Page 40 of Viral Justice

She smiled sweetly at him. “You thought I was going to demand an entire twelve-man team, right?”

“I did.”

“You want in and out, that’s what you’re going to get. Fourteen people are going to make an impression. Four, not so much.” She glanced around. People were back to the busy rushing about. “When do we leave?”

“In two hours.”

No regrets. That was Ali’s usual motto. Today, she wanted more time spent with Max the man, not the colonel. She wasn’t going to get it.

“I’m going to grab our escort and load up on weapons and ammunition. If that meets with your approval, Colonel?”

He raised a brow, then nodded.

Ali left the building, hiding her bemusement. Max had thought she would argue with him, and she would, but she also knew how to pick her battles. She’d been managing powerful men most of her life. Her father and grandfather, her own officers, and officers from other branches of the military. They all said they wanted to be trained by the best, but very few ever went without challenging her skills or right to teach hand-to-hand combat to men twice her size.

Max was a pussycat compared to some of the assholes she’d had to deal with.

She headed straight for her father’s office and found him about to leave.

“Sir? A moment, please?”

“What is it, Sergeant?”

“Sir, Colonel Maximillian is heading to a village in Northern Iraq to identify a possible flu virus that’s killed four people. I’d like to take a couple of Special Forces soldiers as escort.”

He looked at her for a moment, searching her face. “Approved. I’ll give the order on my way out.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t forget your backup weapon.”

She stood a little taller. “I won’t, sir.” She saluted and headed out of the administration building. Once outside she jogged to the firing range, where the on-base Special Forces soldiers were scheduled to be. At the moment only one team was in residence. A dozen soldiers who were trained by the best to be the best.

At the range she talked to their unit commander, Sergeant Miles Hamston, and asked him who he recommended for this short mission.

Ham, as everyone called him, stood with one hip cocked forward and crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t ask me a bullshit question like that. I know you have two guys in mind, so just tell me who the fuck you want.”

She loved working with men who didn’t bother with chitchat. “I want Bullard and Irving.”

“They’re yours. Give me twenty seconds to get them.”

It wasn’t even that long. Fifteen seconds after he left, he was back with two men. “Try to return them in one piece.”

“Will do.” She turned to her new recruits. “Get your gear. We’re going into a medical hot zone. Possible flu, and it’s killing people. Your job will be to watch Colonel Maximillian’s back while he does his thing to identify the bug. Prep for three days and don’t dress fancy.”

She glanced at her watch. “You have fifteen minutes to gear up and meet me at the helipad. Go.”

They went.

Ali jogged to her own quarters, grabbed her go-bag and jammed as much extra ammunition, water, and food into it as she could. She added an ankle holster on her right leg with her back-up Beretta. Her primary Beretta rode in a leg holster on her right thigh. She tucked four extra clips into the pouches on her belt made specifically for that purpose.

Her primary weapon, an MK 16 Mod 0 SCAR-L, fired forty-five-mm rounds and used thirty-round magazines. By the time she was done stashing extra magazines in all the places she could, she looked like a Christmas tree.

Her backpack was filled with survival gear, high-energy protein bars, a couple of additional canteens of water, and more ammunition.

At the helipad, Max was talking to Eugene when she walked up. The colonel took one look at her and said, “We’re going for two days.Two days. To identify a pathogen, not rescue hostages.” He waved his hand up and down in front of her. “You look like you’re going to lay siege an entire city for a month.”

She saluted.“Leo in deterius expectabit.”

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