Chapter 22
Rome, Italy . . .
"Hey, Kane." Hunter hugged his brother as they got off the plane in Italy.
Kane shoved him aside and hugged Maggie. "There's my girl."
Hunter rolled his eyes and Maggie laughed. "Thanks for helping," she told his brother.
"Guess who else has been named a coach for the shooting team?" Kane asked, spinning around to show off a Team USA windbreaker. A windbreaker that looked identical to the ones Maggie received in the mail, complete with matching pants. The package included team uniforms, team outfits, all designated with a smiley face label inside and a note that said, wear only me in Italy.
"We're overrun by Townsends," Coach Weisz grumbled as he joined them along with Gage and Allison. "We need to check in and get situated in the village. Allison and Maggie will be rooming together. I'm putting you two brothers together on one floor below. The women's team is on the fourth floor, and the men's team is on the third," Coach explained as they all got their bags and moved to the large bus reserved for them.
"I've seen the security," Hunter told Kane. "Eighty-five thousand security personnel. Double fences around the village, and X-ray security to even get into the place."
Maggie cleared her throat and looked a little nervous. "What is it?" Hunter asked.
"So, you need to understand that what happens in the village, stays in the village. There's going to be a lot of coming and going, and in more ways than one."
Allison smiled. "And you better not get in my way. Four years ago, I caught four water polo players. This year, it's all about rugby. We have a bingo card," Allison said, nodding to one of the other women shooters on the bus, who grinned. "First one to fill it wins."
Maggie blushed a little. "The Italians do have a reputation. Don't be surprised to see their doors open, music blaring, and clothing very optional."
"The rumors are true? It's like one big party?" Kane asked.
Maggie nodded and didn't meet Hunter's eyes. "Who was on your bingo card last time?" he asked her.
Allison laughed. "I took water polo. She took swimmers. Although, she did have a couple of track and field stars thrown in."
"Alli," Maggie hissed, but Hunter just smiled.
"Prim and proper Magnum Bell went wild? I have to hear more," Hunter said to Allison, ignoring how freaked out Maggie looked.
"The village is its own paradise. No overbearing parents, all this training, and then bam, you're in a confined, safe space where everyone has something in common," Allison explained. "Although, we did hold off until we were done with our events. Then we went wild."
"Hunter, I can explain," Maggie whispered miserably.
"Babe, you don't have to explain. I like that you're comfortable in your sexuality. I am with mine. I'm not going to pretend I've never had crazy hookups before. You don't have to pretend either. The past is the past. I'm glad you have experience so you can know the difference between a hookup and forever."
"Our sex is as hot as hookup sex with the longevity of forever," Maggie whispered in his ear.
"Best of both worlds." Hunter kissed her and Alli groaned.
"There goes my wingwoman."
"Well, this doesn't sound bad to me," Kane grinned. "I'll happily question the other teams over sex."
"I'll make you a bingo card since I'm pretty sure these two will be occupied," Allison said with a wink.
Hunter held on to Maggie as the bus made its way to the Olympic Village. It took some effort, but with the right passes, he and Kane were able to get their guns through security.
"I'll be downstairs. Are you okay?" Hunter asked as he and Kane got off on the fourth floor. The other coaches were staying in a different building. Instead, he had Gage and the rest of the men following to their rooms.
"I'm good. We're safe here. I'll see you at dinner." Maggie kissed him and then waved. "Ameera!" Maggie dropped her voice. "She's from Iran. I'll see what I can learn."
Kane shoved him down the hall. "Come on. I have a list of people to, um, talk to."
Hunter opened the door to their room. Before it was even all the way open, he had his gun drawn. "Hands up," Hunter ordered the two men standing by the window.
The men raised their arms. "Nice watch. Is it waterproof?" one of them asked in a clear American accent.
"Aye, let's hope Kane's is too since he has a handful of condoms," the second man said with a slight Scottish accent. He was massive. It would take Hunter a minute to disarm him.
"Who are you two?"
"I'm Dalton and this is my friend Grant. We thought you might want in on an interrogation."
Hunter looked at Kane who was clearly assessing the two men standing in their room.
"Can I go say hi to the Swedish volleyball team first?" Kane asked.
"No," Dalton said simply.
"Spoilsport."
"My lass doesn't like to be kept waiting and we're already making her wait by coming to ask you to join us." Grant shrugged his shoulders.
"Are you military?" Hunter asked. They both had the military look but also seemed more relaxed in who they were, which meant they weren't bound by the confines of the military.
"They're not military, not anymore," Kane said, all the teasing about his bingo card gone. "I'd guess private. I think off-books is more likely, right boys?"
"Let's not ask questions you're not allowed to know the answers to. Are you in or not?" Dalton asked, getting right to the point.
"In. Who do you have?" Hunter asked even as he silently agreed with his brother.
"Kane's contact led us to a farmer in Millevia. The farmer was paid by the man we have in custody to rat out the other farmers with large storages of fertilizer ripe for stealing," Dalton explained as he headed out of the room.
Hunter fell in line next to Dalton and Kane next to Grant as they walked out of the building. "Does he know where the fertilizer went?" Hunter asked.
"That's what we're going to find out," Grant answered.
"And your wife is with him now?" Kane said, clearly trying to get more information from the two men.
"Aye. Both of our wives."
"You're not worried about their safety?" Kane asked as they approached a black SUV with tinted windows.
Grant chuckled. Dalton grinned. Neither answered.
"Interesting," Kane muttered.
"Are you done working up your profile, Agent Townsend?" Dalton asked after they got into the SUV.
"I'm no longer with the FBI." Hunter noticed Kane didn't answer about the profile.
"What do you make of us?" Grant asked, noticing Kane's lack of an answer.
"I'll tell you after I meet your wives. I can tell a lot about a person based on their spouse."
Grant turned in his seat and grinned at them. "You'll love Val. Watch your balls, boys."
Hunter thought Grant might be joking about watching their balls. He wasn't. They entered the abandoned warehouse outside of the village to find a beautiful and pregnant Latina woman with a knife to the balls of the man tied to the chair.
"Took you long enough," the blonde who was supervising said, barely casting a glance at them. "Did you have to drag them away from the volleyball team? Or was it the equestrian team?"
"Who is he?" Hunter asked taking in the man in his late twenties who was tied to the chair.
"Yusuf Assad. Former bankroller for a Syrian terror group that was defeated and scattered about five years ago," she answered.
"What have you found out?" Dalton asked the woman with the knife.
"He thinks he won't lose his balls. He's wrong," she answered.
Hunter stepped forward and pulled out his phone. He selected a picture and turned it so the man could see it. "The guy in this picture didn't think he'd have his balls cut off by a teenager. He was also wrong," Hunter said in Arabic.
"You think teen hormones are bad? Wait until you see pregnancy hormones," the woman said, also in Arabic, as she sliced through the man's pants with her knife. "Three seconds to tell me what you have planned for that fertilizer or I cut off one of your balls. Which do you prefer? Your right or left?"
The man clearly didn't think she would do it. Hunter didn't know if she would either. She did. Or she would have. She got through the delicate layer of what appeared to be bikini briefs before Kane stopped her.
"Back down, now," Kane snapped, coming to stand between the woman the Yusuf. Hunter saw that the woman looked ready to cut Kane's balls off, but she backed down. "Yusuf, let me help you. We don't need some stupid woman cutting off your balls when she doesn't understand that you were just following orders. Who gave you those orders?"
Yusuf stayed quiet.
"Get out of my way or I'll cut yours off," she ground out.
Kane looked to Dalton and Grant. "Someone control her." Kane dismissed the woman with the knife and turned back to Yusuf. "I can only keep her contained if you talk. We know this isn't about religion. Your group is from too many countries of differing religious and cultural customs. However, all your countries are highly unstable and you were all once in power but now have none, or are currently in power by the skin of your balls. I bet it feels as if your country cut off your balls like she wants to do to you, doesn't it?"
Hunter saw what Kane was doing now. He was trained in psychology and he was using it against Yusuf. He was the good cop to the woman's bad cop.
"Look, Yusuf," Kane said, keeping Yusuf's attention on him. "I'm the one chance you have of getting out of here not only alive but with both balls attached. Let me help you. Don't pay attention to her. Pay attention to me. Who do you report to?"
Out came everything the young man knew. Including who he reported to.
Hunter watched as the big Scot dragged the man into a van that pulled up. Yusuf was turned over to two men in all black wearing bulletproof vests and was shoved into the back of the van.
"Sorry about that, but I knew he wouldn't talk to a woman. His profile read that he'd refuse out of sheer spite. But he was also afraid, so he needed an excuse to break." Kane held out his hand to the woman who had put away her knife. "Kane Townsend."
"I know," she grinned before turning to Grant, ignoring Kane's hand. "Honey, the baby is so hungry and pissed that Mommy didn't get to make a fried snack from Yusuf's balls. Do you have anything to eat?"
Grant kissed the woman and pulled out a backpack. "Of course, babe. Good job, you two. You worked well together."
"I'm glad you could join us," the blonde said, holding out her hand. "I'm Elizabeth, the team leader. You met Dalton and Grant. The angry pregnant woman stuffing her face with a bacon-wrapped pickle is Val. Our mutual friend said you needed help."
Hunter looked at the group. Val and Grant weren't the only married couple. Even he could see the love between Elizabeth and Dalton. "Who are you all?"
"Absolutely no one," Elizabeth responded. "Now, we found out his boss. We found out there are four bombs, each around three thousand pounds. You search for the bombs while we work on tracking the boss down. We will let you know when we have him in custody."
"I'm going to interrogate the shooting teams from the countries involved," Kane told them. "We have a woman who is also helping us. She's military and is going to interview men from the shooting, boxing, and wrestling teams. They typically have the highest rate of military men competing in them."
Val snorted. "Sure. You're ‘interviewing' them. You're just going to sleep with them." Kane smirked and Val laughed. "I like you," she said before biting off more pickle.
"Good. I like my balls. Let them work for you, not against you," Kane replied.
"Anything for the good old U.S. of A.," Val said. Kane smirked and Val cursed.
"What?" Elizabeth asked.
"I said too much and now he's figured us out, haven't you?"
"Our secret." Kane winked.
"What have you figured out?" Hunter asked.
"They're government funded but off-books. They're military," Kane said, pointing to Dalton and Grant. "They're government agents. I'd bet FBI," he said pointing to Elizabeth, "But not you, Val. You're too much of a loose cannon for the FBI. I'll think on it. But you're an agent of one of the alphabet groups. Or were. I'm guessing you all gave it all up and now will never be acknowledged for the work you do. The only person powerful enough to make that happen is the president."
"They're an off the books group for the president?" Hunter asked. They all just stared blankly back at him, neither confirming nor denying his question. Ah, so Kane was right. "Damn, bro. You're good at this."
"Yet, you don't do it anymore," Elizabeth pointed out. "Maybe we're more alike than you realize. But now, I want a gelato. We'll be in touch."
The group turned and left, leaving Hunter and Kane in the warehouse without a car. It was only three miles back to the village.
"Interesting group," Kane said as they began to walk.
"Very. Now, if you had four bombs, where would you put them?"