Page 63 of No Regrets
“I’ll send you through the target package now to review, and we’ll do a full breakdown tomorrow when I’m back. Mackie let's see how you handle Bertha. Can you transfer the call to my office? Dex, a word.”
“No problem at all, Sam.” Mackie had the call transferred before Dex reached Sam’s office and brought him up on screen.
“Impressive, that kid really does know his tech. Fuck if I would know where to start.” Sam admitted. “It sucks getting old.”
“Trust me, when it comes to tech, I’m not far behind you.”
“You got a ways to go yet, Dex. So, you and the team settling in?”
“Well, you know, I think the boys are a little disappointed there's no dancing girls, but other than that I think we’re settling in just fine.”
Sam chuckled. “Good. Dex, I get this op is personal, but don’t lose your focus. We need Khalini alive.”
“Understood. It’ll be good to finish the job that took out Bravo.” And caused Kelly to be captured and tortured, but he refrained from saying that out loud.
“I agree. Now depending on how this mission goes, there could be another opportunity here.”
Dex arched his eyebrows in question.
“Bravo’s bodies. As you know the recovery was on hold because you blew that place up. The rubble hindered the searches. It pisses me off and I’m sure you feel the same. Those boys deserve to come home.”
“Fuck yeah.” Man, it would be an honor to bring them home. “Do we know where they’re buried?”
“That’s the problem. No. I have people working on it together with CIA’s source on the ground. We believe they’re still on that compound somewhere. As Reborn are clearing the rubble and rebuilding, there’s a chance they’ll be uncovered. If, and only if, we can confirm the location and it’s safe, you can bring them home. You wait for my order. If we can’t get the intel, you stand down. You have a very short window to get in and out. Under no circumstances can you do anything to attract unwanted attention. We have no military help in Daram, so we cannot afford to stay there longer than we absolutely need to. In and out, nice and clean. The mission is Khalini, the bodies a bonus.”
“Got it.”
“Good. Don’t tell the team about this until it’s a go. No need to distract them. If we don’t get Bravo this time, we will go back for them. They won’t be left there.”
“Understood, boss.”
“Alright, I’ll be back tomorrow. See you then.”
Dex inhaled as the call ended. Damn he’d been waiting for an opportunity like this ever since rescuing Kelly. Getting Khalini was one step closer to Lazir. To avenge Bravo team’s deaths and Kelly’s capture. He would love to be able to tell Kelly they’d got that son of a bitch. Yeah, he wanted to be the hero. It had to be weighing on her that Lazir was still out there, walking free.
They hadn’t talked about it. In fact, their conversations had steered clear of anything to do with what happened in Daram. They were both dancing around the subject. Hell, they were dancing around a lot of things. This being just friends thing was tougher than he thought it would be. It was proving hard going backwards. It wasn’t anything like how they were before they slept together. In the past month, they’d had coffee twice. They chatted when they saw each other on the street or on base, but it was all so very polite. A few texts went back and forth, a couple of phone calls, but it was almost like they didn’t know what to say to each other.
Sam’s offer and starting with Onyx had been a lifeline. Life without Kelly as he’d known it was taking some adjustment and being able to focus on getting started with Sam and the first op had been a welcome distraction. But damn, he missed talking to her the way he used to. He sighed, getting up to go join his team. They had an op to plan.
“IT’S BEEN THREE MONTHS since you were rescued, and you’ve come a long way in that time. How are you feeling about everything?” Claire asked. They were sitting in her office. With Kelly feeling more comfortable and confident in going out, she’d decided coming to Claire’s office at Westside, on base seemed an easy progression.
“Honestly, I’ve surprised myself. Those first few days in this hospital, everything felt so hopeless. I didn’t think there was any way back to some sort of normal life. And yet here I am. Back at work and starting to socialize again.” She and Sophie had been out a few times and she’d grabbed coffee with Ryan and Dex. Dex. Just thinking of him brought up a whole mix of emotions.
“You’re a strong woman, have to be in the career you chose. It’s no surprise to me how far you’ve come. Work’s good? Are you back fully now?”
“Sort of. I’m on research and recon but not been assigned to a team yet like I was before. But getting back into the digging and diving has been great.”
“Is that what you want, to be assigned back to a team?”
“I don’t know. That could mean spinning up with them, and I don’t know how I feel about that. A part of me wants to do it, to prove that I can. But on the other hand, I’m petrified of being captured again. Especially when my captor is still out there. And I can’t afford to let my team down by freezing up or worse.”
“No one is going to force you to deploy after what happened. There are plenty of opportunities where you can stay on shore.”
Kelly thought about Bravo. She'd spun up with them so many times. The trust they had between them, the connection. There was something about being that close with a team that was so special. Unless you experienced it, you could never understand. She had the same connection with Alpha, but now the Alpha team she knew was gone too. It would be strange having to get to know a new Alpha and a new Bravo.
“I know there is, I’m just not sure if that will be enough for me. Although it probably is right now.”
“Have you spoken to Dex or Ryan about it?”