I shook my head to clear my vision of the sexy show Leo had put on and finished taking off my plate carrier. I swear with that damn vest off I felt ten pounds lighter.
“Call me Jassy again, Leo, you won’t have to worry about Drew’s beat down. I’ll shoot your ass myself,” I joked.
I loved all these men they were the big brothers I never had. We were a family. Even though they were big and obnoxious, I knew these men had my back and I had theirs.
I was especially close to Drew. He had covered me more times than I cared to remember when we were in the Army together. But, in the end, I was the one that saved his life. I have two bullet scars to show for it. We ran several missions together during my time in human intelligence. It was his Special Forces team’s job to clear the area before I came in to collect my data. During one op his team missed a hostile hiding in a secret cut out in a closet. When the asshole jumped out of his hidey hole I saw him first. I acted on instinct and adrenalin, and stepped in front of Drew taking one in the vest and two in the shoulder.
“And just because you’re leaving the team don’t think I have forgotten you’re still naming your first born after me. I didn’t take two in the shoulder saving your sorry ass for nothing.” I winked at Drew.
I glanced over at Eric as I strapped my concealed carry holster back on and secured my Sig in place. He looked like someone had just kicked his puppy. It was obvious he was not happy that this had been Drew’s last op. Drew was Eric’s partner; nobody on our six person team was ever left without backup.
“You okay?” I whispered as I walked past Eric to get to the door. I didn’t want to draw attention to him. I knew the rest of the guys would smell blood in the water and bust his balls over being torn up that Drew would be done after today.
“Yeah, thanks girl. Just thinking. Did Z say anything to you about the new guy?” Eric asked. Before I could reply I heard the front door lock click. Signaling someone had just entered the back part of the office.
“C’mon. Z just got here, time to debrief.” I patted Eric on the shoulder and hollered back to the rest of the team. “If you children are done with your jack assery, Z is here.”
The rest of the team finished up and followed me into the conference room situating themselves around the table, while I made a beeline for the one cup coffee maker.
“Fuck Jasmin. With all the coffee you inhale I am shocked as shit you can shoot straight.” Eric commented on my coffee consumption.
But fuck, I was going to need caffeine to make it through this debrief. Thank all things holy, Z had finally put a one cup coffee machine in here. When the guys made drip coffee it tasted like oil and mud had procreated. Needless to say, it was nasty as fuck.
There was seating for eighteen around the large table, with a sixty inch LCD screen on the wall above a credenza which I knew held every high end brand of liquor imaginable behind the hand carved wooden doors. This was the room where we planned our missions and Zane met with future clients. It was a well-appointed room. Not too ostentatious, but luxury nonetheless.
Eric grabbed a pen off of the table and immediately started chewing on the end; his tell that something was bothering him. I would have to ask him later what the deal was, but it was too late now. Z and Colin had already walked into the room.
“Eric you just cannot help sticking things in your mouth. There something you wanna tell us man? You’re totally turning me on over there,” Leo threw out as he laughed at his own joke.
“Go fuck yourself Leo! At least I don’t chew on those shorty Cubans you like so much. You trying to tell us something? You know size does matter,” Eric volleyed back.
“AH a dick joke, I can promise you I have never had a woman complain about the size of my cock, or what he can do.” Leo was quick with the dick come back. Those are never far behind in the insult cache.
“Is that because the GHB hasn’t worn off by the time you’re finished?” Colin chimed in from across the table.
“He wouldn’t know what to do with a woman that wasn’t tied up or gagged.” Drew pulled out the big guns noting Leo’s affection for bondage.
Zane Lewis walked over to the table, and the banter stopped, and all eyes shot to our boss.
“Good work tonight.” Z complimented us, as he looked around the table. “Jasmin, great fucking shot. Clean. One and done.” His voice was filled with pride.
I couldn’t help but feel smug; damn this man was good on my ego. Not that I needed any help in the ego department. I was cocky as shit, “Thank you, LT, my words exactly.”
“I gave Garrett the go ahead to start analyzing the machines you brought back. This is top priority. I have fuckers from every three letter agency in Washington breathing down my neck about this asshole. I’d love nothing more than to put another bullet in this fuck chop’s head for stirring up a shit storm.” Z looked like he was ready to blow a gasket. “There is a metric shit ton of information for Garrett to go through. I think that boy nearly creamed in his perfectly pressed pants when he saw the boards from some hot shit new computer hardware company. Fuck if I know that geek shit. I just want to know who in the mother fuck hired Deepweb336.” Z sneered, his normally handsome face turned up like someone had taken a shit on his shoe. He raked his hand through his jet black hair, a sure sign of his building frustration.
Shit was about to get hot real quick, Z was nearing DEFCON one. The last time I saw Z this mad, some idiot had tried to take out a senator while we were in Kandahar almost causing an international incident.
Z tossed file folders into the middle of the table indicating we should all take one. He pointed the remote towards the LCD screen and pulled up a group of images with his tablet.
“There is no good time to do this, so I am going to get it out of the way now. I am not happy about losing one of my best operatives. Drew, you have been an invaluable part of this company as well as to the Red Team. You will be greatly missed, brother.” Z cleared his throat and continued, “Drew has agreed to stay on as a part time consultant, strictly behind the scenes. Mission support and logistics. As you all know I have struggled with whether to promote someone up to Red team from one of the other teams or hire from outside the company. With that being said, I have decided to hire from the outside. I simply cannot afford to disrupt one of the other teams. I hired Lincoln Parker. He just got back stateside after being dark on an op for two years. I would be surprised if most of you don’t at least know his name.” Z stopped to look around the table.
I did the same and wondered who the hell this Lincoln Parker guy was. And why that name had my team’s eyes lighting up like the holy grail of operatives was about to grace us with his presence. All of them except Eric, that is; his look was one of disgust rather than awe.
I heard the door to the back office click for the second time in the last thirty minutes and wondered if one of the other teams was going to be briefed on the Deepweb336 case. It didn’t happen frequently, but it was neither unheard of for a second team to be brought in on a Red Team operation. The conference door pushed open and in walked the hottest man…no scratch that…Fuck. My. Life. I had no words for the man standing in the doorway. Where in the hell was my handy dandy pocket thesaurus when I needed it? I looked at him from top to toe and back up again. Who in the ever loving hell was this? I felt a blush creep up my cheeks and moisture pool between my thighs. Oh, Fuck no, not now. If one of the guys spotted my reaction to this fine ass man in the doorway, I would never live it down. This would be “bust Jasmin’s balls” fodder for years to come.
I tried to school my features as I looked at the sexy man I dubbed Mr. Drop Dead Gorgeous. BUSTED! Fuck my life again. He caught me as I was checking him out, which meant the eagle eye assholes on my team had too. I tried to sneak one more look, maybe I was wrong. Nope, there was a super fucking hot smirk, on Mr. DDG’s face. FML! Yup, I was now speaking in acronyms in my head.
Chapter Three
Jasmin
“Linc, welcome. Glad you co
uld make it in. You all settled?” Z turned and shook Mr. DDG’s hand.
“Yeah all set. Thanks, Zane,” Linc said as he leaned in to give Z one of those manly slap on the back embraces.
Holy mother God, this cannot be my new teammate. Shit and damn.
“Team, this is Lincoln Parker. Linc this is your new team Eric, Leo, Jaxon, Colin, and of course, Jasmin. Drew will brief you on his case load and show you around tomorrow.” Z pointed to each of us as he made his introductions.
Linc nodded his head in turn and added, “Great to be here. Zane has told me a lot about all of you.”
“Take a seat,” Z said as he motioned to one of the remaining empty chairs, “You’re just in time for the brief and after action reports. Did you look over the Deepweb336 files I sent you?” Z asked as he slid a file folder across the table towards Mr. DDG.
“Yes LT, and I added some notes of my own about the Russians involved.” Linc’s answer made Eric’s eyes light up.
“Fucking Russians, it’s always the God damn fucking Russians!” Eric could not miss an opportunity to add “fucking” to the word “Russian”.
“Christ, settle the hell down, Eric.” Z shook his head as he picked up his tablet once again. “Jake’s preliminary reports show we have three major players on the board. All of which piss me right the fuck off. This is beginning to play out like a who’s who in a fucked up game of P’yanitsa.” Z slid his finger across the smooth screen of the tablet and changed the picture on the LCD wall monitor to mug shots of three Russians.
“Boris, Viktor, and Andrei Orlov. Three brothers, each more fucked up than the last.” Z pointed his tablet in the direction of the screen.
Just to note, I was having a hard time paying attention to the information on the monitor. Three of the ugliest Russians I have ever seen were no competition for possibly the sexiest man alive sitting approximately fifty six inches away from me. A little over four feet. One hundred forty two and some change in centimeters. Sweet baby Jesus, I could smell him from across the table. Sex. He smelled like sex! More to the point, the way he smelled made me want to rip his clothes off. Thankfully, the sound of someone speaking stopped my wandering thoughts.
“Last I heard they were serving life sentences in The Black Dolphin,” Jax informed the room.
Holy shit, if the Orlov brothers were doing time in Russia’s highest security prison, then they had to be the worst kind of criminals. The only sentence you could get when entering The Black Dolphin was life. It housed everything from child molesters to members of the Bratva.
Unfortunately, being incarcerated would not be much of an impediment to the Orlov brothers. Bratva members in prison were every bit as active as the brothers who were free. No one fucked with those assholes; they had been considered the criminal elite in Russia since the early 1900’s.
“The Orlov brothers are out. Three weeks ago Viktor gave the Russian government information on a Chechen separatist attack in Saint Petersburg. The minister of Justice’s son was killed in the attack. Needless to say the Russian’s were feeling generous when Viktor demanded release for himself and his brothers in exchange for the information,” Linc informed the room.
“Fuck it all to hell, they’re out? How in the hell was this shit missed?” Z’s face was growing redder by the moment.
“It was kept under wraps. The Russians don’t want word to get out that they negotiated a deal with these three animals. The FBI and DEA will want answers as to why three major players in the drug trade have been released, not to mention the girls,” Linc explained.
“How is it that you know about their release before our contacts in the district and at the White House?” I asked. Something was not adding up. Who the fuck was this guy and how did he have information before Z?
Z shot me a warning glare, which I returned with one of my own. This was my fucking team; it would be our asses on the line when we get sent on an op based on this new asshole’s information. Trust but verify. Fuck yeah, I was going to question him. If he didn’t like it, then screw him.
“I was there.” That was all the explanation I got from Linc as he glared at me.
“That’s it? You were there. Care to elaborate on how it is that you were at The Black Dolphin, while a deal was being negotiated after a Chechen attack?” I continued my questioning. Judging by the look on his face, he did not like being questioned, and certainly did not like that it was being done by a woman.
“All due respect, Jasmin, that is classified information.” Linc’s stare almost made me shrink back into my seat. Almost.
Fuck no!
“Fuck your all due respect bullshit! That might work on the pansy ass women you know, but I asked you a direct question. I expect a direct answer. In case you have forgotten mister I have been dark for two years. This is how a team works, they share information. As far as clearance I can assure you, my clearance is above top and it is up to date.” I felt my anger elevate to a near nuclear level. Was this asshole for real? I took a chance and looked around the table at my team. They all had the same expressions on their faces. Eric was especially enraged. What the hell was that about?
“Fuck me! Jas calm the fuck down,” Z yelled as he slammed his fist on the table. I fucking hated being chastised like a child. Fuck that!
“So tell us, Red Wing, what is your relationship with the Russians now?” Eric asked as he jumped in on the action.
Linc’s face flashed with some sort of emotion but he schooled his features before I could place it. Asshole!
Z sighed and set his tablet on the table; a look of resignation on his face. “Looks like we are doing this now,” he muttered.
Z flipped off the sixty inch monitor and walked over to the control panel on the wall. He lowered the blackout shades that also served as soundproof insulation over the polycarbonate ballistic windows.
The entire office was fitted with bullet proof and sound proof walls. Every precaution had been taken so that the outside world could not intrude; something that was necessary when you are dealing with top secret missions.
With the blinds drawn, Z circled back to his position at the head of the table. He gave each member of the team a look that told us we were not going to like what he had to say.
Fuck. Why couldn’t today just be a normal debrief? I needed a beer and some sleep.
“I told you it would take my team all of five fucking seconds to start to sniff this shit out.” Z was looking at Linc as he sat back down in his seat and steepled his hands in front of him.
He addressed the team, “Lincoln was part of a joint task force. His mission was to find an American DEA agent who was assisting the Russian government, and the Bratva, in the transportation of drugs into and girls out of the United States.” Z stopped, blowing out a breath with a look of pure hatred on his face. “His investigation led him to The Black Dolphin and prison officials who were allowing the Bratva to continue to run drugs from prison.”
“Mother fucking, Russians,” Eric repeated yet again.
He just could not help himself. It was almost laughable at this point. I knew he had some sort of resentment towards the Russian government from his time in the CIA. Unfortunately he had never spoken to me about his time in Russia, his CIA involvement, or the scars on his back. One of those scars was the brand of a dolphin. I didn’t like people prying into my shit so I repaid the favor and did not pry into theirs. Eric would talk when he was ready.
“Wait just one fucking minute! Black Dolphin!” I quickly stood up and started pacing. I did my best thinking while pacing the floor. “Red Wing was dark for two years…deep cover in Russia. Eric started here at Z Corps with me two years ago, and before that I was in the Ukraine on a black op with the CIA…and Z was a consultant when we were taken.”
I stalled not wanting to remember that horrible time. The horrid smell of piss and blood was only overpowered by the smell of constant burning flesh. Branding. I did not want to relive my worst memories here in front of my team. I saved
that for the dark of night, where no one could see my weakness and torment. When I sat alone and tried and remember the missing pieces of that time, and when I sleep I relive what I did remember in vivid, living color. Only to awake with headaches so bad I almost black out. Yeah, Z would yank my ass if he knew about those.
“Orenburg Oblast,” I spit out.
I remember the guards speaking to each other when they thought I was unconscious after a beating. They were taking us to Orenburg Oblast, the city where The Black Dolphin was located. I just needed to remember more.
“Was that where we were held?” I whispered. After the recovery mission the CIA scrubbed all records of Zane and I being in Russia. As a matter of fact my life as Laura Bennett had been cleaned from all CIA records, and Jasmin Smith was born in her place.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, “Jasmin, baby girl sit down.” It was Drew; he was the only person alive that got away with calling me, ‘baby girl’.
I didn’t realize I was almost starting to hyperventilate. Shit and damn! I needed to reel my shit in and lock all this fucked up shit swirling around in my mind away. I could feel one of those headaches coming on now.
“Jasmin…” Linc tried to call out my name. Seriously? The asshole wants to speak? I ignored him and faced Z instead.
“Explain.” There was nothing else to say. Just one single word, Z knew what I was asking.
“Jas, do you want me to clear the room?” At least Z had the courtesy to ask.
“These men are my brothers and they deserve to know too. I have nothing to hide from my team.” What else could I say? Each of these men would take a bullet for me.
“It’s not pretty...” Eric started but before he could finish I shook my head at him, quieting him down.
“Jasmin, you need to sit down,” Z ordered. He walked over to the credenza where all the liquor was kept.
Oh fuck me, this was going to be worse than I thought. Not that talking about a time you were captured and beaten was a good time to begin with, but something was not adding up. All the fine hairs on my arms were standing straight up.
Nightstalker: Red Team book 1 Page 2