Page 94 of Keeping Zita

“Nonsense,” Laryn said. “This is what friends do. And we might not have spent a lot of time together, but you’re pretty awesome.”

“Thanks,” Zita told her.

“It’s settled. You’ll need to talk to your boss and the film person, but leave the rest to Tex. I’ll give him a call later,” Obi-Wan told her.

At that moment, Casper’s phone rang. Which wouldn’t be unusual, except most of the people he knew were already in the room. And any other day, it could be entirely possible it was a spammer or his brother…but the ringtone was one every Night Stalker in the room recognized.

Because they’d all programmed their phones with the same ringtone for the same number.

“Shit.”

“Fuck.”

“Damn.”

Obi-Wan tensed. He wasn’t ready.

Casper took a deep breath and didn’t bother to leave the room to answer the call. Everyone’s eyes were on him, and no one bothered to hide the fact they were listening to his side of the conversation.

“Davis. Yes, Sir. Uh-huh. Oh-four-hundred, understood. All right. Out.”

It was short and to the point. No one was surprised when, a moment later, Buck’s phone rang with the same distinctive ringtone.

“What’s happening?” Zita asked, looking confused.

“We’re being called in. Mission,” Pyro told her.

“Oh.”

One by one, the men’s phones rang and their conversations with whomever was on the other side, probably the colonel, were equally short and to the point.

Obi-Wan tensed after everyone had received a call but him.

And then it was his turn. He wanted to ignore the ringing. Wanted to tell the colonel to fuck off. That he wasn’t leaving Zita. Not when he was still feeling so raw about almost losing her.

“Answer it,” Zita ordered. She’d turned in his lap and was staring at him.

He slowly pulled out his cell, wanting to throw a tantrum. But everyone was there. Watching. Waiting to see what he’d do. The tension was thick in the room.

“Engle.”

“Obi-Wan, I’m sorry to do this. I know you’re on leave, but we need you. This one will hopefully be short. The shit’s hitting the fan in Gabon. Libreville, more specifically. The government elections aren’t going well, we need to pull the US employees, and it’s not safe to do so by ground. We’re gathering as many employees and their families as we can at the embassy in the capital city. This should be an in-and-out job.”

Gabon was in Africa, the west coast. It was a country that had been on the government’s watch list as far as violence went. But an “in-and-out job”…there was no such thing in the Night Stalkers’ line of work.

Expect the worst, hope for the best. That was their team’s unofficial motto.

“Yes, Sir,” Obi-Wan managed to say.

“Oh-four-hundred at the hangar. Wheels up as soon as we can get ready to go after that.”

Obi-Wan nodded, but his throat was too tight to say anything. He felt like shit that he was both terrified to leave, but excited at the challenge of the upcoming evacuation. It had been a while since he’d been behind the controls of his bird during a mission, and he was ready to get back to it. But that would mean leaving Zita. The situation sucked.

“See you soon.” Then the colonel hung up.

“Sage?”

“I have to go,” he said softly. It felt as if they were the only two people in the room. Vaguely, Obi-Wan heard Laryn’s cell ring, but he was completely focused on the woman in his lap.