Marcus

Chapter Forty Four

Marcus ~

It had been seven days since Caroline had been taken captive...seven fucking days and Marcus felt a little bit of himself die a little inside every day that passed.

It was an all hands on deck situation, but there was nothing, no Intel that they could use to find her.

Fox being out of the picture was helpful, but it was still unclear whose loyalties still resided with him as multiple CIA agents scoured the earth for any information they could use to find Caroline.

Marcus sat with his head in his hands, nervously bouncing his leg as the rest of his teammates sat around the outdoor table between the barracks.

"Hey Axel, any word from your girl Alyssa? I know she was combing through chatter from CIA and FBI assets." Austin asked.

"She's not my girl." Axel said with a smirk that said otherwise.

"Wasn't that her voice I heard moaning your name from your bunk night before last?" Hawk asked.

"I was just kissin' her. It was harmless." Axel said.

Slater leaned forward and cocked his head to the side as he considered the logistics of his teammates statement.

"How was she moaning your name if you were kissing her?" Slater asked.

"Well I didn't say I was kissin' her mouth." Axel chuckled.

Pierce choked on the water he was drinking, unable to hold back his own laughter.

Marcus smiled as much as he could at his teammates banter but he was hurting and beyond frustrated.

"Speak of the devil." Kincaid said with a grin as he motioned toward Alyssa who was fast approaching.

Her expression was serious and she kept a fast pace that was nearly a light jog as she approached the table.

Axel, either you fucked up or she's got something important to tell us, and I hope for both of our sakes it's the second one.

Axel straightened from where he was leaning against the wall and sauntered over to her.

"What's up girl?" Axel asked, his voice dripping with arrogance that put a slight blush on Alyssas cheeks.

"Hi Ax, I got a question for you guys." She said, pulling a piece of paper from under her arm.

Marcus immediately stood, wanting to see what Alyssa had found, trying not to get his hopes up too high.

"Whatcha got for us?" Viper asked, taking a step forward as well.

"Does this phrase mean anything to you?" She asked, holding up the paper toward Marcus.

The words Real icons was highlighted three times on the transcript.

Icons? Real icons? Doesn't ring a bell.

"Nothin to me." Marcus admitted.

"Hey Boss, come take a look at this. You ever seen this before?"

Declan stood and joined the group, eyeing the page before shaking his head.

"What are we looking at here?" Declan asked as he read the rest of the transcript to try and get some context.

"This is a transcript between one of our agents that's deep under. He's working undercover in the inner circles of a trafficker. He usually communicates with us in code and when he was describing the next slave bazaar he kept using that phrase - used it three times and it stood out to me."