we did together. The only thing you need to know is I owe this man my life, and when he called me, I was concerned.”
“When do we go wheels up?” Doc asked. “Because we haven’t been briefed on an upcoming mission. And it seems like we’re leaving tomorrow, if we’re having a late night meeting.”
“Only one team member is going on a mission,” North said. “I spent all day on the phone, trying to get that changed. And then Xavier called and warned me about the mission. I decided to have this meeting.” He gestured to the men sitting around the table.
“You’re saying someone on the other team is doing something wrong?” Lucky sat forward in his chair.
Hudson’s crew were close with the other SEAL teams in Coronado and occasionally they assisted another team. They wouldn’t go into a mission unprepared.
“I trust the other teams with my life,” Doc said.
“Casper isn’t going on a mission with any of the teams here,” North grumbled. “DEVGRU is using him for a mission, but it’s a mash-up of people. There was an incident in Yemen. He’s supposed to fly out tomorrow night and meet the team there.”
SEAL team six was changed to DEVGRU, but most still referred to them as SEAL team six.
“No,” Lucky said angrily.
Hudson hadn’t even had time to say anything before his teammates started protesting. Before his transfer to California, he’d been part of SEAL team six for six months. He’d worked his ass off to get the scores needed to join them. He held the longest shot record. But when Kaiden needed him, Hudson didn’t care who he worked with as long as he was close to his nephew. What worried him was the fact that they wanted teams across the country to borrow members from each other. He’d never heard of that happening, and from the yelling in the room, he could tell that neither had any of the other men on his team.
“Stand down,” North growled.
“Why do they need Casper?” Cy asked from the end of the table.
That was the first valid question anyone had asked. Cy always analyzed everything before speaking, which was probably why he was so good at computers. It was also why he was the one person Hudson could count on to help him figure out why Siena was in danger.
Hudson couldn’t stop thinking about her. Going on any mission was a risk, but especially when a person’s mind was fucked-up. “Do I have an option?”
He knew the answer, but the question still came out of his mouth. North didn’t want him on the mission. If the commander could have stopped it, he would have.
“No. This has gone above my head, and the orders came down. You ship to Yemen tomorrow at eighteen hundred. You’re not going alone. Xavier is sending his team to watch your back.”
His team murmured their disagreement about the mission, but Hudson’s eyes were on Xavier, and the mercenary was staring back at him. The man looked angry.
“So, you want me to go into a mission with a team I’ve never met. And my backup is a team of mercenaries who do the bidding of the person who pays the most. How am I supposed to know Xavier’s team, who I’ve only met a few times in the field and last time took the people we saved?”
Xavier hesitated. “My men will not hang you out to dry, though I know there’s nothing I can say to you that will change your mind this second. We plan to give you some equipment to take with you so you can be in contact with us at all times.”
“How about telling us what happened to the one scientist you didn’t bring back?”
The large man leaned forward. “Like I said, the mission was classified. I can tell you she’s alive and well. You all should know more than anyone. Not everything is as it seems.”
Lucky opened his mouth again, but North narrowed his eyes. “Xavier and I talked about this earlier. We need to figure out if this team is actually as corrupt as Xavier’s intel suggests. We think they want to use you for an assassination job and take a device from the compound to sell on the dark web. Everyone knows you’re the best sniper. We were lucky you decided to transfer to the West Coast. As for the woman, drop it.”
Hudson hated taking a life. But he also knew there were so many evil people in the world. In any