Page 6 of Death Wish

“One more thing left to do, then you should prepare to leave town. Jesse, take your new girlfriend down to the medic on duty.”

“Why?”

“She needs one more tracker in case her jewelry is stripped from her.”

Simone narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out soon. Suck it up, Buttercup. You wanted in on this mission. Time to help ensure your safety. Do what you’re told, Kent. I want you back in one piece at the end of the mission.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If I find out you didn’t obey orders, you and I will have a long discussion when you return, and you’ll have a written reprimand in your personnel file.” He shooed them out of the comm center as another call came in.

“He’s not kidding, is he?” Simone whispered to Jesse in the hall.

“Not about your safety. Trust me when I say you don’t want to tick off Zane. He’ll set you down hard and make you wish you could turn back time and undo the damage. After he finishes with you, Brent will lay into you. You never want to be reprimanded by a Navy SEAL.”

She stopped walking to stare up at the medic. “Both of them were SEALs?”

“Yes, ma’am, and both were Tier One operators. No one is tougher than those men. They won’t tolerate deliberate disobedience from anyone.”

Oh, boy. Simone swallowed hard. She should have realized. Seemed like almost everyone Fortress employed was military or law enforcement trained.

Jesse walked Simone to the infirmary and opened the door. “Hey, Jake. Long time since I’ve seen you,” he said.

A tall, dark-haired man smiled and held out a hand to Jesse. “Great to see you, Jesse. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Simone Kent, ace computer hacker, new to Fortress.”

The medic shook Simone’s hand. “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Kent.”

“Simone, please. Zane sent me down here for another GPS tracker.”

“Got it right here.” Jake picked up a small packet. Inside was a tiny chip, about the size of a grain of rice. “I’ll need to slip this under the skin on your back. The best place is near your shoulder blade or your lower back. What’s your preference?”

“Um, nowhere?”

Jake chuckled. “Not an option. Choose the site, or I’ll choose for you.” He sobered. “The tracker is for your safety. Jesse has two of them implanted beneath the skin of his back.”

Her head whipped toward Jesse. “Seriously?”

“It’s true.”

“But why?”

“Our missions can be dangerous, Simone. While we do our best to stay out of enemy hands, sometimes it’s inevitable. If we’re taken captive, Fortress can activate the trackers to locate us and hopefully send a team before time runs out.”

Oh, man. She hadn’t considered that Jesse’s job was so dangerous. Stupid of her. She knew he worked in black ops. He was a medic, though. Somehow, she viewed him as working on the sidelines, patching up the wounds of the other members of his team. But Jesse was as well trained and deadly as his teammates, along with that store of medical knowledge in his brain.

Simone turned to Jake. “Let’s do this. I need to pack my gear for this mission.”

Minutes later, the deed was done.

“You shouldn’t have a problem with the cut. However, since you’re traveling to a tropical climate where any cut could become infected quickly, I’m going to give you an antibiotic.” He handed her two packets. “The blue-and-white capsules are to prevent infection. Two a day. Take them all. No arguments. The white caplets are mild pain killers if you need them. You probably won’t. The incision is like a paper cut. You shouldn’t have a problem with sleepiness or sluggishness if you need to take the pain meds. Jesse will check the incision every day until it’s healed. Let him. You can’t afford to take a chance with your health.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Anything else I can do for you?”

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