Chapter 6
"Is he secure?" she murmured to the guard at his tent.
"Yes, ma'am, sleeping like a baby," the guard grinned. "Damn spooks…sorry ma'am."
"At ease soldier," she smiled. "Sometimes it does feel like us against them, doesn't it? At least he won't get in our way."
Each mission it was something different to subdue whatever CIA agent they had with them. They would never use the same trick twice since she was sure it was reported back at the agency. She wouldn't be surprised at this point if it was part of their training! She felt bad for what they did to Flint, but their last discussion sat heavy in her mind. With him stating that he didn't believe in her company meant that he basically told her he didn't believe in her!
Well, after what they just pulled, she doubted he'd be so nice to her again. He had learned some control over his temper, she had noted, but figured with her, it would probably come back to life.
She readied her team for the extraction.
Flint awoke with a start. "What the hell…." he murmured, not sure how he had gotten onto his cot. Last he remembered, he was ushered into his tent with the soldier promising to get him some food that was cooking in the other tent. He wouldn't have just fallen asleep, he thought, confused.
Getting up, he felt a short spasm of dizziness but it soon passed. Must be getting old, he chuckled. Emerging from his tent, he found the camp empty. He cursed loud and hard, not caring who heard. They had done it again and he had fallen for it! Damn it! He should've been more prepared, based on the stories the other agents told of getting snookered by Phoenix. He was distracted by Lady Jaye. Why did she have to chose the mission he was sent on to come and play with her troops? They had reports of how she sometimes accompanied the teams on missions. He guessed it was so she could keep in practice, although by some reports, it seemed to need her touch as a former covert ops agent at times. His boss was NOT going to be happy with him, he knew, and flinched at what he could already imagine the lecture being about.
The CIA knew all about his past with one Lady Alison Hart-Burnett. They had tried to use it to their advantage, wanting Flint to rekindle the romance with his former lover, so he could find out information about the true goings-on at Phoenix, but he had refused, based on principles. That, and he felt that if he had accepted the mission, he would have been the one who lost. Not that he would tell his bosses that! They were disappointed, but did not push it.
He guessed that they had somehow gassed his tent to knock him out while they went on their mission. Yes, he had orders to sidetrack the Phoenix team and compromise the Russian agent. While the Cold War was over, the CIA had a few questions for this particular agent and had wanted Flint to rendezvous with a chopper to fly him to a safe house, right under Phoenix' nose.
He sighed. While the chopper had been in town, along with his Mideastern contact, he thought the mission might not be totally compromised. He would just have to rethink his options.