Operation Zulu Redemption: Act of Treason - Part 4 by Ronie Kendig Page A

its pillows. The rug that had a thick layer of dust. Probably mites, too. A crunch beneath her boot made her wince when she saw the droppings. Rats. She shuddered.
    Keeping her arms close to her side, she dreaded the thought of touching anything. “Alpha One, this is. . .wrong,” she said.
    Annie started for the bedrooms.
    “Explain,” Boone said.
    “I don’t think anyone’s been here in years,” she said.
    “She’s right,” Téya said with a gruff tone. “He set this place up and left it so there’d be a record, but nobody’s been in here in ages.”
    “This means he lied to us in Paris, too.”
    “When
hasn’t
he lied to us?” Téya said. “I’m out of here.”
    “Do you think we should look for—”
    “Planted evidence? Fake trails? That’s all we’ll find here,” Téya said and strode toward the door.
    Defeat clung to Nuala as she had to agree with Téya’s conclusion. This place was a front for the lies Berg Ballenger wanted them to believe. “She’s right,” Nuala conceded. “We won’t find anything here.”
    “It feels wrong to just leave without looking.” Annie stood in the living room, glancing around.
    “If you want to dig through rat droppings, be my guest,” Téya said as she left the apartment.
    “There she goes again,” Annie said with a huff. “What is wrong with her? You know what? I’m sick of this. She’s going to answer some questions!” And with that Annie burst out of the apartment, too.
    “Alpha One,” Nuala spoke to Boone, with a long sigh of resignation. “Do I stay and investigate?”
    “Negative. We’ll have a team sweep it and box everything up—except the droppings. Pull out. RTB. We have more important things to worry about right now than finding rats.”
    “Finding the
big
rat,” Nuala muttered. Berg Ballenger.
    “Roger that. See you back here.”
    Nuala made her way back down to the street, where she found Téya and Annie arguing by the roped-off barrier that provided little protection against someone falling into the channel.
    “You don’t leave your team.”
    “Do I have a team?” Téya snapped back. “Because all we seem to be doing is chasing rats and pigs, and getting nowhere. We sit in a bunker and drive each other crazy. You and Trace can’t behave like adults in front of us—and even in front of the hunky SEAL you were so gung-ho about when you showed up at the bunker two months ago. Nuala is crazy about Boone and giving him doe eyes all the time, but really—are we a team?”
    Nuala’s stomach dropped to her toes. The words hurt. Deeply. But it hurt even more that Boone probably heard them.
    “We’re trying. At least some of us are!”
    A glint north of their location snagged Nuala’s attention. Seemed like a rifle scope. But that wouldn’t—there! It hit her gaze again. Where was it? If she didn’t know better. . . “Alpha One. . .” Maybe it was nothing.
    “RTB. All of you,” Boone barked.
    The glint glared directly in her eyes this time. Nuala squinted and jerked away. This time, she’d spotted him atop a building. “Shooter! Rooftop!”

Téya
    Annie pitched forward, right into Téya as Nuala’s words seared the air. A scream closely followed. Then a splash. Glass nearby exploded. Frenzied shouts and running tourists created upheaval in the setting that had only moments before been the epitome of calm.
    “Nuala!” Annie shouted, diving behind a trash can with Téya. They scanned the waters, waiting for the girl to surface.
    “Was she shot?” Téya asked.
    “I don’t know. She just went in.” Annie’s voice carried the same panic that thumped in Téya’s chest.
    A head broke the surface. Nuala gasped, her face screwed tight in pain.
    “What’s going on?” Boone shouted through the coms.
    “Active shooter,” Téya said, scanning the direction of the shots. She had to try to move to draw fire in order to locate the shooter. She scurried to a metal table and flung it on its side. She dropped behind