Shaded Soldiers || Gay MxM || Omegaverse

17. Friday Night Carnage

"What's the situation?"

We all turned to look at the door when Captain barged in, somehow looking threatening even in his star pajama pants and a striped tank top.

"We're still following them," Nico told him when he stopped behind his chair. "They're heading to the city limits."

"How many?"

"Five trucks and Mercer's car. Each of them has at least one passenger," Nico said. "We're looking at least twelve people."

"They're running red lights," Captain muttered as he watched the screen.

Nico did his best to jump from camera to camera to keep our eyes on them. Not every corner has one, but thankfully, it was easy to find the convoy every time they vanished behind a corner.

"What's the hurry, Michael...?" Captain muttered.

"I'm going to assume he found our guys," Nico said. "He does not move with that kind of force if he's not prepared for trouble."

Captain let out a deep breath. "You are correct. Do we have any info about where they could be heading? Have the other teams found anything? Is there something on the news?"

"Negative, though there's not enough of us to check," Nico said.

"Anyone watching the news?" Captain asked.

"We are," Ryan said behind his computer. "Nothing yet."

Captain nodded. "It is possible someone has contacted Michael. The underworld would never contact us."

"So? Your orders?" Nico asked, and we all turned to Captain.

He still stared at the screen without moving a muscle.

"We wait," he said. "Tell me what else you have found."

"Sir?" I asked with a frown.

"Yes?"

"Why aren't we doing anything? We should go after them. They've clearly located Lonnie HiIl, so what are we waiting for?" I asked.

I noticed the others peering at each other as they returned to their computers in no hurry. Captain straightened his posture and turned to me, but he said nothing.

"You're just letting Mercer do our job?" I asked in disbelief.

He lifted his hand, his thumb up.

"One. My top priority is the health and safety of my men. I'm not risking your lives if I don't have to," he said calmly. "Two. I'm not revealing my connection to the mafia. That can have disastrous consequences. If we leave now, someone may figure out we were watching the mafia. And three. Michael knows what he's doing. I have no problem with trusting him with this."

I stared at the three fingers he was now holding up.

"There could be civilians involved," I eventually said.

"Yes, and those same civilians would be even in greater danger if we barge in," Captain said, watching me closely. "You don't seem to agree with my methods or reasoning."

"With all due respect, I'm failing to understand why we're not doing our job," I told him truthfully. "Why are we trusting this mission in the hands of notorious criminals?"

"Because we have a balance to maintain," Captain said. "I don't have time to go into detail, but I hope you trust me when I say that things will be better in the long run if we now let Michael deal with this problem. This is his chance to come out of hiding and show our enemy that he still hates them, and let our people know he's still protecting them."