“A second heavy smoke signature, some dozens of miles down the road from the compound reveals the shell of a vehicle, possibly an SUV—” he cleared his throat, no doubt because Thomas’s last report placed him and the admiral’s niece in a black SUV “—also destroyed by fire. At that time, there were no other vehicles on the roads in that area.”
But these SARs images were literally snapshots, so that last bit was mostly useless—well, aside from the intel that the mountain wasn’t teeming with too many hostiles to hide.
“I’ve sent those coordinates separately,” Admiral Francisco continued, “in the event the images don’t get through to you. I’ve also put in a request for infrared video imaging, see if we can get any human heat signatures in the area, but the response lag time is significant.”
No shit the lag time was significant if an admiral didn’t receive pictures taken late yesterday until right fucking now. If that pattern of delay repeated, he wouldn’t get the infrareds until Rio and Dave were on top of the compound.
“Your mission is...” Francisco cleared his throat. “Extremely low priority.”
“For Patterson and me, sir, it’s our only priority,” Rio reminded him. “Whatever intel you provide, it’s better late than never. But we won’t wait for it, sir. We’ll proceed as planned, stopping first at the burned vehicle, factoring in the potential for hostiles in the area.”
“Get moving,” the admiral ordered. “Just get there.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
Dave cut the connection as Rio pulled back out onto the highway and pressed his foot to the floor.
As the text with the coordinates for the burned out SUV came in, Dave turned his attention to finding the location on the map. “Direct ETA to the SUV is thirty-two hours,” he reported. “But we’re gonna want to disconnect and hide the gas tank before we get there. I’ll do that math, see what our options are.”
Rio nodded. That was a good plan. Disconnecting the hitch to the gas tank would make them far more nimble—and less likely to explode if one of the hostiles got off a lucky shot.
“I hope the admiral can get us those heat signatures soon. It’d be nice to know how many hostiles we’re up against,” Dave murmured. “Two SEALs against twenty, no problem, but two against two thousand...?”
“Three,” Rio corrected him.
Dave clearly wasn’t following, so Rio clarified.
“Three SEALs,” he said. “You, me, and Lieutenant King.”
The rush of understanding in Dave’s brown eyes was combined with something else—kindness and compassion. “Rio, that SUV,” he started, but he stopped himself and simply said, “This could be really bad.”
Rio shook his head as he coaxed their own vehicle to move a little faster. “You don’t know Thomas King. Not the way I do. Just... Look, take advantage of cell service to nudge your loser ex, then do the math for the gas tank.”
“Yeah. Thanks, I... will. I... wish I didn’t care.” Dave was embarrassed, because Rio knew the whole story. Jon had, without a doubt, treated Dave like shit. “I shouldn’t care.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t work that way,” Rio said.
“I’m not sure what to say.” Dave sighed. “I’ve already sent him three texts.”
That was a wincingly high desperation level, but... “You’re assuming he’s gotten them,” Rio pointed out. “Go with that: Service sucks, texting sketchy, not sure I’m getting through, please check in.”
Dave nodded, typing with his thumbs. “Cordially matter of fact. That’s good. Thanks, man.”
“He might be in a place with no cell service,” Rio said.
“Or he’s being extra douchey, seeing how many texts I’ll send him before my head explodes,” Dave muttered grimly. “Payback for the booty call I refused to answer last week.”
“Okay,” Rio said. “All right. That’s it. I’m calling bullshit. We’re done with Jon, okay? He’s an asshole. After we get back to California, I’mma introduce you to my cousin, Luc. He just moved to San Diego. You’ll like him—it’s Luc without a K or an E. That’s not why you’ll like him, that was just an FYI. You’ll like him because he’s... well, he’s smart, he’s funny, and he looks a lot like me—not too much, just enough—and well, I’m adorable.”
Dave laughed a little at that. “Remember how you said It doesn’t work that way? I wish it did, but... It kinda doesn’t work that way. You don’t just call bullshit and fall out of love.”
“I hear you,” Rio said. “I do. But not answering a booty call from the asshole you love because you’re out with someone new and funny and cute versus