Page 106 of Jonas

“Ollie said I was the next best thing?”

“Really? I’m running for my life and you want to measure penises? He said when I called to remind you he saved your bacon.” Zane’s lips twitched. “He also said to tell you, Cherry Vanderbeak, and you’d know what that means.”

Zane’s shoulders snapped back.

“You said your name’s Penny?”

“Yes. Penny Cox.”

“In for a Penny, in for a Pound,” Cash quipped.

“Like I’ve never heard that before,” Penny huffed. “I need to see you. I found something I shouldn’t’ve and now I’m screwed.”

“Where are you?”

“Right now I’m running to my car. If I can make it out of the Fort Meade gate, I’d like to be on my way to you.”

Fort Meade was where the NSA was headquartered, among other intelligence agencies.

“Alright, Penny, I’m going to give you an address with the warning this is not a fuck-around-and-find-out situation. Cherry Vanderbeak or not, I’ll personally shoot your ass if you fuck me.”

“Zane, may I call you Zane?” she panted, totally out of breath. “I’m not even sure I’ll make it to you for you to shoot me. Text me the address. If I don’t make it, look at Operation Freebird.”

With that, she hung up.

“Kira?”

“On it.”

“What the fuck was that?” Easton inquired.

“That was my good friend Ollie fucking me from the grave.”

“Who’s Oliver Chamberlin?”

Zane’s head dropped forward. His hand came up and he gripped the back of his neck.

With a deep exhale, he said, “When I was on the Teams, Ollie was CIA. I’d just finished a mission in Panama when Ollie showed up, needing protection while he interviewed an asset. Me and a few of the guys from my platoon went with him. To say his mission went tits up would be like saying getting hit center mass with a forty-five is a boo-boo—a gross understatement for a total clusterfuck. His informant was a double. The whole thing was a trap to capture Ollie and torture him until he gave up what he knew. It was one of the times in a long line of them I didn’t think we’d make it out. And we wouldn’t’ve if air support hadn’t come in when they did. They lit up the whole fucking jungle. We were almost to the exfil location when a tango came swinging from the trees on a fucking vine. It was straight out of Tarzan. And the motherfucker had me in his sights. Ollie went full-on Rambo, yelling obscenities at the guy while filling him full of holes. I didn’t think he had it in him. Oliver Chamberlin looked like someone’s grandfather. From his out-of-style hairstyle to his loafers, nothing about him would have you guess he was a case officer. But damn if he didn’t save my life.”

And now a woman was asking for an audience with Zane while we were in the middle of a shitstorm.

“Who’s Cherry Vanderbeak?” Theo pushed.

“A porn star.”

“So a mission from your porn era,” Kira surmised.

“Yep. The CIA needed Red Team to fetch something important. I didn’t want to do it. They pushed, claiming I’d be helping to save the world. Blah, blah, blah. Same song and dance. I gave in when they offered an obscene amount of money. I retrieved the package, they deposited three quarters of a million dollars into my account. Three days after the mission was a success, Ollie sent me a bag of chocolate-covered cherries along with a DVD of the only feature film Cherry starred in, with a note taped to it that said ‘You’re welcome.’ He wanted me to know he worked that deal for me. And over the years, he called in what he considered payback. But he never fucked us. Every op he pulled us into was straightforward. He just needed firepower and for whatever reason he trusted my team. As far as CIA officers go, he was one of the good guys. He cared about the security of the nation more than he cared about being right. He left the CIA to go work at the NSA. When he died, he was a well-known and highly respected cryptologist.”

“Are you sending one of us to intercept Penny?” Nebraska asked.

Zane looked down at his phone, tapped the screen a few times, before he tossed it on the table.

“No. If she makes it here we’ll hear her out. But just because she knows Ollie’s name and a few tidbits of information doesn’t mean shit. The timing of her call is suspect.”

“If we have to dig a hole it’s gonna put us behind schedule,” Cash grouched. “And I hate blisters on my hands.”

“Didn’t peg you for a man with soft hands,” Lore mumbled under her breath.