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take him out piece by piece? Because that’s the sort of thing that we do. We are not subtle. We are not delicate. You’re smart guys—you’ve proved that. But you guys should know our methods of operation.”
    The younger agent almost laughed. “When we say we need your help,” he replied, “we don’t mean that we need you and your entire little army. We just need someone who’s traveling with you, the perfect person to pull off what we have in mind.”
    Murphy looked at them both. This was a curveball. He thought these guys were here to co-op the Ghost Team and incorporate them into their operation—leaving Delta Thunder to hang. But that didn’t seem to be the case.
    â€œSo, you’re not here to put the
kibosh
on our rescue mission?” he asked them.
    â€œNot at all,” the young agent said. “Those Thunderguys are valuable people. And again, we’re all for bloodying the Diamond Prince’s nose and losing those assholes in that prison—if you can figure out a way to get in there and do it. But what we got in mind will take him out of the picture completely.”
    Murphy couldn’t argue with their intentions. It was dealing with the Agency—the people who’d turned him down years before. That’s what was turning his stomach into knots.
    â€œSounds promising—but I’d rather keep my team together,” Murphy finally replied. It was his way of telling them no. “We’re pretty tight here. Don’t want to upset that chemistry. I hope you understand.”
    Murphy then stood up, indicating the meeting was over. But both agents remained seated. The mood suddenly turned dark.
    The older agent spoke for the first time. “We don’t have much time,” he began, his voice rough from years of cigarettes and booze. He was obviously the Bad Cop of the pair. “So I’ll put it to you this way: Either deal with us, or we blow the whistle on you. The rescue mission—and your whole little traveling circus.”
    Murphy felt his face flush. “You guys must be misinformed,” he replied evenly. “I’ve got everything you see here signed off by everyone including the Joint Chiefs. Closed books.
Carte blanche
.”
    The older agent began to growl. “You might have made a deal with
the Pentagon
to get your people released from their various incarcerations,” he said through gritted teeth. “But no such deal has been made with us. And you know how things are these days. Intelligence trumps the military brass. And that means all your asses could still be in the fire with one word from us.”
    Murphy almost went over the table at them. “You flew a long way out here to threaten me,” he spit back at them.
    The younger agent just removed his glasses and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Look, just make a deal with us,” he said.
    To which the older guy boomed: “Or we blow the whistle on you—and you’re
all
back in jail. . . .”
    Murphy was furious. But he was smart enough to keep his cool. He took a beat and calmed down. Maybe he was approaching this from the wrong direction.
    He asked: “Who is it that you need?”
    As he said this, Murphy was sure he knew the answer: These guys were here to ask for Ryder. His flying skills were well-known throughout the black ops community.
    But the CIA agents had a surprise for him.
    â€œThe person we want,” the young agent said, “is Mary Li Cho.”
    It was Bingo who told all this to Ryder. He found the fighter pilot still at his battle station, next to the portside CIWS container, part of a crew that would activate the awesome weapon should it be needed.
    Bingo pulled Ryder aside, told him what the CIA guys wanted, and also told him that Murphy had passed the request on to Li. The bad news was, she’d agreed to go along with it.
    Ryder was furious. He rushed back to where the CIA