Page 131 of Jonesing for a Spy

“This is a trap, wrapped up in a web. Powder keg is right. Flamethrower is right. And walking in blind? It’s a suicide mission.”

“Fuck that,” Young barks. “Remember who you are, Ranger. You know the objective. Complete the mission.” He’s quoting the Ranger Creed.

“That ends with though I be the lone survivor.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “It ends with Rangers lead the way.”

Under my breath, I answer. “Sua Sponte.”

“Jones, hear me.”

I look up to find his steely gaze.

“Germaine thinks he’s leading this. Fitzgibbons thinks he’s in charge. There’s only one person here who truly leads any mission. On that field”—he points out the windshield—“you are the only one qualified. You lead this. Find. A. Way.”

I take a huge inhale and sigh it out with a nod.

“Rangers lead the way,” I say to the glass.

“All the way.” His reply cements what I already know. I’ve got this.

I step out of the SUV and put on my transponder glasses. The moment I do, I know that everything I see is transmitted to headquarters. Brody will be notified that I’ve been activated… or activated myself.

The clock starts now.

Fully knowing the hazards of my chosen profession. My mind begins what I recited daily for more than a year as I step toward what might be the end of my career… or my life.

I will always endeavor to uphold the prestige, honor. A pistol rests at my back under my oversized hoodie. One I know and trained with. One on loan from Young.

And high esprit de corps of the Rangers. I walk up to a man I’ve never seen before.

“You Fighter?”

He shakes his head and stares down at me like he can see my organs working under my muscles. “No. I’m Sally.”

56

it’s-a-small-world fuckery

Mirren

Alarm bells sound in my head, and I fight every single instinct to not take a huge step backward. I feel almost like a kid who refuses to retreat from a snake coiled to strike, but Janis wouldn’t know or care. And I’m fully inhabiting Janis’s life. Posture, clothing, greasy hair, and her state-of-the-art glasses.

“I’m Janis. Where are the others?”

He offers a nonchalant shrug, turning to face the substation, and lights up a cigarette.

I know even if I can’t see her that Mom is at my eleven o’clock. Young “drove off” only to return on foot and is somewhere at my four or five.

If Exton Ranger is to be believed, he’s somewhere between eight and nine. He’s given me no reason to doubt him. I bet he was in place before sunup.

I take the toe of my boot and shove it in the grass, mussing up the roots and focusing all my energy on breathing and thinking. Looking bored is good. And this isn’t a sign that I’m good or bad to the team. It’s just Janis being Janis. So is wandering, so I do that a little—making sure my glasses pick up the substation name and any other pieces of data to convey my whereabouts.

Brody is surely clued in and shitting a brick right now.

I hope he can find some information on “Sally.” I need to get a better look at him. It’s more than bothersome that Young with all his resources found none.

A lone man walks our way, and I reach behind me, pretending the scratch my thigh, waiting to see whether he is friend or foe. In this situation, it’s more like foe or foe, but team Jones is at my back and has firepower and surprise on our side.