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The kid gave an ear-splitting scream. Then he gasped before he spit out the words, “Holy hell, Robin! You cut off my finger!” The kid screamed the words at the top of his lungs.
The leader slammed his fist into the side of the kid’s head with a vicious punch, knocking him unconscious.
He turned back to the camera. “Three days, otherwise I’ll be cutting off all of their heads. Do you hear me?”
The video ended.
“Batman.” Jase and Kostya said simultaneously.
“You’re right,” Commander Clark said. “That’s what the intelligence agencies came up with too. The city of Batman in Turkey. They have operatives on the ground, as well as local sources trying to find out if there has been any suspicious activity there, but it’s a big city.”
Batman, Turkey? What in the hell kind of name is that for a city in the Middle East?
“We figure by the time you have boots on the ground there, we will have something for you.”
“When did the clock start?” Ryker asked.
“Fourteen hours ago, that means we now have fifty-eight hours. It’s going to take you twelve hours to fly to the Incirlik Air Base. From there we’ll immediately get you on a private civilian flight into Batman. All in all, that will get you there with forty-six hours to spare, worst case scenario.”
Bullshit, that’s best case scenario. There’re too many civilians involved for this to work smoothly.
Linc gave him the side-eye and Ryker could see he was thinking the same thing. Commander Clark had been out of the game too long.
“Commander,” Kostya interrupted professionally.
“Yes?”
“Where will we be getting our intel from?”
“You’re going to have a liaison on-site. She’s a Turkish citizen who has been working with the CIA for the last seven years. She’s top-notch.” Clark turned to Gideon. “I’m going to be asking for frequent updates from you that will reach the President. So make yourself available.”
Gideon nodded.
Ryker had seen both Jonas and Linc’s heads fall downwards toward the tables they were sitting at when Clark had mentioned their liaison. He knew Linc’s issues with the CIA, but he hadn’t heard Jonas’s. They better fucking suck it up, the last thing they needed was anybody carrying their goddamned baggage on a mission.
“There will also be an interpreter waiting for you when you get to Batman. She’s an American that’s lived over there for the past three years. She’ll meet you at your hotel. That’s it, your plane is waiting.” Commander Clark left the room.
Kostya looked over his group of men. “Hit the lights, Jase.”
He looked down at his watch. “According to the commander, the e-mails arrived at precisely noon, yesterday. I want all of you to start your timers on your watches with a countdown of fifty-eight hours and thirteen minutes starting….now.”
He looked around the room again. “Go suit up, and let’s double-time it to the plane.”
Amy looked around the gutted space where drywall was already being installed.
What the fuck happened?
“I told you. She’s shellshocked.”
Amy turned around and saw Lawrence and Lark coming through the front doors of the unfinished mess that was due to open in seven weeks.
Oh shit, now I’m seeing double. No, triple. Because there are more men and women than just Lawrence and Lark coming into the disaster that I signed up for. Please, God, don’t let me start crying.
Lark walked up to her, wrapped her arms around her, and gave her a big hug. “It’s going to be just fine.”
“No, it’s not. The designer quit, the plumbers quit, and we didn’t pass inspection on the 605 code for electrical in the kitchen, so we can’t drywall, even though the drywallers can’t be here next week. I’m fucked.”
“Honey, is that all that’s wrong?” one of the new women asked. “Lark told me you had real problems, that’s not even a punch list. Let me make a few calls, and we’ll get this all straightened out. I saw the sign out front, you’re using Rynkill as your general contractor; they screw up all the damn time, but they end up making good on their promises. Leave this to me.”
