Next few chapters will be longer. Just wanted to get something up and keep myself motivated. Thank you for the kind comments! I rarely get any reviews so they mean a lot.
"Sarge." Takeda acknowledged, joining Cassie and Kung Jin outside the refugee camp. Next to him, was Jacqui. Cassie nodded, looking over at her bestie in askance. There was a palpable tension between the couple and a good 4 feet between them.
"Hey girlfriend." Jacqui's tone and eyes conveyed a silent message. We'll talk later.
Right. "Get in here, was 'bout to brief Jin on the objectives." Two taps on her wrist communicator and small blue hologram flickered into the dark air. " Meet Jakob, de facto leader of the Black Dragons and a shoe in for this year's homecoming queen. Our boy here is dealing some nukes. We're heading out today to observe him, see if we can determine who is selling to. "
The blue wavered lighting up Jin's face. "And the weapons?"
"Hands off. We don't engage. If we see 'em, take note of how many they're transporting. Even better if we can determine where he's getting them. There's a lot of rogue dealers in the Middle East..." her voice trailed off. A swipe of the opposite hand swept away Jakob's face and brought up a map outlining a coastal village. "Today's field trip includes watching Jakob, figuring out his Netherrealm connections, and then getting our asses back and letting the higher ups decide objectives." Her index finger trailed a path then tapped her wrist, closing the projection.
"Start in the forest, creep up to the coastline?" Jacqui guessed. Another Army brat, she knew the drill. Stick to low ground with high cover and move in from behind. But hey, it worked, which is why it was military protocol since forever.
" That's the plan. Hank, " Cass jerked her thumb back to the technician hovering over the machinery behind her. He raised his hand without looking back. "is gonna get us a portal here."
"Ok, so who's our Netherrealm guide?" Takeda interrupted. "That's a pretty big expanse of uncharted terrain from our point A to point B."
Ugh. Truth. The extent of Special Forces' surveyance was kind of like, 'sort of something over here - ish'. Vague generalities. This was the intro for announcing the Lin Kuei were tagging along. Both men straightened at the same time a bead of cold crept down her neck and settled between her shoulder blades. Any crazy hope for a reprieve just went AWOL.
Welp. They were really gonna do this.
"SubZero." Takeda announced.
"Grandmaster," Jin inclined his head. "You honor us." Omg, what an asskisser. Cass stole a look at Jacqui and rolled her eyes. Her friend fought back a smile. Mancrushing Jin would never not be hilarious.
" I am accompanying you today at the request of Special Forces. Has Sgt. Cage apprised you of our objectives?" Despite the compulsion in his raspy voice, the hint of 'acknowledge me' when he used her name, Cass kept her gaze forward. She could feel his pale eyes moving over her, as discernible as a physical touch. Anger spiked for a moment from this weird reminder of their chemistry.
Sure, fine. Now he wanted to look at her. Maybe when this was over, she'd punch him in the balls. Nothing went quite so far towards making a girl feel better as seeing the look on a dude's face when you tagged them in crotch. "Guys, Grandmaster Liang is our liason. Hank, we doing this or what?"
"Opening it now" the technician shouted. "Pain in the ass like her mother," he muttered just loud enough to be heard.