Chapter Twenty One
Five days and not a word. Donnie was going out of his fucking mind. He had tried calling Charlie but the call wouldn't even connect and he didn’t know where she’d gone. He had Mackie try to ping her phone with no success. Had she changed her number to get away from him? Were things that bad?
She blamed herself, which was exactly why he had left in the first place. He had never wanted her carrying that guilt. He was the one who chose to stay, chose to cancel his plans with Nate. Nate’s death was on him, nobody else.
He walked into the Farm, thanking the universe he could now see the door. Every day, his sight was improving. Yesterday, Dr. Swanson and Sophie had finally cleared him to drive. It was a fucking miracle, but he wasn't taking his recovery lightly. He was damn lucky and he knew it.
Today, he had another meeting with Claire, the team psychiatrist. He had spoken with her a few times since being back.
He was also supposed to be hitting the gun range with Dex.
He was nervous. Not a feeling he was used to.
Shooting was his skill. His rifle was his baby.
Today would be a test to see just what he could really see.
“Hey, man, any news?” Mackie entered the war room.
“No. Not heard anything.”
“You know we can make some inquiries and find out where she is if you want to.”
“I know. I’m not sure that will go down too well.”
The conversation stopped when Sam entered the room, getting everyone’s attention.
“Gentleman, get comfortable. We might be here a while.”
The team settled around the table.
“The CIA agent on the inside is dead. His body was found by Pakistani police yesterday. He was tortured.”
The room was silent. Fuck, that suggested the poor bastard had been made.
“This was where the intel came from about the Aziz brother’s location at that house?” Donnie asked.
“Yes. He was Omar Aziz’s daughter, Asma’s bodyguard. Been deep for nine months. That’s how he got his intel. He was trusted by the brothers.”
“So how did he get made?”
“We don’t know. For now, we need to focus our attention on the embassy in Daram.
Kelly and the team confirmed there has been an uptick in chatter around Reborn.
There is talk of the New Dawning of Allah rising soon.
I just spoke with Liam. The protests outside the government office and the American embassy are growing in size. ”
“Have they ordered the evacuation?”
“Talks fell apart yesterday. Washington has a call with the ambassador this afternoon. I expect we will get a call shortly after. We know there are fifteen Americans remaining there, including the ambassador. I’ve asked for a detailed staff list which we should get shortly.
We’ve been running scenarios all week. Let’s get back at it and make sure they’re airtight. ”
“Any chatter on the Aziz brothers?” Dex asked.
“Not directly. But if they are planning to try and take power, they’re going to be there to claim it. This could be the chance we’ve been waiting for.”
Donnie had no choice but to push Charlie from his mind while they planned the embassy evacuation. He had not been cleared to operate yet, but it had been made clear he would be a part of this operation, even if it was here from the Farm.
They spent three hours going over their plans. When they finally took a break, Donnie checked his phone but had no missed calls.
“Hey Donnie, let’s wrap this up so we can hit the range.” Dex poked his head around the door.
“Yeah. Coming.” He pocketed his phone and followed Dex out. When he and Dex got to the gun range, he was grateful it was just the two of them. He didn’t need an audience. Not today.
“You good?” Dex asked as Donnie checked his SIG. Just a handgun today. His beloved rifle would have to wait a while longer.
“Yeah.”
“Donnie, this is just to see where you’re at. No pressure here.” Dex leaned against the wall, arms folded.
Donnie nodded and put on the ear defenders and settled into position. He could see the paper target. He’d shot it a thousand times before. Center mass, center forehead. A routine shot. One, up until now he thought he could do with his eyes closed. Not so cocky now.
Taking a breath, he calmed and focused on the body outline. There were numbers on it. He knew that, although he couldn’t quite read them. He didn’t need to. He knew where the heart was and the head. That’s all that mattered.
“On your time.” Dex put on his own defenders.
Donnie pulled the trigger, unloading the full seventeen rounds without pausing. Lowering the gun, he checked the chamber and applied the safety.
“Clear.” He removed his defenders, and Dex hit the button to bring the target forward.
He stared at the bullet holes. The man was undoubtedly dead, but the shots weren't clean.
“Not bad, Donnie.” Dex said.
“I can do better. Let’s do it again.”
They did it again and again. Each time his aim got more on point, he had Dex increase the distance.
As the latest target came close, Donnie glanced at his team leader.
“It doesn't get much better than that,” Dex said.
Donnie stared at the paper target. The shots were all dead center. This was the level he cleared before.
“You nailed it, Donnie.”
“With a handgun maybe. A rifle is a whole other story.”
“You want to try?”
Donnie shook his head. “Not yet. Long distance is still not as good.” He wanted to feel the rifle in his hands, but not until he knew he could shoot it with the accuracy and respect it deserved.
The door opened and Sam stepped in.
“How did it go?”
Dex gestured at the latest target. “I’d say it went great.”
“How did it feel?” Sam asked him.
“It felt good. It’s not perfect, but it will be.”
“Looks pretty good to me.” Sam turned to Dex. “We need to talk.”
Dex followed Sam out, leaving Donnie alone. That worked for him. Shooting was a good distraction right now.
***
SAM CLOSED THE DOOR of his office and sat down. Dex made himself comfortable opposite.
“I know that look. What’s wrong?” Dex asked.
Sam pushed a folder across the desk. “The list of embassy staff. Look at the last name.”
Dex opened the folder, then looked up. “Charlotte Weston. You know her?”
“Miss Charlotte Weston also goes by Charlie,” Sam said.
“Oh, shit! She’s in Daram? I’m guessing Donnie doesn't know, or we would have heard about it already.”
“Agreed. What exactly is their relationship?”
Dex put the folder back on the desk. “They’ve known each other since they were kids. Kelly mentioned they’d had a disagreement, and from what I gather he cares about her a lot. She was considering moving here.”
Sam leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.
“We tell him, he’s going to want to deploy with the team.”
“Yeah, he will.”
“We both know he’s not ready. He’s eyes are still healing.”
“I know.” Dex got up and paced. Sam instinctively knew what was coming.
“He’s not going to be my lead sniper right now, but he can handle close range. You saw his shooting. He was on target. We could get him cleared.”
Sam ran a hand over his face. Yep, that was what he expected Dex to say.
“He suffered a severe concussion. You really want him with you? He is not a hundred percent.”
“Sophie cleared him. His sight meets the minimum requirements and no lingering effects from the concussion.”
“Charlie being there is going to make this very personal to him.”
“Sam, this is going to be personal for all of us, whether Charlie was there or not. It’s Reborn.”
He had a point. But sending Donnie there would be a huge risk.
“This op is dangerous enough. He should stay here. He can be on coms, be in real time. I can’t have him slowing you down, or missing a vital shot.”
Dex sat back down.
“I thought these decisions were my call.”
“Normally, yes. But as you just mentioned, this one is personal to the team. Even more so for him because of Charlie. There’s too much at stake here for anyone being less than one hundred percent.
This isn’t just about evacuating the embassy.
We may have to stop a civil war, shut down Reborn, and bring the fucking Aziz brothers down.
There is no room for error, or for anyone to babysit a teammate. ”
“He won’t need babysitting. Look, I get he’s not quite at the top of his game, but even in his current state, he could hands down take on any of us on the gun range and likely win. As for it being more personal for him? If you think that, then maybe none of Raven should go.”
Sam raised his eyebrows in question.
“Reborn tortured Kelly. They killed Bravo team. Murdered my father. They kidnapped Sophie. Almost killed Ryan. Then they blew up a building with you and Mira inside. They attempted a sarin attack with Diane caught in the middle of it. They almost took out Raven a few weeks ago and Donnie, the man you want to stand down, almost lost his sight. This is personal to all of us because they’ve made it personal.
But each time we came together as a team.
A full team and fought back. Together. Donnie is going to want to be with us whether Charlie was there or not. ”
“Charlie could be too much of a distraction.”
“Sam, when I went to rescue Kelly, inside I was losing my mind. But I was still team leader. We researched, we planned and executed like any other op. I kept my head together and so will Donnie.”
“Kept your head together? You disobeyed orders and almost ended up with a court martial,” Sam said.
“But I led my team. We all came home safely. I didn’t lose focus.”
No, he hadn’t. It was one of the reasons Sam had asked him to lead an Onyx team.
“And in case you’ve forgotten, Ryan was right there when Sophie was in trouble. Tyler was right there when Mira got hurt, and Steve was by my side when we rescued Diane,” Dex added.
Sam smiled. He couldn’t argue with anything. The women behind these men had found themselves in deadly circumstances and the team—the whole team—had got them out.
“Sounds like you’re going to disobey my call here?”
“No. You are the boss and your call overrides mine. But twelve men is better than eleven. I trust Donnie to keep his head on straight.”