All Lines Black by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788637879
Publisher: Canelo Books
Published: 2019-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

QRF staging area, Northern Syria

Cindy “Hawk” Bird reacted without thinking, slapping the handset out of Lauren Gellar’s hand, and in the process, connecting solidly with the woman’s jaw. The female spook staggered back and landed hard on her backside, which elicited a murmur of excitement from the Army Rangers who were lingering at the back of the commo room.

They had been monitoring the op and following all the traffic with the JOC, but Gellar had been receiving updates on her satellite phone as well. The spook had been content to merely observe until her contact—evidently someone higher up the food chain than Colonel Webber—had forwarded the pictures of Racer’s prisoner. That was when Maleficent had grabbed the radio handset and butted into the op.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Hawk hissed at the stunned woman, ignoring the piqued curiosity of the Rangers. She hadn’t hit Gellar that hard; definitely not as hard as she would have liked to. “Stay in your lane.”

Gellar had no operational authority and no business butting into their comms, much less ordering Racer to do anything. She was there to answer questions and advise—when asked. And no one had asked her.

The spook touched a hand to her jaw, then the pain and surprise left her expression. She fixed Hawk with an icy, almost malevolent stare. It was not the first time she had looked at Cindy Bird that way. “Stay in yours, Sergeant. This is way above your pay grade.”

“The hell it is. You can’t order Racer to kill a prisoner. Just saying that out loud is a crime.”

Gellar was not the least bit apologetic. “So arrest me.”

Hawk shrugged and reached for her flexi-cuffs. That, even more than the blow, which had knocked her on her ass, seemed to get Gellar’s attention.

“Wait! Just wait a sec, okay?” She awkwardly got to her feet and dusted herself off—a touch too theatrically to Hawk’s way of thinking—then faced the female Delta operator. “You, of all people, should know how this works. Killing terrorists is what you Delta commandos do, isn’t it?”

“When they’re an immediate threat,” Hawk shot back. “When they’re our prisoner, we don’t get to just execute them.”

“Don’t be naïve, Sergeant.” Gellar had insisted on referring to Hawk that way, using the title like a taunt, a none-too-subtle reminder that she was at the bottom of the Delta totem pole, and as such, beneath contempt. Hawk had, thus far, managed to ignore the put-down. “You don’t really believe that bin Laden was a clear and present danger to Seal Team 6, do you? This is how the world works now.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. This guy isn’t bin Laden. He’s nobody I’ve ever heard of.” Even as she said it aloud, Hawk realized what was really bothering her about the situation. She took a step forward, hands on her hips. “You seem to know exactly who he is though. Almost like you expected him to be there.”

Gellar stood her ground. “I knew that he might be there, yes.

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