Gino’s Fine Italian Ristorante
Washington, DC
“Do you think he’d kill him?” asked Jimmy as the team stood around their assigned SUV, awaiting their next orders.
Niner shrugged. “If he thought he had something to do with Fang’s kidnapping, I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Spock’s eyebrow rose. “But I thought Katz had her and White?”
Dawson sat on the running board. “She does, but she rescued”—air quotes were provided—“them from the Assembly, so if Vice President Vance is involved, then he’s still to blame.”
“I’d kill the bastard,” muttered Niner. And Dawson knew the man was serious. Niner had fallen hard for a South Korean contact last year, and when she had been killed, he had hunted down then executed the man responsible.
There had been no hesitation.
Jimmy gave his friend’s shoulder a squeeze, everyone knowing what Niner was thinking of. “Do you think they know who Dylan is?”
Dawson shook his head. “I’d assume his identity would be scrubbed from the standard systems. At most, they’d get a classified hit. I’m more concerned with the footage getting out there. If it does, his cover will be blown.”
Spock frowned. “That would be unfortunate. Hell of a way to end a career.”
Niner grinned, his troubles buried once again. “He could come back and work with us. He was always good for a few laughs.”
“One joker’s enough,” replied Jimmy. “The two of you together were almost unbearable.”
Dawson held up a finger as his comms squawked. “Zero One, Control, do you copy?”
“Go ahead, Control.”
“New orders have been sent to your secure phone. This is urgent.”
Dawson spun his finger in the air, signaling for the team to roll.
“We need you to head to the provided location, determine if there are any hostiles, and possibly rescue two friendlies.”
Dawson climbed in the passenger seat, handing his phone to Niner who was driving. Niner punched the address Langley had sent into the navigation system, then hammered on the gas.
“Who’s on site?” asked Dawson.
“We believe Agent White and Lee Fang are both being held there.”
Dawson could hear the excitement in the young voice, probably because he knew Sherrie White was his boss’ girlfriend.
I wonder if they know about Fang and Kane.
If they hadn’t, they probably did now.
“And be prepared to handle wounded. We believe Lee was shot, possibly a stomach wound.”
Shit! Those are nasty.
“Copy that. We’ve got a full med kit with us.”
“What’s your ETA?”
He glanced at the nav display then the light traffic. And Niner’s lead foot. “Less than ten minutes.”