Page 25 of Protected By The Green Berets

Colby sighed and glared at him. “By the way. This is Rafe, Arsen,” she pointed at the man who’d just spoken, “and Sig. Guys, let’s give them a minute to speak.” She stood up, her brows rising until the men stood and followed her out of the room. “You too, Brando,” she called out, her voice floating back to us.

Brandon grumbled under his breath, then got up and left us alone.

No one spoke for a minute. Zinnia looked deep in thought.

“Is this a good idea?” Rush finally asked.

“How do we know they even have any actionable intel for us,” Torque added.

Zinnia frowned, deep in thought. “Even if they don’t, we have to try. Right?” She asked, giving me a questioning look.

“Yeah,” I sighed. I didn’t like this anymore than the others, but if they had any information on Roj it could mean the difference between our success and failure. “Is this something you can do?” I asked her.

She nodded. “Yes. It won’t be hard. I’ll set up a command code within our system that detects anyone who tries to contact our agency about SSG Harris. That way I can intercept and quell any rumors.”

“Do that many people contact you?” Alden asked.

“For the month that I’ve been on the case there've been seven different operatives that have contacted us regarding her. So, not too many, but enough.”

“Are you comfortable doing this?” I finally asked as we all fell into silence. “Anyone finds out and it’s going to be your ass.”

“Our asses,” she corrected, meeting all of our eyes one by one. “If I do this and we’re discovered and they find out you knew? They’ll come for all of us. We have to make this decision together. I vote that we do it. This isn’t the first time I’ve made an informant disappear. Usually it’s with the Agency's blessing, but that’s not a requirement. I will need to talk to her, alone, to make sure this is the right thing for her.”

We all narrowed their eyes at the ‘alone’ part, but no one objected.

“Agreed,” I replied, throwing my chips in with hers. If she thought she could do this, I’d trust her skill. Brandon had seemed confident in her and her file I’d read claimed she was one of the most skilled operatives that the Agency had.

“I’m in,” Alden rumbled.

“Okay,” Rush said with a shrug.

Torque frowned, but finally nodded. “Like I’m going to go against the whole group. I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if this all goes to shit.”

Zinnia grinned at him. “I’m sure that will make you feel better while in a military prison cell.”

“It would,” he muttered.

I got up and went to the door. Sticking my head out, I found them all standing a few feet away, speaking quietly amongst themselves. When I turned around, I bumped into Zinnia.

My hands automatically went to her hips and it was like I’d been zapped on an electric fence wire. My heart thudded against my ribs and my fingers squeezed harder into her flesh.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I have one condition before doing this,” she said, addressing the other men.

“What?” Rafe asked from where he stood at my back.

“I want to speak to Colby for a moment… Alone,” she clarified when no one moved.

“Z…” I warned when Rafe tensed up. He didn’t want to leave Colby alone any more than I did Zinnia.

“Trust me,” she whispered.

“No way,” the guy Colby had introduced as Sig responded. “We don’t know you from-”

“Sig,” Colby cut him off, sighing as she did so. “We need their help.”

“I don’t like it,” Arsen muttered.

“I won’tallowit,” Rafe said.

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