Page 80 of Coming Home

I knew from the way he looked down at his watch and from the frustrated vibes he was giving off that the invitation for me to tag along had been Patrick’s idea. Silas had clearly been planning on ditching me.

“Good morning,” I said.

“I see you made it. Patrick give you directions?” Silas asked.

I snorted. “No. You guys purposely left that part vague enough, but I’ve been doing this shit a long time. I know my way around a mission.”

I didn’t know what I would be needing on the trip, so I had packed my general gear bag that contained everything I could possibly need. If the army had done anything for me, it was to assert the need to always be prepared.

“This the temp?” someone asked. I looked up to see a guy walking towards me. Silas was a big dude, but this man was huge. His ripped arms were easily the size of tree trunks.

“Benjamin Shay,” I said, offering him my hand.

“Painter,” he replied. “This is Grant, Tucker, and Elliot,” he said, introducing the rest of the team. They all stopped what they were doing just long enough to give a head nod of acknowledgement without saying a word before returning to their preparations.

Silas appeared pissed that I made it, so I stayed out of their way and just evaluated things. I was surprised to find such a small unit and wanted to ask if that was the full team or only a partial, but I didn’t dare.

When we loaded up, I chose to join the jeep Painter was driving and give Silas some space. I knew how protective Crawley had always been of us and how hesitant he was to take on new people. I couldn’t imagine how much hell he’d give to someone like me insisting on a trial before joining his team. It was necessary for Shelby, but I knew it was going to make my life hell until a final decision was made.

We drove to the airport where a plane was waiting. I wanted to groan. I hadn’t considered the mission would be that far away. I had a million questions to ask, but I opted to keep my head down and my mouth shut instead.

Once settled in for the flight, the guys turned to me with questions.

“I know Silas was forced into this arrangement by Patrick. He’s none too happy about it. My question is, what the hell do you have on Patrick O’Connell to get him to agree to a damn trial? ?Cause that’s not how we function around here. You’re either in or you’re not,” Painter said.

“I don’t have anything on Patrick,” I said honestly. “And I get it. I don’t particularly like it either, but I made the mistake of signing my life away to the military for nine years and I’m not about to blindly sign on for anything like that again.”

“No way he’d just agree to a trial, not in this unit. Must be something good to convince Silas to play along,” he insisted.

“That’s enough, Painter,” Silas barked.

“With all due respect, we don’t function well with secrets in this unit, Silas, and you damn well know it. I don’t need to be looking over my shoulder keeping an eye on the temp instead of the target,” he insisted.

Silas glared at me and it dawned on me, he really didn’t know.

I sighed. “Verndari truth serum.”

“What?” Silas and Painter asked in unison.

“That’s the price I negotiated to get this trial,” I told them honestly. “Despite how it appears. I am a team player and I know the importance of trust and honesty. I don’t expect you to just take my word on that. I’ll do my part to prove myself no matter how much shit you throw at me.”

“How the hell did you get your hands on Verndari truth serum?” Silas asked.

I shrugged. “Might not have anything on Patrick O’Connell, but I had enough on some higher up officers to make it happen.”

“You’re telling me the U.S. military is using goddamn truth serum now?” Silas cursed.

I nodded. “Only on rare occasions, but yeah, they’re experimenting with it.”

“Jesus Christ. It’s bad enough we have to monitor the Verndari using that stuff, but now the military too?” Painter questioned.

“This is nuts,” Grant said.

“What do we do with this information?” Elliot asked.

“Am I the only one that thinks it’s funny that everyone takes the temp’s word for this so easily?” Tucker laughed.

I shrugged. “Take my word it, or don’t, up to you. I’ve been through more than my fair share of hazing already, and I’m getting too old for that bullshit. You have questions for me, ask them.”

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