Page 123 of The Ranger
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Well, I wasn’t expectingthat.
Especially after pissing off half of Josh Hawke’s team when we arrived at the LA warehouse last week.But fuck, the North Koreans had their hands on a top-secret military chip that, had it left US soil, would have been very, very bad.
Like major fuck up.
When my team was briefed and called in, we grabbed our weapons and leaped into the unmarked vehicles outside.
Throw in a pregnant civilian who was in labor and, Jesus fucking Christ, the stakes were bad.I lost my cool.
I wanted these unofficial security guys out of my way.Yeah, I knew who they were, but we—the Marshals—were the only ones with the authority to deal with it.
Legally.
Key word here.
Unfortunately, Chen got away.
I wouldn’t say I agreed to work with the Black Hawke Security team.Josh doesn’t take no for an answer well.
So I’m finding out.
In fact, he never listened.The Navy SEAL and his team plowed ahead using systems that, let’s just say, aren’t government approved (cough) and “together” we were able to track Chen Lee-Park eventually, and he’s now behind bars.
None of those methods will be officially stated on the paperwork.
“Can’t say I’m thrilled at having to circle around the documentation,” I said when I agreed to meet Josh for a beer a few days ago.
“You’d be less happy if your men found footage of Chen boarding a plane and out of your jurisdiction.”
I let out a dry laugh.
“Yeah.”Then I glanced at him.“And ironically, they’d probably send your old team in to sort it out.”
Josh shrugged.“Or me.”
I lifted a brow.“You do black ops privately?For the gov?”
“No,” he smirked.
So that was a yes.
Jesus.I had no idea.
When he sat sipping his beer, I realized he was letting that sink in.
I turned in my seat.“You’re recruiting me.”
Josh, who wore a fitted black T-shirt, looked like a mix between Jason Momoa and Tom Cruise (from the first Top Gun), lay his forearm along the bar and tapped his fingers for the check.
“I need more good men.New expertise for more work that we are being sent, and you fit the bill.”Josh glanced at his watch.“You just saw how we get things done.Like when I was in the Teams but faster.Much fucking faster.”
I couldn’t argue; I’d seen it firsthand.
Josh was right; Chen Lee-Park could have made it out of the country if his guys hadn’t used their technology to track him.Not that we didn’t have even better technology...we just had to abide by laws that a private security company didn’t.
After they hacked into the airport cameras and found him, my team was lined up and ready.
