Team: Echo (3 page)

“
Be that as it may, the Agency is cutting all ties and that
means that piece of property is now back out there for the public,”
the Director said, getting to his feet. Buttoning his suit jacket
he looked at her. “Forty-eight hours Ms. Morgan,” he said and
looked to the Colonel. “I have better things to do than sit here,
call my office when we can actually manage a conducive and
productive meeting.” That said he left the conference
room.

Penny stood and started for him, was stopped by a hand at her
elbow. Looking down she knew she had anger sparking in her eyes.
“Let me go. I want to shoot that arrogant asshole.” She growled.
“Fucking bastard made me leave DC and go to Sweetwater and now they
are fucking making me homeless. Those sons of bitches all need to
be shot.”

“
And what are you going to do about it?” James asked softly.
“You could shoot him but that seems a little too easy of a death
for him. The Agency is just doing what they do best and fucking
over their people. We’ll help you move,” he said softly.

“
I’m not moving in with the lot of you. You all deserve to
have your own space and I’m not their fucking spy. No matter how
much they like to think that I am.” She said softly as she looked
down into the face of a man she had more than one naughty dream
about. “I will just move into the boarding house in Sweetwater.
She’s got openings.”

“
Or you can take the guest house on the farm,” Mikhail said,
watching her without blinking. “It needs some work but it’s
habitable. If you don’t have anything against a bit of dust and
maybe a few spiders it’s yours. It has two bedrooms a full kitchen
and a big old claw foot tub in the bathroom that may need a little
elbow grease. It would be your own space and keep you out of our
hair.”

“
That’s what they want though.” Penny said with a sigh and
took a seat. Dropping her face into her hands she shook her head.
“I am not giving those assholes anything that they fucking want.
I’m not going to be their eyes and ears. I will give them reports
but I’m not going to fucking spy on you guys. You deserve better
than that.”

“
You’ve been spying on us for the last while, Daisy and Honey
too,” Gareth said quietly. “So what’s the difference, you’ll just
be closer and able to see us all on a daily basis.”

Sphinx looked at her and lifted a brow. “He has a point agent
Morgan. Besides, if you’re to be our handler you need to be on the
ground right there with us. There can’t be any additional travel
time when we need to go out on missions. That lost time could mean
someone’s life.”

Penny felt a migraine coming on. Turning to Gareth she said,
“I have not been spying on you guys and most especially not D or
Honey. I do not spy on my friends and family. It was just chance
that I was settled in beside D when I was forced to move to
Sweetwater. When Honey came to me asking me to find her fathers,
how could I turn her down? Have you ever tried to tell that child
no?” She asked with a roll of her eyes and shook her head. “But
that speaks a great deal of how you feel about me. Thank you for
letting me know that you really can’t stand or trust me. Appreciate
that.” She moved to the door, muttering, “Time for a career change
anyway.” She was going to turn the job down. Period. End of
discussion. It had hurt, far more than she cared to admit, that
these men thought that she was truly that low. Yep, maybe she could
get a job at the cafe in Sweetwater. They were down a waitress so
why not.

“
Goodbye gentlemen and I hope that whomever they assign next
you are able to tolerate as you clearly can’t me.” A wave over her
shoulder and she walked out the door, determined to tell the DOD
Chief where to shove his fucking job.

Dieter moved fast and caught her elbow and shook his head.
“You can’t leave,” he told her.

“
He’s right,” the Colonel said, not having moved from his
spot. “This group and our operations are beyond top secret agent
Morgan. While you may walk out of here today you will be reassigned
time and again until you end up in some little backwater place on
foreign soil and then you’ll vanish. They will claim you left the
reservation, turned traitor and ran to protect your own hide. There
will be undeniable proof of it all but in reality you will have
already been dead for weeks, likely months. And more than likely it
will be a long, torture filled death that will have begun the
moment you walk out those doors.”

Marius stood and moved closer to look down at her. “We have
never and will never condone the harming of children and women. But
you already know too much about our operation and the DOD
definitely won’t let that information get out into the
world.”

“
You have a real choice to make buttercup,” Gareth said,
leaning back in his seat. “Become our handler and live in the guest
house as Mik offered or walk out that door and straight into a hell
you have no concept of. You thought getting shuffled off to
Sweetwater after that cluster fuck of a mess with the boss’s son
was bad, then you have no concept of what sort of hell is about to
rain down on you. The ones they will hand you over to can keep
someone alive for months,” he said.

“
Years would be more like it,” Sphinx said quietly as he
watched her. “And for all that time you will beg for death never to
have it given to you. You will be in a hole somewhere that doesn’t
exist, never existed and eventually you will die in that same hole
never seeing friends, family or the light of day again.”

“
Fine but I’m not staying in a house that has spider webs and
rats in it.” Especially spiders. She would shoot the fucking
things. Yes, she had a severe fear of spiders. “But how in the
world are you going to explain to D and Honey that I’m living on
your farm? Honey especially will not understand me living so close
to her fathers.”

“
We’ll tell them the truth,” Mikhail told her softly. “Daisy
already knows everything so we just have to tell Honey, some of it.
We’d already discussed it before coming and she needs to know
what’s going on to a certain degree. This will just be another step
to it and it will be an abbreviated truth for the little one. She
doesn’t need to know everything but she already knows things have
changed.”

“
I will let you explain that to her then.” Penny looked at
each man there and sighed. “I do not have the bioengineering that
you men do so when we do go out on missions, I would really
appreciate it if you don’t let me get dead. I really do like
breathing you know.”

“
You’re their handler agent Morgan, not a part of the
operations,” the Colonel said. “You’ll handle everything between my
office and them and then vice versa, but that doesn’t make you a
part of the operations, ever. Besides, you’d only be a liability
out there given what they are fighting.”

“
True enough.” Penny was really, really starting to hate this
man. “Well then, what do you boys need in order to do the job
right?” She settled in with a notepad and added, “Since you have to
go through me.” She wasn’t a fucking handler. She hated that she
was put in this position, especially since one, these men were not
the type of men that one ‘handled’ - even before the operations and
two, well she just simply didn’t know what the fuck she was
supposed to do. Give her a field op and she was good. This, hell
she was so not good.

The ones that were standing took seats and looked to the
Colonel. “Alright lads, so a few things need to change especially
since you have a civilian and a child living at the house. We need
to beef up the security big time. Since you guys don’t want anyone
out there that you don’t know nor can’t trust that means you guys
will do the work. Anton we have the new computer system you wanted
in and ready for transportation as well as all the gear you’ll need
to beef up the security. Next meeting will be in two weeks unless
something comes up in the meantime. Other than that I will be
talking with Agent Morgan on a daily basis, fourteen-hundred hours
every day. If one of us doesn’t make that call or accept it the
other side will assume the worst. As of this moment boys we are
running full black out on all things.”

Penny nodded, “All right. Fourteen hundred each and every
single day.” She looked to the others and said, “Now, what else do
you need? Anything. You name it and we will get it because if we
have to be hanging in the wind then we will do whatever we have to
in order to get what we want and what we need from the wonderful
lovely Colonel there so that we can ensure that we are
protected.”

“
We’re good for the moment,” Sphinx said, getting to his feet.
“If we come up with anything more we will let you know.” Looking to
the Colonel he tipped his head. “Until our next meeting, and keep
us in the loop on that other matter,” he said before turning for
the door. “Are you coming with us agent Morgan?”

“
I guess you are my ride.” Rising she closed the notebook that
held her iPad as well as notebook and shoved the satellite phone
into her pocket. “I’m as good as I’m going to get.” She looked at
Gareth and asked, “When did Daisy and Honey move in with you? Last
time I talked to D she wasn’t sure.” Ha, who was Penny kidding, she
knew the minute that the men walked back into Daisy’s life she
would go where they led. That woman loved these two bruises as much
as she loved life, they were it for her and Penny envied them that
love they shared.

“
A couple weeks ago, though she still retains the house,” he
said, moving for the door. “I think she’s waiting for us to screw
up so she has a place to return to.” Pushing through he held it for
the others and then moved up on her right side. “Not that we plan
on it,” he added looking down at her.

Following at the back of the group Mikhail kept his gaze
locked on Penny.

Chapter Four

If hate had a feeling, Penny was
totally feeling it right now. She could all but feel the hatred
that the men had for her and honestly it was debilitating. She
hadn’t done a damn thing to these men, hell they had been given a
choice in the matter and she hadn’t. She was the one who should
have the hate on, but honestly she didn’t. Sighing she turned
around in her seat and looked directly at Mikhail. “What is your
issue with me? I mean seriously, I can practically feel the holes
in my head that you are mentally trying to burn in, so what is it?
I’ve not done jack shit to you and you act as if I’ve kicked your
fucking dog or something.”

“
I don’t have a dog,” he said softly. “Perhaps it’s your own
guilt,” he murmured lifting a pale brow at her. “You just happen to
be in my range of vision as I sit here, not my fault you chose that
seat.”

“
Mik,” Marius said from the other side of the plane. “She’s
not your mark yet, give it a rest so I can catch a nap.”

“
I have nothing to feel guilty for you asshat.” Penny growled
at Mikhail and turned in her seat once more. Putting in her ear
buds she turned up the tunes and ignored the asshole shooting
daggers her way.

Grunting at that Mikhail flipped his computer screen back up
and went back to reading what Anton had dug up on their watcher.
Scratching at his jaw he frowned at the bit of info about her
former job and the man who had basically gotten to harassing her.
Shooting a message back to Anton for all info on the boss and the
dickweed of a kid, he went back to reading.

* * * * *

Penny had fallen into a light sleep, the Cage the Elephant
music as well as various other tunes soothing her inner turmoil, a
little. She woke when she felt the plane banking hard which meant
that it was preparing for the runway. Doing up her belt she pulled
out her ear buds and turned off her iPod. Closing her eyes again
once everything was stowed she waited for them to land.

Once the jet touched down Penny grabbed her things and was
the first off the plane. She was in a seriously pissed off mood and
might just try to shoot the fucking people she was supposed to be
‘watching’ instead of being the glorified babysitter for
them.

“
She seems a might peeved,” James commented, his Southern
drawl coming out clearly. Grabbing up his bag he peered out the
window. “You think she even has a clue where she’s goin’?” he asked
no one in particular.

“
Likely not, so let’s go and get our handler and point her the
right direction. You three,” Marius pointed at Mik, James and
Dieter. “Will help her pack her house, no fucking arguments. She
got shafted three ways of Sunday with this agency switch-up and
didn’t ask for this assignment. Be cordial if at all possible and
Mik, for the love of god, don’t kill her.”

“
No promises,” the Russian said grabbing his bag and laptop
before heading out of the plane hot on Penny’s heels. Whistling
sharply he tipped his head to the left when she spun around. “Rides
are over there agent Morgan. Unless you planned on walking that
is?” he asked, when he got closer to her.

“
It’s Penny. Not agent Morgan.” She ground through her teeth.
“And I don’t know, might be safer for me to walk.” She didn’t want
this fucking assignment, she didn’t want anything to do with these
fucking men and it was pissing her off more and more with each
passing moment. “Because to Honey and Daisy, I’m still Penny, not
agent anything. I will tell D all about it, but not Honey. I don’t
think that she would understand.” And that was the part that was
killing her, how the small child would react to her having lied
about what she did for a living.