The Bombardier CL-650 transport plane idled on the runway. Just seconds ago, everyone had been ready to head home to Hereford and answer for the catastrophe at Hotel Ceuta. That was about to change.
Ash tried to calm the storm in her mind. There had to be a reason for Jackal and Mira's sudden move.
Ryad and Elena would now be classified as rogue operatives. Such a rash, irresponsible action put them, and the entire team on-site, at risk. Every Rainbow member there would now be thoroughly investigated and vetted to the highest degree, to weed out any who might have known about Jackal and Mira's plans.
She could already see the dreaded red ink on her dossier - hell, everyone's dossiers. This was the first time Ash had been put in command of a Rainbow operation. Her teammates were her responsibility out in the field.
She had been careless in not verifying Ryad's claim.
"Shit," Ash repeated, feeling sick. The woman felt astonishingly stupid. All she'd had to do was check with Six before allowing Ryad and Elena to stay behind.
She would burn for this... but there had to be a purpose behind Jackal and Mira's radical act of desertion.
There had to be a reason. Ash could feel it in her gut.
"What do you want to do, Eliza?" asked Lt. Col. Acevedo again from the pilot's seat. "What are you thinking?"
Ash lowered her gaze to the floor, as if looking to her boots for the answers. She knew the decision at hand would decide the rest of her professional life.
In that moment, she resolved to make it one that she would not regret.
She could handle punishment. Wishing for the rest of her life that she had acted on instinct instead of following the rules? That would kill her... one sleepless night at a time.
"Amelia, kill the engines, please."
"What?"
"Shut it down. I need to talk with everyone."
Amelia looked to her co-pilot, then back to Ash, puzzled. "Why kill the engines?"
Ash sighed. "Just trust me, please. Meet me out on the tarmac. We're having a meeting. Kill it."
* * *
A few minutes later found Ash standing alone before everyone on the entire team, including Lt. Col. Acevedo and her co-pilot, on the runway outside the plane.
She had informed everyone of what happened. The entire Rainbow team now knew the dire situation they were in, and what it could mean for all of them.
The sun was high in the afternoon sky. Coastal winds rippled the operators' clothes with the breeze. Everyone was stunned by the news, trying to process what it all meant.
No one spoke. Ash saw many pairs of eyes looking to the distant clouds and blue sky for reassurance.
"I'm sorry," she said. She removed her signature FBI cap and fidgeted with it in her hands. "I fucked up. I don't know if the hotel messed with me, or what. I don't know why I just took Ryad's word for it. This is all on me."
Everyone silently acknowledged her acceptance of responsibility with a pinch of guilt and a splash of relief.
Timur Glazkov folded his arms. "They'll be questioning us then, yes?"
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Rainbow Six: Bloodlines
फैनफिक्शन"Bloodlines" is a fan-fiction epic based on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege by Ubisoft Montreal. Spanish authorities in Ceuta request Rainbow's help in dealing with a hostage situation and potential bomb threat at a hotel. It should be a routine ope...
