Page 82 of Coming Home

“Great,” I said, following them out.

“Temp, you’re going to be Painter’s problem today,” Silas ordered. “Tucker, you too. Elliot and Grant, you’re with me.”

When each of the guys pulled out their weapons, I moved to reach for my own.

“Give the temp a gun,” Silas finally said.

“No need, I prefer my own,” I said pulling out a pistol to strap to my waist.

The guys laughed when they saw my pistol and proceeded to hand me an AK-47. I waved them off and piece by piece I pulled my own out of my bag and reassembled.

“Is that fully automatic?” Painter asked.

I grinned. “It’s capable of it if I choose it to be.”

“You had all that in your backpack?” Tucker asked. “Damn, I thought I was good at packing toys.”

I didn’t tell them I had two barrels and a scope still in there that I could mod my baby into a makeshift long gun in a pinch. It wasn’t as good as my queen back home as a sniper gun, but it would do in an emergency.

“A team, let’s roll out,” Silas said as Grant and Elliot followed him out of the plane.

I wanted to press for instructions or at least have some inkling of what the mission was, but I got the feeling it was a test and being withheld deliberately.

“Let’s go,” Painter finally said.

On the tarmac there was a black SUV waiting for us. Tucker drove. Painter took the passenger seat, so I hopped into the back.

“Tell him, Painter. Please. We need the backup if something goes wrong.”

“Silas’s orders, Tucker. He’s only here to observe.”

“Then why the hell is he packing more heat than we are?”

Painter laughed. “He was supposed to be issued a gun with blanks.”

“And this is why I prefer to use my own. How the hell am I supposed to trust you guys if you pull something like that on an actual mission?” I asked.

“We’re more concerned with how the hell we’re supposed to trust you,” Painter told me.

“I have been completely forthcoming with you,” I reminded him. “I didn’t have to tell you guys any of that stuff. It was between me and O’Connell.”

“He’s right,” Tucker said. “Tell him.”

“Christ, fine, but we’re only backup on this mission. We sit back and let Silas handle this. That’s why there was no concern with giving you blanks,” Painter said. “I know you’re aware of the Verndari, but do you know who the Raglan are/”

“The rogue unit of the Verndari,” I said. “I’m aware.”

“We’ve been tracking them and taking down one cell after another. More often than not they get tipped off and move before we get there, but last fall we took down a major cell at Archibald Reynolds College and scored hundreds of boxes of data,” Painter said.

“Shit! They’re at the shifter college?” I asked. I was struggling to believe what they were saying.

“Yup, it was bad. From the documentation we found there, we identified several other locations they operate out of, but of course they all went dark. We’ve been laying low, but our intel says there’s activity at this location again. We have to move fast if that’s the case. Silas is going in and confirming, while we’re on standby, along with three other units just in case.”

Tucker pulled into a parking lot near the site. “So basically, we sit here and wait,” he said.

Twenty minutes passed. Tucker fell asleep and Painter thumbed through the same magazine for the fifth time. I had been on my fair share of stakeouts, but this one I was not prepared for. My wolf was getting restless being cooped up in the car, but I didn’t dare complain.

A large boom was heard close enough to rattle our vehicle. Everyone sprang into action.

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