Also bad news was that Nick Young’s quiet professionals were stuck in Nowheresville, Mississippi. Apparently, their plane had died mid-flight and they’d gone down in the boonies. It was the kind of shit that happened occasionally, simply because shit happens. There hadn’t been any casualties, which was something, but one man had broken his leg and another had a concussion, and now they were waiting for pickup. Someone was going to get their ass handed to them for this, but that didn’t change the fact that there was a delay. The replacement detachments were on their way, but given the nature of this mission, Young simply couldn’t wait for them.

So he was doing this with the Rangers instead.

They were en route to El Paso now, three Black Hawk helicopters zooming along in close formation, each carrying a squad of the Basement’s best. The men hadn’t been told what exactly they were up against.

Operation Ripley was so classified even Young’s trusted aides were kept in the dark, but he wouldn’t have told the men the details even if this hadn’t been such a highly sensitive op. It simply wasn’t required. Young had no intention to endanger his troops unnecessarily; he wasn’t even going to let the alien get within striking distance. There was a plan. It wasn’t an excellent plan, but it was the best they’d been able to come up with on such short notice with the information they had. Both Butler and Young thought

it could work. Butler liked it because it shouldn’t damage the alien too badly and Young liked it because it kept everybody nicely out of reach of what he privately considered a goddamn extraterrestrial parasite. The PR

department was going to hate it, because it wasn’t subtle and it was going to be hell to cover up, but, luckily, that wasn’t Young’s problem.

The general had also arranged a temporary relocation of a small specialist unit to Fort Bliss. The accommodations weren’t quite as secure as the Basement, but they were a whole lot closer. Since the alien had already proved its resilience and its propensity for creative escapes, Young had decided to cut transpo time short. He had placed the specialist unit under Butler’s command. This didn’t mean he wasn’t still pissed as hell with her, especially since he hadn’t yet had the time to properly confront her about her disloyalty, but Young wasn’t one to let personal animosity blind him to facts. This operation took precedence over internal power plays, and Butler was without doubt the best choice for the job. They were dealing with something completely alien. Young needed someone flexible, willing to make up their own protocol when faced with the unknown and badass enough not to be intimidated by the nature of this project. Paradoxically, Butler’s decision to go over his head despite the possible consequences for her career was a point in her favor. She’d had the guts to do what she’d thought she had to in order to get the job done, and even though he didn’t approve of her method, he had to admit she’d gotten results. He was probably still going to rip her a new one, but for now he wanted the woman on his side.