Page 1 of No More Lies

Chapter 1

“Execute.”

Hearing his team leader’s command, Steve opened the fire exit door. Raven team filed through without a sound. Onyx Black Ops commanded by Captain Sam Harrison, was an elite, classified arm of the military that reported directly to the White House.

The team was in Islamabad, penetrating the luxury hotel owned by Omar Aziz. Omar and his brother Hakim led Reborn, a Middle Eastern terrorist organization with a huge axe to grind against America, and a personal grudge specifically with Raven.

Ahead of Steve, Dexter Dawson, the Raven team leader, held up his black-gloved hand and the team stopped, still and silent in the shadows of the fire stairwell on the thirtieth floor of the hotel.

“Raven 5 and 6, cover the north stairwell. 3 and 4, take the south near the elevators. 2, with me.”

Tyler, the team’s medic, and Mackie, their tech specialist, positioned themselves at the north stairwell. Steve, as the team’s explosives expert, and Donnie, primary sniper, headed to the south stairwell. Ryan, Dex’s second in command, prepared to enter the penthouse suite with Dex.

The current mission was recon only. Omar Aziz had not been seen at the hotel in more than three months. Hakim had captured Tyler and shared a little too much information with him before Raven had effected a rescue. Hakim had gotten away, and the brothers appeared to have gone to ground.

Steve glanced back, seeing Dex and Ryan entering the room. This felt like a damn waste of time. It had taken way too long to get the green light to search the hotel. He’d bet his right arm nothing worthwhile was inside Omar’s suite. Omar, his daughter, and his grandson were long gone. The daughter, Asma, was married to Reyes Lazir, another Reborn soldier, who was currently in a US black site. Onyx had captured him after he murdered a SEAL team and captured one of their own.

They would sweep all rooms, looking for any lead to the Aziz family’s new location and proof of their connection to Reborn. Onyx were eager to end Reborn’s reign of terror once and for all, but Washington needed solid evidence before they would authorize their leader’s capture.

“We should have come here fucking weeks ago,” Donnie whispered, putting a voice to Steve’s own thoughts.

“Yeah. I hear you. I don’t see someone as smart as Omar leaving us a forwarding address.”

Donnie grunted in agreement.

Steve remained still; his eyes stayed on the elevator while Donnie covered the stairwell. With any luck, they would wrap this up and be home tomorrow. He planned to take some time off as soon as they got back to focus on his family. Or to be more exact, his marriage.

Diane and their beautiful eight-year-old daughter, Megan, were his world. He would never have made it as a SEAL, and now as an Onyx operator, without Diane. All through, EOD training, BUDs, the long deployments, Diane had been his rock. One he needed more than he could ever have imagined. He was forever grateful to have found her.

But things had started to change. In the past few months, he felt an ever-increasing distance between them. He’d tried to talk to her, but she kept blaming her work. The fact that she didn’t want to talk about it made Steve think Diane might not be telling the truth, might instead be regretting her choice of husband. They’d been married nine years; had his job gotten to be too much for her? He knew Megan could be a handful, even if she was a happy child. Taking some time off, maybe he could show Diane she chose right and make sure she understood exactly how much she meant to him.

The elevator light came on. Twentieth floor and climbing.

“Boss, this is Raven 3, Elevator is on the move.”

“Copy that. Handle it quietly if you need to.”

“Got it,” Steve said. The elevator was still climbing. Twenty-five, twenty-six. Quietly meant they did not want to wake up any other hotel guests. Raven had not been invited here, and the Pakistan authorities would not take kindly to their presence. This floor was off limits to guests, so either housekeeping or security could be on their way up. Twenty-seven, twenty-eight. Steve and Donnie flanked the elevator doors and waited. Twenty-nine.

The elevator stopped on twenty-nine. Steve glanced to Donnie, who moved back to the stairwell to ensure whoever had got off on twenty-nine was not coming up the stairs.

“3. Sitrep?” Dex asked.

Steve waited a beat for Donnie to signal the stairwell was clear. The elevator remained on twenty-nine.

“All clear,” Steve confirmed.

“Alright we’re done. Move to exfil.”

Raven retreated, leaving the same way they came. Forty minutes later, they were in the air.

“So, did you get anything?” Steve asked, sitting next to his team leader.

“Wherever they’ve gone, they didn’t take much with them. Personal belongings are all still there. No electronics. A few papers. Not sure they mean anything. But we got photos.”

“Waste of time then.” Steve grunted.

“Had to be done. If they come back. We’ll know,” Dex said. Planting a couple of bugs had been part of the op.