Page 95 of Covert Mission

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you had any training at all for guard duty?”

“No, sir.”

Holy smoke. What on earth was Richardson thinking? This wonky schedule and lack of training was a guaranteed failure. “That will not be happening for much longer. Expect to see the trainers in the next few hours. Someone will take over your watch shift after lunch.”

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Positive. Objections on that?”

Relief filled Ivan’s eyes. “No, sir.”

“Tell me, Ivan. What is your wife’s job in the compound?”

“She cleans the headquarters building, sir.” Anger glittered in Ivan’s eyes.

Hmm. Was she also one of those camp women Peters hit on? Hopefully not. Otherwise, Peters might well be a target for more than Marsh. “Does she like the job?”

“No, sir. She wants to work in the kitchen. Martina is an excellent cook, sir. She’s a trained chef. She shouldn’t be cleaning buildings overnight.”

And that’s why Ivan and Martina didn’t have enough time together, especially if there was no change in the guard rotation. “I’ll see what I can do about that.”

Ivan’s eyes widened. “Really? I’d appreciate that, sir.” He paused. “I apologize for being disrespectful earlier. It won’t happen again.”

Seth squeezed the other man’s shoulder. “Go back to your duties, Ivan. We’ll see what we can do about bringing coffee to help you stay awake until you’re relieved of duty at lunchtime.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Seth signaled for Bowen and Noah to follow him. When they were out of sight and earshot of Ivan, Seth turned to face the other two detectives. “Observations?”

“While I agree that some of this might be a test, I still think these boys don’t have a clue what they’re doing.” Bowen rubbed the back of his neck. “And I don’t like the implied threat Richardson tossed at you in the training center. He’s got it out for you, Seth. You need to watch your back.”

“Noted. Noah?”

“What implied threat?” his partner demanded.

“Same as what he spouted off earlier. If we fail to do our jobs properly, there will be consequences.”

“Consequences.” Noah’s voice was flat.

“Punishment of some kind.”

“He’s looking for an excuse to hurt all of us for making him look like a fool,” Bowen said. “Especially you, Seth. He made it clear he wants to take you down.”

“I’m aware.”

“You should be worried.”

“Why? We’ll introduce the training regimen Richardson should have. Creating excellent soldiers takes time. We’ll do our best to help while we’re here.”

Bowen scowled. “If even one man is dead loyal to Richardson, he’ll have the man screwing up his duties on purpose simply to have an excuse to tear you down in the eyes of Peters and Richardson’s group of men.”

“Then let’s get this job done before Richardson punishes any of us.”

“Orders, sir?”

“Teagan and I will take Ivan coffee, then go check on the keys. In the meantime, you and Noah walk the entire perimeter again and talk to every guard. This is the time to lay the groundwork for loyalty to their new trainers. If we can do thatfast enough, we’ll avoid the sabotage problem from Richardson’s cronies.”

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