Page 50 of Her Ruthless Protector

“We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” Nick said as soon as they got into the elevator.

“We haven’t been in Kansas since we signed up with the Navy,” Leo laughed.

“I want to know what’s keeping the others,” Kane said.

“Nah, you don’t give a rat’s ass about Raiden. You want to know about Cullen and Asher so they can give you an update on A.J.,” Leo said.

Kane scowled at his friend. Seriously, his whole team gossiped as much as teenage girls.

“Personally, I can’t wait to meet her,” Nick said. “According to Asher, she’s kick-ass. Plus, she knows everybody in show business.”

The elevator door finally opened so Kane could stop listening to his friend’s drivel. He stomped over to the conference room door. He saw Zed walking towards it.

“Hey, why do you look pissed-off?” Zed asked. “Did A.J. stop talking to you?”

He needed to put a stop to this.

Now.

“Do you have any new pictures of LuLu?” Kane asked.

Zed lit up like the Fourth of July. “Marcia sent me some yesterday. That girl is growing like a weed.” Zed yanked out his phone and started scrolling through his photos. Kane might have asked to see pictures of his friend’s six-month-old daughter as a ploy, but he had to admit, he loved looking at the little girl.

“This one is great,” he pointed to one where she was wearing a yellow sun hat. “I love that smile.”

“Yeah, that’s my favorite, too,” Zed agreed.

Leo and Nick were gathered around to look when Max peeked his head out of the conference room. “Enough already. Get your collective asses in here.”

“What’s keeping the others?” Kane asked.

Max stifled a smile. At least he had the good sense not to mention A.J.. He turned around as the elevator slid open. Cullen, Asher, and Raiden stepped out. “Looks like we have everyone. Let’s get started,” Max said.

The conference room was as nice as the lobby.

Kane wasn’t willing to plug in his laptop to the provided projector. Just call me paranoid. Instead he snagged the mini projector from his rucksack that morning—God love the Navy, the thing was tiny and powerful. Zed was talking about giving one to LuLu for Christmas. He had lost his mind.

“Gather round, we have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time,” Max said. “Pull up the file I sent you, Kane.”

Kane grabbed the file that he hadn’t had a chance to open before, and he and his team saw the outside of a prison in Yemen.

“Keep up with me. There’s a kid here in Oman who thinks he’s James Bond’s son. He got Wyatt Leeds the information that al Fadi’s son, the guy we captured in Yemen, actually is the one masterminding the raids in Oman, not the old guys in Afghanistan.”

“So, having Black Dawn in Afghanistan has been a waste of time?” Cullen asked.

“Give the man a cigar,” Kane said.

“Next,” Max continued. “The suits have said that they got all the information they could out of al Fadi.”

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Raiden muttered.

“That ship has sailed,” Max said. “Now we know al-Qaeda is demanding that Barkat al Fadi’s wife go visit him in jail and find out the details of the attack.”

“He won’t tell,” Cullen protested.

“No shit,” Max agreed. “But she probably knows who her husband works with, so our job is to tail her and then nab the men she comes into contact with. Her meeting with her husband is tomorrow morning. Gray and his team won’t be available until tomorrow night, so this is our gig. Half of us are staying here, the other half are heading to Yemen.”

“Max, I want to go to Yemen,” Kane said. It was the right thing to do. He was done with the airport, and Max was needed where he was.