Page 122 of Into the Gray Zone

“Don’t you have a liaison telling you what’s happening?”

“Yeah, but he’s also a team leader. He’s a little busy, and honestly, I’m not sure he’s not trying to leave us behind. He’s been told to placate the Americans, but he’s made it plain that he doesn’t agree with us being on the assault. We figured we’d kit up in case he said something like ‘Leaving in two minutes... oh, sorry, forgot to tell you. Guess you guys need to stay here.’”

They left the room and Veep thought about tracking down Kerry Bostwick. He hadn’t seen the man in over two hours. Something was happening, and he knew Pike would want the latest intel before he hit the Garmin watch location.

He stood up and his phone rang. He saw it was Pike and thought,Shit. Here comes an ass chewing.

He answered, saying, “How’d the recce go? Are you going to hit that place?”

“We already did, and we need some damage control. Get Kerry Bostwick.”

“You did what?”

“Veep, I don’t have time for chitchat. Get me Kerry, now.”

“Stand by. We’ll call back via video.”

He ran out of the room, went down the hallway to the double doors of the Black Cat tactical operations center. A guard out front stopped him, and he said, “I need the American, Kerry Bostwick. He has an important call.”

The man sent a runner, who came back in twenty seconds, saying, “He’s busy right now. He said come back in twenty minutes.”

Veep said, “Tell him Pike went apeshit.”

The man left again, and twenty seconds later had Kerry Bostwick in tow. Kerry said, “What’s going on?”

Veep started walking, saying, “I don’t know. Pike did the hit on the Garmin watch and said he needs backup. He’s waiting on a video call.”

Kerry fell in next to him, saying, “Itoldthat asshole not to go apeshit.”

They entered the room the Black Cats had started calling the “American Stable” and Veep turned on the laptop, dialing a number. While waiting for it to connect, he said, “The JSOC boys were just in here kitting up. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I was trying to find out when you pulled me. Something big has happened, but I can’t get anyone to talk to me. It’s like they don’t want me to know because I’ll disagree.”

The screen cleared and they saw Brett Thorpe in the passenger seat of a car. He said, “Pike’s driving. You guys got me in the green?” Meaning encrypted.

Veep said, “Yeah, you’re in the green. What’s up?”

From off-screen, Pike said, “We hit the Garmin watch place but had a little trouble. We met the Chinese on the way in and had to eliminate them. It was a gunfight and it’s generated a little interest.”

“How much interest?”

“Alotof interest. Look, we have one of the terrorists in custody, but we have a problem.”

“What do you need from me? A safe house?”

“No, no. What I need is the intelligence you have on Riva Thakkar’s residence. I need to know where the hostages are, what the outside security is like, where the elevators are located, I need everything.”

“Why?”

“Because they were holding Sledge, and—”

“Wait, you rescued Sledge? You have him?”

Veep saw Brett grimace at the interruption. He said, “No, we don’t. Can you let Pike finish?”

Kerry pursed his lips and said, “Continue.”

Off-screen again, Pike said, “One of the terrorists was supposed to kill him, but he couldn’t go through with it. He let Sledge escape. Sledge went out on the roof and is now on the run. If he ends up in police hands the Black Cats are going to hear about it, and they’re going to assault the residence with no hesitation about an American hostage. They’ll burn it down.”

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