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Dane took a seat and braced himself for the ride back. The Advil he’d taken earlier had worn off, and his back was starting to tighten up.
A half-hour later, they entered the old hangar on Base Hawai’i that was their home. The open space was always a bit on the cool side. They had the AC cranked, which was necessary since Oahu’s temperature was often like the inside of an oven, but it didn’t help his back at this moment.
He followed Cain as the man bypassed the two horizontal rows of desks with computer equipment on them and the whiteboard that was at the front of their makeshift office space. The back left of the hangar was Cain’s office. Cain unlocked the door and flicked on the lights. A big glass window overlooked the two rows of desks and the whiteboard. They’d taken to calling it the fishbowl. No matter what, Cain was on display. The old phone on Cain’s desk was attached to an even older PA system. Cain used it to call people into his office. It was like being summoned to the principal’s office, and it made them all laugh.
The locker room was at the back on the right side of the hangar. It had showers, restrooms, and even some bunk beds. It was better than some of the places Dane had slept in when on duty, and he was grateful there were beds. Sleeping on the floor was a no-go for him nowadays, and sometimes they’d stayed overnight to help out with some rescues. Not his normal drill, but he was adapting.
Dane went into the locker room and wasted no time in peeling off his gear and grabbing a couple of towels. He was under the hot spray in minutes while the rest of the team was getting changed out of their tactical gear.
The steamy shower helped loosen his back muscles, along with the stretches he did while the water pounded his back. But relief was only temporary. His doctor said because of the trauma he suffered, it would take a long while for his muscles to heal completely. His back might never function like it once did. What did he expect with a hairline fracture of the L1 vertebra? Life was never going to be the same.
Ten minutes later, he was out of the shower and dried off. He pulled on his blue operational dress uniform and then headed out. His first stop was the kitchen area, which was located between the locker room and Cain’s office. There was a counter with a coffee maker, sink, dishwasher, and a fridge. Jace was standing in front of a stove, and as Dane approached, Jace turned and handed him a cup.
“What’s this?”
“Soup. Tac and Cass went to get lunch, but I figured you could use something to hold you over.”
He sniffed it and then took a sip. It was tasty. “Thanks.”
Jace nodded.
Dane finished the soup while sitting at the table just in front of the stove. Jace and Koa joined him. “What’s for lunch?” Koa asked. “Besides the soup.”
Dane glanced at his teammate. Koa was the explosives expert of the group. He knew more about blowing shit up than was strictly necessary and Dane had wondered if he might have enjoyed his job a bit too much. Or at least he used to. Now he was always asking about food, specifically, their meals. He’d been shot in the gut. Damn lucky to have survived. He was officially all healed up, but unofficially, he was having issues. Some days it still hurt. Lots of times he couldn’t eat. Koa never gave details, but everyone knew the gist of the story. They always tried to get food they knew Koa could stomach. It was also why Jace heated the soup. If the lunch they got bothered his stomach, Koa could eat it so he wouldn’t starve.
“They went for Chinese, I think,” Jace supplied.
Dane grinned. “That’s why you heated the soup.”
Jace nodded. “I love American Chinese food, but I’m always hungry an hour after I eat it.”
“Same,” Koa said as he put his cup down on the table.
“Same as what?” Cass asked as she and Tac walked in.
Koa didn’t respond, but Dane and Jace hopped up to get plates and cutlery. Once the containers were on the table and opened, Cain came out of his office, nose in the air. “Smells great.”
Dane noticed that Tac didn’t take any of the noodles even though he knew the guy loved them. His hand had to be bothering him. He had days when he couldn’t use chopsticks, or even a fork very well. It was hard on him because he was a tech guy. He spent a lot of time using a computer. Sometimes it wasn’t so easy for him. But Dane guessed the same could be said about all of them. Some days just sucked with their injuries. That was life.
They spent the next half hour eating and shooting the shit. Dane assumed everyone was thinking about what happened that morning just like he was, but no one was quite ready to dive into it yet. Finally, Cain glanced at his watch and stood up. “Admiral Bertrand is going to call in about five minutes. He wants us all on the call.”
That galvanized the team. They had the kitchen cleaned up in no time, leftovers in the fridge, and were sitting at their desks when the call came in on a secured line. Cain put it on speaker, and everyone gathered around.
“Admiral,” Cain said. “How’s the weather in D.C.?”
“Cold and rainy, goddammit. I don’t want to hear about your sunshine and beaches,” he growled. “My wife is hounding me to go south as it is. I hate sand. Gets everywhere.”
Jace guffawed, and the whole team broke out in grins.
“Please give my best to your lovely wife,” Cain said. “I miss her cookies.”
Dane cocked an eyebrow. Cain had cookies made by the admiral’s wife? They must be closer than he thought.
“Enough of the small talk, Maddox. I was just informed very early this morning that the Navy lost some weapons and high-tech equipment. They think it might be on the way to Hawai’i. Someone heard a rumor about the location but it’s not been confirmed. I need you and your team out there looking for it.”
“Sir,” Cain began, “could you be a bit more specific? The team is here, and we need to know what we’re looking for exactly.”
“There’s a list of the weapons. I’ll have Walsh send it to you. But the weapons aren’t the worst of it.” There was a pause. “The US military developed motherboards with chips that can use cell phone signals as targets. These motherboards are put into missile warheads and, once activated, target the cell phone signal. There’s ground support involved, and a few other things go into it, but the gist of it is, we can use a cluster of cell signals as a target.”
