"Oh, hell no. This cannot be them. No fucking way, Gaige."

She'd gotten their attention, all of them, and she meant to nip this in the bud right the fuck now. "This is the asshole who made me lose Mangus last night. Acted all Tarzan, me man, you woman crap and when I had to straighten him out, Mangus got away."

"Tarzan? Are you fucking kidding me with this shit? I was there watching Mangus and you were in over your fucking head. Because of you, I lost him."

"You don't know the first thing about what I'm capable of. Typical man assuming I can't handle myself. I believe I showed you how capable I am when I had you on the ground and was sitting on top of you, you fucking Neanderthal."

He glanced at his partners with a look of irritation and frustration on his face. Handsome though it was. She was too pissed to do anything but stop this partnership from happening.

His words were measured when he addressed his friends. "I am so sick of being called a Neanderthal. What the fuck?"

She noted with a bit of pleasure that both of his friends grinned but didn't say a word.

"So, I'm not the only one to notice. Ha!" She practically barked she was so friggin’ mad.

Gaige interrupted their argument. "Okay, that's enough from both of you. Let's all sit down and discuss this."

What? Now they were going to sit and discuss it? Why in the hell would they do that? She didn't want to work with someone who thought of her as the dumb little woman. She'd had far too much of that her entire damned life, especially in the military. No one gave her the credit she'd earned. First in her class in AIT - 35M Human Intelligence Collector, toughest damned man or woman in her whole unit. Best grades. Highest score on the gun range - sharpshooter status. Just when life seemed to finally reward her for her accomplishments with money and prestige, here she goes again. Damn.

She stood, stiff and solid, and watched as all the men sat and looked her way. Josh got her attention, "Jax, let's discuss this. 35M, remember?"

Her eyes locked with his, and he smiled. Got her every time.

She raised her eyebrows, but sat at the table and put on her interrogation hat to show these cavemen she was a force to be reckoned with. Yeah, that's what she'd do.

Gaige started in, "So, Jax, it appears you've met Dodge Sager." He motioned toward the one called Dodge with his hand, then continued on around the table. "Ford Montgomery and Lincoln Winter. This is Jax Masters. She and Josh are Agent Jake Masters’ twin siblings."

Ford addressed her first. "It's nice to meet you Jax and please accept our condolences for your brother's loss." He glanced at Lincoln, "Lincoln's wife, Skye, was the witness to his murder and it's haunted her since."

Her eyes sought Lincoln's and the steely gray of his eyes showed her without words the seriousness of that statement. "I'm sorry for your loss. I can't imagine." He offered. Glancing to Josh, to include him in the sentiment.

He stopped then and she could tell he was affected by her brother's death. She wanted nothing more than to question him endlessly about the final moments of her brother's life. What happened, exactly. Did those bastards make him suffer? Did they make him beg? All the things that kept her awake at night. She wanted to know it all. Then again, Josh kept telling her she didn't want to know the details. "Once you hear it, Jax, you can't unhear it. Think about it long and hard." He'd told her countless times.

Dodge looked at Josh, his lips turned down, then his eyes landed on her. “Sorry for your loss.”

Gaige continued. "Okay, so here's where we're at. We have three operatives out in the field now combing a mountain where we think Mangus is hiding. It's out where Victor had his cabin, and rather than being high up on that mountain, we think he's hiding in it." He stood and walked to his computer and pulled up the picture he'd shown her earlier. Tapping a few keys, a large screen rolled down from the ceiling and the same picture projected onto the screen in front of the conference table.

Trees and brush grown thick on the mountain side and three snaky roads, more like dirt trails than roads, disappeared into the brush. The roads were not well used and there didn't seem to be the appearance of a driveway, doorway, or entrance in the pictures.

"This is where we think Mangus is hiding." He pointed to an area at the center of the screen. "We had a drone flying over the area the past few days because Mangus' car had been seen in the area by one of our informants. We caught footage from a distance, saw him turn onto this road here," He pointed to an area low on the screen where the county road met the dirt road. "Then he disappeared. Since none of us believe even Mangus Santarino can actually disappear, we think he has a secret passageway into the mountain and his lair inside."

Gaige looked around the room at both teams assembled together. Dodge spoke first and she tightened her jaw when he spoke. "We have a client, Guardwell, who tells us Mangus stole a raw pink diamond weighing in at an impressive 162.5 carats which disappeared en route from Johannesburg to the United States. The diamond has been described as “of unbelievable clarity and extremely rare” and has an estimated value of well over thirty-five million dollars. We need to recover the diamond before Mangus cuts it up and sells it off before you can shut him down. Our client's reputation is on the line.”

Josh spoke up and she damned near fell off her chair at what he said. "We should be able to work together on this. Basically, we want the same thing. Our client on this is a billionaire who lost a daughter because of the Santarinos and he wants the information about how the jewels and arms, if there are still some in the mix, are being smuggled. But, more than anything, he wants that operation finished. So he’s hired us to do what the government is incapable of doing before he gets away. We want to know where he's smuggling from and how. Then we want to know how he's moving product out of the US. Finally, we shut him and his operation down and get a check."

Slowly she twisted her neck to stare at her brother. When he refused to meet her eyes she knew this was a losing battle. Even her brother wanted to work with these guys. Un-friggin’-believable!

Gaige took the lead, "Okay, then I think we need to determine if we want to do this. My vote is yes; we give it a try."

Ford chimed in, "I'm in."

Lincoln continued. "I'm in, if we can agree moving forward on a strategy for taking jobs that will allow me and my wife to have some time together."

Gaige nodded. "Taking a mission is discussed and evaluated and if we're manned up enough, you can sit back and help out here in the computer lab or elsewhere on the compound that won't put you in the field. We like having two full crews, so there's usually no issue."

Gaige looked to Dodge then. "I'm in."

Dodge turned his head and locked eyes with hers and damn if she didn't see challenge in them. Okay, if that was how he was going to play it, so would she.

"Jax?" Gaige prompted.

"I'm in." She managed, though it almost stuck in her throat.

Gaige cocked his head as he looked her way. When their eyes met his brows rose. She smiled and added. "I think I can show these guys how capable a woman is in the field and impress the shit out of them."

Josh elbowed her gently. "That you will, sis. I'm in too."

"I'm team lead and that means, I'll direct operations and teams. When our field ops come back we'll get their votes too, so you guys will need to meet them." His phone rang and he held up his forefinger as he pulled his phone from his back pocket. "Vickers."

The group chatted quietly with each other and she begrudgingly had to admit they did seem decent. Respectable and even knowledgeable. Damn. There was a bit of hope in her that they wouldn't like each other and this would be a short-term partnership, but it seemed that Josh enjoyed talking with them.

Hanging up his phone Gaige continued, "In the meantime, I just got intelligence that there's a meeting going on at a house in Lynyrd Station and Mangus Santarino was seen entering the house about a half hour ago. We need to go to the house and see what we can find out about this meeting. It might give us some valuable information on his operations. Jax and Dodge, you two can work on this one together.

"In the meantime, Ford and Lincoln, Josh will show you around the compound. We have a weapons room, shooting range, elevator to the parking garage and spare bedrooms upstairs if you need to crash in between shifts or jobs. Once you're finished, I'll give you the passcodes to come and go. By then, hopefully, Axel, Wyatt, and Hawk will be back and you can meet."

Lincoln glanced at Dodge and she had to bite the inside of her cheek at the grin he turned on Dodge. In turn, Dodge lifted his middle finger and flipped off both of his friends who chuckled as they stood to follow Josh from the room.

Gaige stepped to his computer, hit a couple buttons which raised the screen into the ceiling and the printer began purring and spitting out paper. He pulled them from the printer and brought them to the table. "Here's the address and information on the owner of the house. You two figure out how to manage this. You can do this."

Gaige left the room and silence filled the air. Then Dodge took the papers looked through them, nodded once then said. "I can drive if you like." He lay the papers on the table and shoved them her way. Glancing at the address, she repeated it in her head a couple of times.

Letting her breath out slowly, she bit the inside of her bottom lip, then nodded. "Sure, I'll just run up to my room and grab a couple of things. I'll meet you out front."

Silently, they took the elevator together and on the main floor she pointed to the front door. "I'll meet you outside."

She watched as Dodge stepped out of the front door, then she quickly ran to the elevator and pushed the button that said 'Garage'. Biting her bottom lip, she knew this was wrong and certainly no way to treat a teammate, but she needed to show them she could do this on her own and keep Dodge from assuming she was the "little woman." She needed them to see that she was an operative just like the rest of them.

As soon as the elevator doors slid open she ran to her motorcycle, shoved her helmet on her head, and exited out the back entrance. Keeping the rpms on her bike low so she didn't make a lot of noise, she eased out onto the street and lost herself in traffic before she could be seen from the house. She repeated the address in her head over and over as she traveled along the busy streets in town. Both sides of Main Street were lined with cars. It was Saturday night and the pool league was in full swing. As she passed the Copper Cup, the music from the jukebox spilled out of the door as a patron left the building and the notes of a country song briefly filled the air.

Turning onto Fourth Street, she parked at the end of the block and walked to the house. She could do this all by herself.