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There wasn’t enough time to explain my suspicions about Sloane and the justifications for them. I cut to the chase. “If something goes sideways, I need to get on scene. Evan, I’ll need your help. Jensen, I’ll need your cover.”
“Whatever you need, Doc,” Jensen said without hesitation.
Jensen’s acceptance helped me feel calm, seen, respected. The way the team, even TJ, made me feel every day.
“I’m already packed,” Evan told me. “I asked Penn to leave a tactical bag behind for me, just in case.”
Evan’s support made me feel ready for anything.
“Packed.” I nodded, knowing what I needed to do. “Jensen, I’m taking this laptop to the medical bay so I can keep an eye on the team’s vitals while I pack medical supplies,” I said.
“Mobile HQ is fully stocked,” Jensen said.
“And exactly where we can’t go if there’s a medical emergency.”
Both men stared at me. “Fuck me,” they said in unison.
I dashed up the stairs while Jensen clicked the three of us into a private channel with TJ.
“Mayday, mayday,” Jensen said. “Code Zodiac. Please confirm cone of silence.”
“What the—” We heard TJ move around. “Confirmed. Go, home base.”
“TJ, we have a fox in the henhouse,” Jensen said.
“You’re sure?”
“As much as possible at this time, boss.”
I was out of breath as I unlocked the door to the medical bay and dashed inside.
“Which house?” TJ asked. In an operation this big, each of our individual commanders was in charge of a house. TJ needed to know where the potential enemy operative.
“Yours.”
“But that would mean...” TJ sighed. “Copy that.”
I took a few deep inhalations to catch my breath, then spoke. “He’s not monitoring the team, TJ. Not using the field comms. I’m looking around the medical bay now.” It was worse than I’d initially thought. “Fuck me. I packed the mission go-bags myself last night, but half the supplies are back on my shelves. You’re set up for minimal medical capacity. If anything goes really wrong—”
There were grunts and sounds of a brief struggle, then TJ’s voice. “He’s in zip-ties. He can explain himself to X later. Jensen, get all of Alpha Team on one channel. Bond, pack up as much as you can as fast as you can. Evan—”
There was a crash, then expletives from multiple voices. I feared someone had stormed the HQ van. Bennet’s voice cut through it all. “Mayday, mayday! We were caught in a sweep, pushed into the funeral home basement and boxed in. Four known enemies, possibly more, two of them down. Mayday, mayday,” he started to repeat.
“We copy Bennet, you’re back online,” TJ said.
“We’ve just confirmed that six unidentified persons have left the building.” Alder said.
Four men after them with two down. With Kessler on his team, Bennet had nothing to worry about.
“Bennet, your exact location in the building just came up,” Jensen said. “It must have been scrambled. Sparks, do you see the location?”
Bennet was speaking again, too quietly to hear. And Kessler had yet to answer.
“Got the location,” Sparks said. “Kessler, Bennet, approximately two yards east of you, there’s a small store room,” Sparks said. “That’s the designated escape hatch we discussed.”
“The tunnel,” Bennet said.
I raised my eyebrows as I tossed medical supplies into two large duffel bags and a battery-controlled cooler. I hadn’t know they’d identified an escape hatch. Then again, I’d been cut out of the loop.
