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“That’s a little better.” Damn big lever. She’d be sure to use it more carefully next time. Thank God she didn’t have a lever like that. She barely managed to not turn to look at Mike. But she didn’t, so it wasn’t any big thing for her. Right?
“Don’t you get it, Holly?” Andi’s voice was begging her from somewhere down deep. Deep in pain. It was a place that Special Operations people were trained to believe didn’t exist, but Andi was there now.
“Nope. Exhausted. Suck at guessing games. You know, all that sort of excuses.”
“I beat the shit out of General Zhang Ru.”
“Good.”
“No, I should have killed the bastard. Instead I gave him a real reason to hunt us. To hunt Miranda. I went after him because of how badly he insulted Miranda—like a life threat. That’s when I attacked him. But no matter what I come up with, I can’t see how to get her out of that trap. By God, I should have murdered the bastard right there in front of everyone.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Andi looked at her, really looked at her for the first time. “Did you see who else is sitting at that table?”
She’d seen but…
“He’s co-Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Ru did it. Wormed his way to Number Three in all of China. And I just beat the shit out of him in front of Mr. Number Two. If I’d killed Ru outright, would he have had any choice but to launch a war? Great headline:American Spec Ops Soldier Murders Senior Chinese Leader.Just perfect, huh?”
“Maybe. You always were the smart one, Andi.”
“Me?”
“Sure, Mike and me? We’re a comedy routine. Conman and Supergirl—not the sharpest Jake and Sheila, just jaded as hell survivors. Taz the loyal warrior, Jeremy the next generation. You rang the damn prize bell, don’t lose sight of that.”
“Ru was the prize bell?”
Holly rolled her eyes at her.
“Don’t lose sight of what then?”
Holly nodded toward Miranda. Andi turned to look and went quiet.
