Free Delta Salvation (Phantom Force, Book 1) by Elle Boon

Tay at his back.
    “Keys.” Kai held his hand out.
    “Dammit. Why can’t I drive?” JoJo groused but handed them over.
    “Let’s go. I have the coordinates. What’s going on with our team?” Tay climbed into the back, his phone in hand.
    “Oz is hurt, but Sully has him. Coyle is in pursuit of the shooter. Get a lock on him while you’re at it.” Kai swore under his breath. This was supposed to be an easy in and out mission. Check up on the girl and find the bad guy. What was so important about Alexa Gordon?
    He followed Tay’s directions, finding the van in the alley he’d seen on the footage was easy. Kai scanned the perimeter before getting out. “Tay, I want you on my six. JoJo, I need you to stay here until we know what we’re facing.”
    “Fuck that. He’s my partner.”
    “Which is why you will stay here and guard our backs. Don’t argue, JoJo.” Kai pushed open the door at the same time as Tay, their guns were out as they approached the vehicle. As Kai looked around, Tay ran a bomb detector along the entire van. “It’s clear,” Tay announced.
    Finding the back doors locked didn’t surprise them, what did was the lack of tinting. He could see the downed Blake lying inside, his chest moving up and down, but the amount of blood pouring from his head worried him. “Call for a bus,” Kai yelled over his shoulder.
    He and Tay made eye contact, then with efficiency, he got the door open. Tay stayed outside, back to the vehicle while Kai climbed in. He felt a pulse, thready but there. A glance around Blake’s body and he found no other wounds, but they weren’t sure what had been injected into him. “He’s alive, but we need to get him out of here.”
    The inside of the vehicle had been hollowed out except for the two bucket seats in the front, making Kai wonder why they’d abandoned it.
    Sirens getting louder had Kai hopping down. “Damn it. We don’t have time to waste. JoJo, I need you to stay with Blake.”
    JoJo nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    The operative did as told without argument, meaning he cared more for his downed team member, or it was a testament to the fact he was dirty. Either way, Kai figured they’d find out sooner rather than later.
    “I’ll return your rig when we can.”
    Again, JoJo nodded.
    Kai and Tay climbed into the Hummer, making tracks to the building where his own team was. “You realize this has become a shitfest, right?”
    Kai turned the corner, passing an ambulance in route.
    “Yep. Think that was a set up?” Tay tilted his head backward.
    “Well, if it was, they fucked their own guy in the process, and JoJo was a supreme actor. Like Oscar material. I tagged both men, so we can keep tabs on them.”
    “What about Lee, can we trust him?”
    The Commander was the highest ranking officer, but for Jase Tyler to have escaped from a federal prison, he had to have had help. At the very least, Kai needed to think anyone could have been in on it. He and his teams lives depended on him being prepared for all situations.
    “We will trust him until we can’t. For now it’s us five, and keeping Lee abreast of the situation as well.” Using the voice command on his phone, he had Commander Lee’s secretary on the line moments before they pulled into the underground car park across from the Steinem Building.
    “What the hell is going on? I got a call from A1 Apartments informing me you locked it down, and that one of the other team members is down, and enroute to the hospital. This was supposed to be a covert op, not a mission our entire nation is gonna hear about.”
    He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Commander, this was not what I wanted either. I’m calling to apprise you of the situation. I’ll give you an update when I have one, sir.”
    “Status?”
    The barked order made Kai want to tell the man to go fuck himself, but self-preservation won out. In as few words as possible, leaving out his emotions, he explained what happened, and what they knew.
    “Is