Operation Zulu Redemption: Out of Nowhere - Part 2 Read Free

platitudes and stroking egos. “We might disagree on methods, but you get results.” Trace started walking. “We
need
results. Two of them were hit hard the other day. They are being hunted.” He hustled down the narrow set of stairs to the concrete bunker.
    “Hold up,” Quade said, ducking as he went. “Hold up.”
    Hand on the final security measure, Trace turned to his friend, the lone bulb twinkling overhead.
    “Is this. . .” Quade swiped a hand over his mouth. “Is this. . .
them?
The team you—”Scowling, Trace said nothing, but released the final door. His buddy knew better than to ask that. To go there.
    They stepped into the somewhat brighter bunker. Zulu stood there, arms folded, eyes bleary, wearing gym shorts and shirts. Téya’s messy and spunky ponytail reflected the girl’s spirit. Annie’s wavy blond hair looked like she’d had a fight with an electrical socket, and her expression mirrored that. As he’d come to expect, Nuala looked poised and put together, as if she’d been awake for hours. She probably had been.
    “I haven’t had a cup of coffee yet, so if you expect
nice,
you came to the wrong bunker, Commander,” Téya said around a yawn.
    Trace ignored the way his friend gawked at the girls. “After what happened to Téya, I felt it was time to regroup. Get some refresher training under our belts and face this threat head-on.”
    “Do we know the threat yet?” Annie challenged.
    “From the looks of her face,” Quade injected himself, “you don’t. And as your commander said, it’s time to regroup. My name is Quade Henley.”
    “Henley’s an expert in close-quarters combat and krav maga.”
    “Street fighting. I took that already,” Téya said.
    “Not the way I teach it,” Quade boasted.
    Fire roiled through Annie’s expression. “But he’s
not
a part of this team. And that means he can bring trouble.”
    “He won’t,” Trace countered, heading off her objection.
    “Where exactly are we training?” Téya asked, her eyes narrowed.
    Trace led them out a side door and down a narrow tunnel beneath the stairs. There they found another room. Cement floors and walls, a couple of lights, and mats secured to the center. “Boone intended this for a recreation room, but defense is more important right now.”
    The others moved around the room, straight to the red-and-black floor mats. Last in, Annie hovered near the entrance with him. She turned to Trace. “You’re kidding, right?”
    He frowned. “About making sure my team is the safest it can be? Absolutely not.”
    “We don’t know him,” she hissed through a breath. “How can you bring a stranger—”
    “He’s not. I know Quade better than I know most of you.”
    “He’s a newb to us.”
    “Don’t let him hear you call him that.” He tried to lighten things up.
    “How can you do this? You won’t let me talk to Sam or Téya to David, yet you bring in—”
    “Enough.” Trace drew in his anger and frustration with a long, controlled breath. “Enough. Trust me on this. For once in your life,
trust me.
”
    Her blue eyes blazed. “I did that once. It didn’t turn out so well.”
    The words were very well placed. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?”
    “I—”
    “Hey. Blondie.”
    Annie’s anger flared as she turned to Quade.
    “Maybe you’ve been out a little too long, but when your commanding officer gives an order, you obey it.” Quade gave Trace a look that said too much, that he didn’t understand why Trace hadn’t put Annie in her place. That said he was smart enough to figure out the rest if he spent some time on it. In essence, Quade had read through the blood-covered pages of their past.
    Trace turned and left without another word. Feeling beaten and whipped, he sat on the iron steps leading to the upper level. Roughed his hands over his face. He’d failed the team. Failed Zulu. Failed each and every girl. Now, he had to protect them, train them, prepare them for an enemy he