Page 45 of Iron Shield
Then suddenly Jolie came to Sierra base and a chair had been pushed up to it. And a small can filled with pencils got placed on top, even though none of them used paper. Occasionally, she and Monk visited the greenhouse above and she brought back small sprigs of herbs or leaves to place in a glass vase, also scavenged from the resort.
Rome paused, then reached out and rubbed a leaf between his fingers.
When the thump of boots echoed down the hall, he snapped his hand to his side.
What made him touch the leaf?
He headed for the war room, forcing his attention to the scraps of information he’d uncovered from the security footage at Antonio’s Ristorante instead of the woman who worked there.
By the time he reached the space, several guys were filling in the seats around the table. Monk took up his usual post with a cup of coffee in front of him. Younger and Townie were in one corner, talking among themselves.
Rome pulled out his chair and dropped into it.
Monk turned his head, brow arched. “You look worn out.”
Rome grunted.
Across the table, Townie’s eyes narrowed. Townsend, aka Townie, could walk into almost any room and convince people he was supposed to be there. Years of undercover work, disguises and reading people made him one of Sierra’s most valuable operators.
Unfortunately for Rome, Townie was currently a little too focused on studying him.
The last thing he needed his brother-in-arms to guess was where he spent his free time this morning.
Before anyone could question him, the monitors mounted on the wall began flickering to life one after another. Dante appeared on his screen first. Con sat beside him at Charlie’s base, looking like he carried the weight of the universe on his shoulders.
O patched in Sierra’s feed, and an image of their team appeared in one corner of the monitor.
More screens appeared, showing every Blackout team, leader and technical specialist. Gunnison, known as Gunny, from Alpha. Kensington from Delta. Oakley from Rogue.
Oakley.
The whole Sierra team looked at O.
He felt their stares and glanced up, a brow cocked in question.
“Oakley?” Rivers asked him.
Shaking his head, he chuckled. “My name’s not Oakley. Give it up already.”
“All right.” Dante rubbed his hands together, kicking off the meeting. “Here’s the hardware package for our Blackout network. Add it. Use it. Delete the email. This never happened.”
Con pointed toward the camera. “We mean that. Especially the delete part.”
Several guys in the massive group chuckled.
Suddenly, a new screen activated and an operator appeared against a tropical backdrop wearing a Hawaiian shirt bright enough to be visible from space.
Rome chuckled. “Nice o’ you to join us, Gryf.”
“Technical difficulties.” The SEAL flashed a grin.
“Technical difficulties from a tech specialist.” O shook his head like the world had more problems than any of them knew.
Rome and Gryf went to bootcamp and served two tours in Iraq together before Blackout recruited them.
Rome took one long look at Gryf’s loud shirt and gulped back a laugh. “That doesn’t look like regulation attire.”
Gryf glanced down. “This is tactical.”
