Drake frowned. It hadn’t been at the forefront of his mind that Crowe might be listening in to their conversations with Lauren, but it should have. Their team, their family, had secrets like any other. As he looked around it was clear that the others felt the same, and that this was Lauren’s way of making them aware.
DC always had its own agenda.
Crowe’s voice came across strongly. “I won’t pretend to know more than you about this particular mission. Not on the ground. But I do know it’s a political minefield, with twist and sub-twist and schemes at the very highest levels of some of our rival nations.”
Not to mention the US, Drake thought. What… never!
“Frankly, I’m surprised at some of the administrations involved,” Crowe said openly. “I thought they might work with us, but as I mentioned, all may not be as it seems.”
Again Drake considered her words in a different way. Was she talking about the Horseman quest? Or something more personal?
“Is there a reason, Madam Secretary?” Hayden asked. “Something we don’t know?”
“Well, not that I’ve been apprised of. But even I don’t necessarily know the whole of it. Unabridged is a rare word in politics.”
“Then it’s the weapons themselves,” Hayden said. “This first supergun. If built, if sold to terrorists, it could have held the world to ransom.”
“I know. This… Order of the Last Judgment—” she spoke the title distastefully “—clearly worked out a master plan, leaving it for future generations. Luckily, the Israelis shut them down long ago. Unluckily, they didn’t find this particular blueprint. This scheme.”
So far, Drake saw no purpose to the call. He sat back, eyes closed, listening to the conversation.
“You have a leap on some of the others. Only Israel and China are MIA. The usual rules apply, but get to that weapon and get it first. America cannot trust it falling into the wrong hands, any hands. And watch your backs, SPEAR. There is more to this than meets the eye.”
Drake sat up. Dahl leaned forward. “Is that a warning of a different kind?” he whispered.
Drake studied Hayden, but their boss showed no signs of disquiet. Watch your backs? If he hadn’t heard that American twang earlier he too would think nothing of the phrase. His thoughts turned to Smyth and the death of Joshua in Peru. It measured the depth of their insubordination. As a normal soldier, and with a soldier’s outlook, he’d be mightily worried. But they were no longer soldiers — they were forced to make the hard choice every day, out in the field, under duress. They bore the weight of thousands of lives on their shoulders, occasionally millions. This was no ordinary team. Not anymore.
You’re only as good as your last mistake. You’re only remembered for your last mistake. Workplace ethics the world over. His preference was to keep working, keep fighting. Head above water — because there were millions of sharks in the world constantly circling, and if you stood still you’d either drown or be torn to pieces.
Crowe signed off with a strained pep talk, and then Hayden turned to them. She touched her comms and made a face.
“Don’t forget.”
Drake nodded. Open channel.
“I am thinking this is going to be very different from the usual tomb raider stuff.” Yorgi spoke up. “We face government soldiers, experts. Unknown factions, possibly traitors. We search for men lost in time, born years apart. We chase some old war criminal’s prophecy, exactly how he wanted us to.” He shrugged. “We are not in control.”
“I’m about as close to a tomb raider as you’ll ever get,” Kenzie said with a smirk. “This… is completely different.”
Alicia and Mai stared at the Israeli. “Yeah, we tend to forget about your nasty little criminal past, don’t we… Torsty?”
The Swede blinked. “I… umm… I… what?”
Kenzie stepped in. “And I guess circumstance never forced you into any compromising positions, eh Alicia?”
The Englishwoman shrugged. “Depends if we’re still talking criminal. Some compromising positions are better than others.”
“If we’re still awake and alert,” Hayden said, “could we start to read up on Genghis Kahn and the location of his grave? A think tank back in DC is all well and good, but we’re on the ground and we’ll see things they won’t. The more information you can absorb, the better chance we have of finding the second weapon.”
“And coming out of this alive,” Dahl agreed.
Tablets were passed around, barely enough to share. Alicia shouted up first about checking her emails and Facebook page. Drake knew she didn’t even have an email address let alone the first clue about social media, and gave her the look.
She pouted. “Serious time?”
“That, or get some rest, love. China ain’t exactly gonna welcome us with open arms.”
“Good point.” Hayden sighed. “I’ll get on to the local teams, and ask them to ease our entry. Everyone good with the plan so far?”
“Well,” Dahl spoke off-handedly. “I never thought I’d be chasing down Genghis Kahn in China whilst trying not to get into a fight with half-a-dozen rival nations. But hey,” he shrugged, “you know what they say about trying something different.”
Alicia looked over, then shook her head. “No comment. Too easy.”
“Right now,” Drake said, “I’d prefer to have a bit more information.”
“You and me both, Yorkie.” Dahl nodded. “You and me both.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The hours slipped by. The chopper was forced to refuel. The lack of news about the other teams became frustrating. Hayden found her best recourse was to lose herself in the wealth of information pertaining to Genghis’s tomb, but found it hard to discover anything new. The others clearly tried the same for a while, but a few grew tired and chose to grab a little rest, whilst others found it easier to turn to their personal concerns.
In their close quarters it was impossible to tune it out, and truth be told, by now the team were close and familiar enough to take it all in their stride.
Dahl called home. The kids were happy to hear from him, causing Dahl to break out into a big smile. Johanna asked when he would be home. The strain was clear, the upshot not so much. Hayden took a moment to watch Kinimaka whilst the big Hawaiian swiped at a tablet’s screen. She smiled. The device looked like a postcard in his large hands and she remembered those hands touching her body. Gentle. Stirring. He knew her so well, and that enhanced their intimacy. She stared down now at the ruined tip of her finger, the one she’d been forced to ingest during their last mission. The shock of the situation had opened her eyes. Life was infinitely too short to battle wills against someone you loved.
She caught her breath a little, unsure if she really believed it. Damn, you don’t deserve it. Not after all you said. She didn’t justify a way back, and had no real clue where to start. Maybe it was the battle, the situation, the job. Maybe it was each and every moment of the history of her life.
People made mistakes. They could atone.
Alicia’s done it.
The notion sent her gazing in the Englishwoman’s direction as the chopper barged its way through the skies. Sudden turbulence made her clutch a strap tighter. A second of free fall sent her heart into her mouth. But it was all good. It imitated life.