Page 34 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

Someone slammed into me from behind and I turned just as I caught a fist to the face. New Guy stood there, his fist raised as he prepared to hit me again.

“What the fuck, FNG? You’re supposed to be hitting me, not them!”

He ducked, just as someone was about to hit him, then kicked out his foot, catching him in the side of the knee. He jumped up, pulling me out of the way as he swung again. “You got that wrong, boss. I’m supposed to be hitting them, not you.”

“Right, that’s what I said!” I grabbed the soldier coming at me and flung him into the man New Guy was fighting. They knocked heads and fell to the ground.

“Enough!” Rafe shouted from the shadows.

“Took him long enough to get here,” I muttered.

“Take them to holding,” he ordered. Men surrounded the three of us, guns pointed in our direction, but just out of reach. I smirked at the man beside me, one that I had given the nice shiner to just minutes before. “Get them out of here!”

I clenched my fists, following the soldier away from the entrance and back inside the secret government compound.

* * *

“When you saidwe were going to Mexico, I really thought you meant something other than this,” New Guy muttered.

I glanced around our spacious jail cell quarters and shrugged. “It’s not the worst I’ve ever been in.”

They stuck us in the lowest level of their little bunker with hardly any light and no amenities. Sure, we each had a bucket in the corner, but they hadn’t served us dinner yet, and I was hungry.

“Yeah, but…thisis Mexico?”

“Mexico is the plan,” I said, taking a seat on the wooden bench at the far end of the cell. The far end being four feet away. Each of us were being held in our own cells, each with electronic locks that not only could we not pick, but Rae didn’t have the ability to hack since she had nothing on her.

“Okay, so now that we’re alone down here in the depths of this massive underground fortress, do you want to fill me in on the plan?”

“Simple,” I answered. “We wait for reinforcements.”

He stared at me for a moment before getting up and walking over to the bars. “That’s your plan? Wait for reinforcements?”

“Relax,” Rae said, laying down on her bench. “They’re coming. We’re all tagged. You should get some shuteye now.”

“You want me to sleep?” New Guy asked.

I laid down on my own bench, staring up at the ceiling. “It could be a while before you get another chance.” I shifted on the bench, adjusting my back to the right spot. “These benches are definitely better than in Mexico.”

Rae snorted. “Those weren’t even benches.” She sat up, turning to face me. “And I had tools on me. I got us out of those cells in less than fifteen minutes. Now I have to rely on Dash?”

“Hey, he’s very capable.”

“I don’t like relying on anyone but myself,” she muttered.

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be on the team,” I retorted.

“Wait, so you guys have pulled this before?”

“Well, that’s why we call it Mexico,” I said drolly.

I heard New Guy huff in irritation before his own bench creaked under his weight. “You know, you could fill a guy in.”

I twisted so I could see him. “So, what’s your deal, New Guy?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Where are you from?”

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