don’t get on our property because you can’t find our property. It is more secure than any military base in the world and the technology is unknown to anyone other than us.”
“Alright, that’s plausible,” said Bullett, “but why hide them? Some of them weren’t even given assignments relative to the others.”
“If they can get to any of them, they might find the ones they really want and need. Plus, we have a world-class medical facility and they’re all being examined and given therapy if they need it,” said Erin.
“Listen, we know this is difficult but what Vasily is trying to do is possible,” said Paige.
“Not just possible, but nearly there. Just the work that Marissa did proves to us that it can be done on a large scale in a multitude of ways. That’s terrifying and we have to find a way to stop him.
This is a man willing to kill entire nations of people just to own the land again, own the governments, and potentially create a military rivaling any in the world. ”
They all looked at one another and frowned. Red finally nodded. Turning to the room.
“Forgive me ladies but fuck me.”