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“Now, why don’t you go take my place and sit down next to Gideon, and start providing him with the information I tell you to give him?”

“But then I’ll get in trouble with my boss.”

“My commander will smooth things over with your boss’s boss. Do you know that we’re on a time clock?” Kostya looked down at his watch. “We now have forty-five hours and eighteen minutes to find those young men before they will be decapitated. We cannot wait until tomorrow morning for that meeting to take place, it has to happen as soon as possible. Am I making myself clear?”

The entire room was focused on the dumbass who didn’t say anything.

“Mr. Carlisle, I need an answer, and it had better be yes. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very good.”

“But I’m not going to do well in the meeting. The CEO will know something is up.”

Did he actually whine? Aw, fuck.

“We’ve got you covered. One of our men has extensive knowledge of the oil and petroleum business. He is going to be your Naval attaché. He will be with you the entire time. You will explain that you are here to make sure that America’s interests are covered, while Chief Petty Officer Drakos will be able to talk to the details. Do you understand?”

Ryker saw the kid nod.

“I need to hear you agree with me, Mr. Carlisle.”

“Call me Dermott. I agree with you…”

“You can call me Lieutenant Barona.”

“Yes, sir, Lieutenant Barona.”

Ryker coughed in order to cover his chuckle, he heard Linc and Nolan coughing too.

Kostya looked over his shoulder at his team, and gave them the death stare. The coughing stopped.

“Now that Chief Petty Officer Drakos will be with you the entire time, he will be the one responsible for getting all information provided by Akbas-Bey to my second-in-command. Gideon will be able to determine who she might be talking about, figure out how we can get to any coordinates that she might provide, and disseminating critical information to me and the team that we need to evaluate. This is not your job. Have I made myself clear?”

“But I was told—”

“I don’t give a flying fuck what you were told, I have gone above your head, and your orders have been changed. Your focus is to convince the CEO of RTP Enerji that you are who you say you are and to ensure that we continue to have access to Akbas-Bey without blowing her cover. Do you understand?”

“Are you sure—”

“That was a yes or no question. Answer the question, Mr. Carlisle.”

“Yes, I understand, Lieutenant Barona.”

“Good. Now go find a quiet place where you can study, but remember to keep your phone with you so you are immediately available when I say we need to go. Got it?”

“So I’m not staying for the rest of the meeting?”

Ryker couldn’t believe his ears. He heard Linc cough again.

Good God, he had to have been in musical theatre. Probably played poor dumb Jud in Oklahoma.

“Get out of here, Dermott,” Kostya snarled.

As soon as he left, the room erupted with coughs, it sounded like a hospital ward filled with patients with whooping cough.

“Settle down, we don’t have time to even laugh at the actor. I have worked with the CIA to have the scope of his duties changed.” He looked down at his watch. “All that bullshit just cost us another five minutes, but I think we’re stuck here, aren’t we, Ryker? What’s the ETA on the uniform?”