Page 38 of No Regrets

“Yes, sir, I am. I thought you’d retired. Rumor has it you’re with an agency.”

“Mmmm, I’ve heard those rumors.”

“So, you’re not with an agency?”

“I was briefly. NSA. I came back.”

Dex blinked in surprise.

Sam paused for a sip of coffee. “I’ve been following your career. Your father was a great SEAL operator and commander, and clearly it runs in the family.”

For once, Dex was speechless. The Sam Harrison following him. It sure as hell gave him a little ego boost, something he sorely needed right about now.

“Thank you, sir.”

“However, I do not condone disobeying orders.”

Ah shit. So, this was something to do with his hearing. He took a sip of his own coffee, and a lightbulb went off in his head. Sam must have seen it.

“I wondered how long it would take you to put the pieces together.” Sam leaned back in the booth, folding his arms across his chest.

“Holy shit! You wrote that statement.” Dex lowered his voice. “You’re the commander of the black ops team.” He put down his cup, at the same time realizing he’d sworn at a captain. “Sorry for my language, Captain.”

Sam laughed. “Forget it.”

“Well, thank you for what you said. It made an impression on the board.”

“I didn’t do it to get you off the hook, because you did disobey and should be punished.”

“Yes, sir.”

“But I did want to reiterate to the board that you didn’t just jump out of the air on a whim. That your plan was sound and that should be considered when deciding punishment.”

“I appreciate that.”

Sam motioned to the server, who came and topped up their coffee.

“So, as I mentioned, I’ve been following your career for a while. Not the first time you’ve disobeyed or crossed a line.”

“No, sir. It’s not.” Dex answered honestly. This conversation baffled him. What the hell was he doing here?

“You don’t sound very remorseful.”

“As I said to the board, my violations occurred because I believed I was making the right decision in the moment, and I still do. I didn’t take those actions lightly. They weren’t ego-based, and I knew I would pay a price. But sometimes the price is worth it.”

Sam was quiet for a minute, drinking his coffee. Dex waited, wondering if he’d said too much. Sitting here was a little surreal. The smell of fried bacon wafted around them. Servers called out orders, a baby was crying, and here he was, having coffee with Captain Sam Harrison. The commander of some super-secret team that had saved Alpha team’s asses.

“Alright. Let me explain why I asked you to meet me here.” This time Sam lowered his voice. “I don’t think I need to remind you about confidentiality. What I say here is classified. Understood?”

“Understood, sir.”

“The black ops program I run has been operating for a year. I was asked back to head it up. We work closely with all the agencies to bring down the bad guys worldwide. We are the team that does not exist.”

Fuck, there were always rumors of off-book black ops teams... but one that operated worldwide? That was news to him.

“Sounds like a great position for you, considering your history.”

“Yeah, it is. We have more flexibility than other military special op units in how we handle things, but with that comes more risk. The ops we do, the team gets in trouble, the government will deny any knowledge of the op or the team. No other team will be coming in to get my boys out.”