Page 50 of Twister

When she finally was able to exit the room, Neil was standing there, his hair still damp. “Are you all right?” he asked, his voice strained, his eyes darting over her.

She nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. Twister was the one who was injured.”

He didn’t comment, just looked relieved.

“I’m glad you weren’t hurt as well,” Sadie said, but again he didn’t seem to have any comment about the chaos that had ensued after the shots were fired.

He came up to her. “No one will hurt you while I’m around,” he said. “You can be sure of that.”

He was standing a little too close and she stepped back. “Thank you, but the SEALs are the ones who are tasked with our safety. Don’t worry about it too much. They will make sure the terrorists are stopped.”

“The terrorists?” he said, his eyes going a little unfocused and his breathing increasing a bit.

“Yes, Seven Demands. They’re the ones who shot at us, Neil.”

His eyes came back into focus, and she chalked it up to the unsettling feeling of being in the line of fire. “Of course. Right.” He chuckled nervously. The hair on the back of her neck lifted at the sound, and she went to go around him, but he blocked her path. “Burton was always a loose cannon. He should never have attacked you like that.”

She swallowed, remembering the trajectory of the thrown rock and the tight hold he had on her neck.

“He won’t bother you anymore.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m assuming NCIS will track him down,” he said in a rush. “But, if you need anyone to talk to, I’m here, Sadie—anytime.”

“Thanks, Neil,” she said, brushing past him, eager to get away for a hot shower and something other than Neil’s offer to console her to keep her mind occupied until Twister returned.

Twister entered the room,his arm stinging and his resolve firm. It was time to take out Seven Demands. It was clear the threat was real, and the US wasn’t going to tolerate their troops taking fire, and the Balinese were completely on board.

When Twister took his seat, he found a folded piece of fabric and a folder in front of him. Tex nodded at him, then faced the front of the room. “What do you have for us, Emma?”

Their CIA liaison, her face stark, said, “We’ve got the location of Seven Demands, and we’ve put together a target package for their leader, Basuki. He was a business major at Udayana University, and he got angered by the disrespect of the temples from tourists. An Australian climbing a temple set him off. This led to his fanatical hatred for anyone traveling to Bali. It’s why he targeted the airport. Basuki is his only name as the Javanese don’t have surnames. We turned one of his followers into an asset after the airport bombing.”

She walked over to a monitor and clicked it on. A man appeared on the screen. “This is Elang, the asset. He has agreed to mark the building where Basuki is hiding.” She clicked another slide showing a young, dark-haired Balinese man dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt called asaput polos, and a sarong. He was addressing a large crowd of men and women. She clicked another slide and a small bridge in front of a gate came up. “This isMekah Sari, an old, abandoned temple, and in Sanskrit,mekahis derived from a word that means rooted, andsarimeans essence. So rooted essence.” She clicked off the screen. “The layout and target building are in your packets, as well as a sarong.” She took a breath. “We’ve had to work with one of the pedanda, Ida Bagus Ngurah, a high priest, distinguishedby their scholarly expertise, and is revered for being a keeper of sacred knowledge and cultural heritage. He has already attempted to get Basuki to surrender, but he refused. We then received permission to assault the temple and Pedanda Ngurah has requested that you all wear the sarong over your camo and remove your boots before you enter the inner courtyard. He wishes to say a prayer before you take off.”

This had to be the most unconventional assault ever…remove their boots? Twister touched the soft, dark sarong fabric and hoped Google had good instructions on how to tie the garment.

“The Balinese military won’t desecrate sacred ground with violence, so Basuki’s takedown is all on you. We would very much like Basuki to be captured without a shot fired if at all possible. As the pedanda has pointed out, enough blood has been spilled.”

“I’m not too thrilled about it either,” Brawler said. “Places of worship have always been off-limits for us.”

“Agreed,” Flash said. “Holy places radiate some kind of aura. I felt that every time we had to go into a mosque in Afghanistan. I don’t know. This reverent feeling hits me. Makes me damn uncomfortable to tote my M4 into those places.”

“This will be an in-and-out, no-shots-fired mission,” Emma said. “But I get why this is uncomfortable. The pedanda understands this is necessary, and he will provide a blessing after the mission to both cleanse the inner courtyard of your presence and Basuki’s sacrilege.”

“We get comfortable with the uncomfortable,” Bondo growled. “If we can get Basuki without bloodshed, we will.” Emma nodded.

“The intel is solid. The asset was horrified by the airport bombing, something he didn’t sign up for. He wanted people to be more respectful of their temples, culture, and way of life. Itotally understand why they’re upset, but resorting to that kind of violence never works.”

“Violence is never the answer,” Easy said. “We would love it if we didn’t have to do what we have to do, but we’re not going to back down from any of it, ma’am.”

The acknowledgment in her eyes was born of experience. She wasn’t a stranger to violence. She held up her hand as everyone started to rise. “By the way, after talking at length with Elang, he is adamant that they didn’t have anything to do with Petty Officer Mercer’s death. I’ve related that information to NCIS.” She took a hard breath. “Currently, they are searching for Petty Officer David Burton. He is AWOL, and still at large on the island. They want to talk to him regarding arguments between the two divers.”

“They think Burton killed Mercer?” Shark asked, frowning.

“Right now, he is a person of interest.”

“Fuck,” Dagger said. “There is something off with Burton.”

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