As far as Moira goes, Townsend’s interest in her began well over a year ago, back when she’d been a slave to the monstrous John Snowden, a man who no longer walks the earth, but whose business in trading slaves appears to be going strong despite his demise.
“Why do they all do the same damn thing?” Knox vents a sigh and leans his head against the wall.
My second doesn’t appreciate the fine art of getting-people-to-tell-us-shit. He’d rather send Townsend six feet under and be done with this.
“What do you mean?”
“They all have to resist. Pretend they’re a big man when we all know it’s only a matter of time before they break. Seriously, he’s wasting our time and making things ten times worse for himself.”
“Stubbornness?” I press my lips together and debate sitting on the cold metal floor. Doesn’t look like any of us are going anywhere anytime soon.
“It’s not like he doesn’t know how this is going to end.” Knox closes his eyes. “It’s torture watching this.”
A heavy steel hatch to my left opens a crack. My boss, CJ, pokes his head in and scans the room. When he sees me, he gestures for me to join him outside. I kick off the wall and head to the door.
“Alpha-Two, I need you too.” CJ steps back from the door. He joined us on the trawler for Townsend’s interrogation. He leads Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta teams, and is my boss. The chain of command goes through him, to Sam who oversees all of Guardian Hostage Rescue Specialists, our unique company aimed at rescuing those who’ve been taken.
Knox joins us in the narrow passage while the rest of my team continues tenderizing Townsend and getting him ready to spill all his secrets.
“What’s up?” The hatch closes behind us with a solid thud, leaving Townsend to his fate.
“We’ve got a new case,” CJ says.
“We’re working a case right now.” I hitch a thumb over my shoulder. “He’s inside that room.” There’s zero reason for CJ to pull us away from this interrogation.
“You’ll understand in a moment.” CJ leads us toward the galley of the trawler we currently call home. Interrogations like ours aren’t exactly legal, breaking a slew of laws that could lead to lifelong incarceration if they happened on American soil.
We captured Townsend in California. Technically, we kidnapped him, but Townsend would be a fool to report us. He was in the middle of committing his own crime: kidnapping Moira. As for interrogations, those are complicated. We try not to do them on US soil. International waters, on the other hand, afford us the freedom to be brutally creative. Which is why we’re bobbing like a cork in the deep blue sea. Our trawler drifts somewhere off the coast of California.
The three of us cram ourselves inside the trawler’s small galley. Designed to hold eight, we’re big men, and the room feels small with the three of us in it. Propped on the only table, a laptop streams a video feed. The table, like all the chairs, is bolted to the floor. That way, things don’t move around in high seas.
We’re currently blessed with nearly mirror-smooth waters, which is nice. I’m not much of a boat fan, which is funny considering I trained in the Navy to become a SEAL.
“Hi guys.” Sam’s brusque face stares out of the screen. He surveys the room, taking us all in, and gives a nod of approval.
“What’s this about a mission?” I want to know why they’re pulling us away from the interrogation.
“We secure?” Sam scans the room again, not that he can see anything outside the view of the camera.
“We’re secure.” CJ shifts in his seat and repositions the laptop to better fit us all within view of the camera.
“Good.” Sam leans back. “I have a case for you.”
“We’re working a case right now.” I can’t help but respond abruptly. My place is with my team, extracting information from Townsend.
“You’re going to find this one interesting,” Sam pushes through.
“Getting information from Townsend is critical.” My words come out argumentative. Can’t help it, that’s how I feel.
“Not arguing that, but this is a time-sensitive mission.”
“Can’t Charlie team take it? Or Delta?” I don’t mention Bravo team. They’re still two men down. Technically, we’re a man down as well. The injury to Griff’s leg isn’t fully healed, and he doesn’t have medical clearance to operate.
“They’re tied up. Not to mention this is right up your alley.”