her an unreadable look. Unreadable except in his utter disregard for her as a human being. She was an information conduit he was going to open up with his tools of torture.
She didn’t think The Farm had prepared her for this.
Nothing would ever prepare her for this.
He reached for one of the syringes and with a merciless smile, pinched her skin.
Fast Lane moved into the command center like a man riding a rocket with exploding jet fuel, propelling his six-two, two hundred and forty pounds of lean, hard muscle across the room to slam into Kelly Sparks and back her against the conference table. He grabbed her shirt front and growled into her face, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here? You let us walk into a fucking ambush with no fucking HVT in the fucking house! Got a fucking innocent eighteen-year-old woman killed, and your operative is lying in a fucking FBI forensics van with a knife in his fucking brain stem!”
2-Stroke had never seen his CO this angry. It was a career ending type of situation if Fast Lane didn’t rein in his rage. 2-Stroke followed the team inside, and when analysts and other members, including the Colonel, tried to intercept, the team moved in front of them and shook their heads.
Kelly shoved at his chest, but there was no moving 2-Stroke’s boss until he was ready.
“Lieutenant Nixon, stand down,” Colonel Jackson said from behind Max’s broad shoulders, but Fast Lane ignored him.
“That intel was good!” Kelly shouted. “I vetted it myself.”
Someone in the room scoffed, and Kelly’s narrowed eyes went to Chry, her mouth tightening. If looks could kill…
He was going to have a word with his childhood buddy. She knew much more than she was saying, and the time for games and subterfuge were over.
“There was nothing good about that intel or you at all.”
Kelly’s gaze snapped back to Fast Lane.
“You almost got us all killed, and if it wasn’t for me posting a sniper for overwatch, we would be dead! Your operative disabled the cameras all right and neutralized the guards, but someone killed him and planted explosives. If Charlotte hadn’t woken up, found his body, and come screaming out of the house, we would have been blown to hell…seven SEALs! One a Tier 1 operator. Luckily whoever did it was incompetent and one of the charges never detonated. I’m holding you directly responsible for both her and a young boy that was killed accidentally by a through and through from one of my guys’ guns.”
2-Stroke had already compartmentalized the boy’s death. It was a tragedy, but war was hell for a reason. All that he had synthesized out of that incident, all the heat and turmoil of his feelings, paled in comparison to the one singular emotion at his core—pure, crystal clear, and barely-held-in-check rage. His brain was on fire with it. The kind of rage he’d felt when his brother died, and his father paid for his violent life with his own death. The memories rushed over him like a devouring horde without anything to stop them from rending him. The gates had been opened and now refused to be closed. He clenched his jaw and pushed them back. The past had no power to hurt him unless he gave those memories that power, and he refused to give in.
“What is going on here!” a male voice spoke from the door.
“Who the fuck are you?” Fast Lane asked.
“Harry Grant. I’m the station chief for this country. Back away from Ms. Sparks.”
“Move, Nixon. That’s an order,” Jackson said.
2-Stroke moved forward and clasped his CO on the shoulder. “Come on, boss. She’s not worth losing your command.” Fast Lane’s muscles tensed beneath his hand. “Please, Ford.”
He backed off, his steely gaze never leaving Kelly.
“If she says the intel is good, then it’s good,” Grant said.
“My ass. I’m lodging a formal complaint with the DoD and your boss. Get out of here, Kelly. You’re fucking done.” His razor-sharp gaze went from her to her boss.
Her face a mass of anger and defiance, she looked at Colonel Jackson.
“I think that’s the best course of action,” he said. The flash of menace she shot him was lethal, but mild compared to the look she gave Fast Lane. She started for the door. “And Grant. You will investigate this incident and the one in Paraguay where we lost another HVT and an NCIS agent was kidnapped from one of your safe houses.”