Page 69 of No Regrets
“The op was Khalini, and you executed your way. You were told to stand down on the bodies and you ignored it. I warned you about going rogue. If you had a lead on Bravo, your first action should have been to tell me, not cut fucking coms and do your own thing.”
Dex rubbed his hands over his face.
“This isn’t SEALs, Dawson. Our rules of engagement are very different. We don’t exist. That means clean and discreet. Doing anything else draws way too much attention and could destabilize the whole US operation there. I warned you of that. We had a limited window. You were way past it and way out of line.”
“It was a risk—” Dex tried to speak but Sam wasn’t done.
“You get to handle ops as you want. But I told you at the start no unsanctioned shit. You tell me and we work as a team. You don’t get to make those calls on your own, you do not go rogue, and you sure as hell don’t ever fucking cut coms with me.”
Dex stayed quiet, sensing there was more.
“Fuck, Dawson. Did you even consider that as we didn’t have the intel, I’d already called off the additional exfil? There was way too much that could have gone to hell, and the fact that you didn’t even consider that concerns me. A lot.”
Sam barely paused to take a breath.
“I get you wanted to bring them home. We all did, but not at the cost of any of your team’s lives, innocent lives, or starting a fucking war. To be blunt, they were dead. This is not the same as when you went for Lieutenant Kimber. This kind of thinking is going to get you and your team killed.”
Dex didn’t agree. He was confident of his team’s ability and would never risk their lives, although it had got a little close. He’d seen an opportunity and took it. But yeah, he knew he shouldn’t have cut coms. That was crossing the line big time.
He waited, but Sam appeared to be done.
“OK, you’re right. I stepped across the line but there was no time to run it past you, so I made a call. I saw an opportunity and I took it. That’s who I am, Sam, and you knew that before you offered me this position. Think outside the box, remember? But I hear you. I should’ve looped you in, but I don’t regret bringing them home.”
“You got lucky this time and I will manage the fallout. But listen to me when I say this is your one and only warning. You and your team are the best. Don’t give me a fucking reason to regret my decision in bringing you on board.” Sam stood opening the door. “If I can't trust you, Dawson, this isn't going to work. And to be clear, if you fuck up like this again, you and your team are done.”
“Understood, sir.”
Holy shit. Dex walked back to the war room. OK, he expected to be in shit, but he could have just fucked this for the team.
“What the fuck was that about? Why was he so pissed?” Steve asked.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s sorted.” Dex went to sort his own gear, but Ryan stepped in front of him.
“What did you do?”
“Ryan, leave it.”
“No. Sam wouldn’t be pissed like that unless we fucked up. None of us thought we had fucked up, but my guess is you disobeyed an order and didn’t tell us. Sound about right?” No mistaking Ryan's anger. Dex looked around at his team, all waiting for an explanation.
“Alright. He told me to stand down on bringing Bravo home because he hadn’t got a definitive location. Khalini told me where they were, so I made the call to go get them without telling Sam.”
“For fuck’s sake, Dex. We just got here and you’re pushing the boundaries already? Sam could bounce us from here in an instant and then what happens? We fail here, do you really think any of us would have a military career to fall back on?” Ryan threw his hands in the air.
“It all worked out. We got Khalini and we brought Bravo home. Sam’s pissed, but he’s letting it go.”
“Letting it go? We already needed to earn his trust as a new team, and you just made that ten times harder. You are the team leader, and you know damn well we will follow you anywhere, but you were out of line going against Sam. The man chose you, fucking sought you out to lead this team, helped save your ass from a court martial, and this is how you repay him?”
“Ryan’s right, Dex. That wasn’t cool,” Steve said.
“So, we should have just left Bravo there? That’s not who I am.”
“It wasn’t your call to make alone. If we didn't bring Bravo home, we all know we would have gone back for them. Leave no man behind. But there was more at stake here. Sam warned us this op had to be dark. In and out. We caused a fucking riot. Every village in the area knows a team of soldiers were there. No wonder Sam was pissed.” Ryan picked up his jacket. “I know you’ve bent rules before, but this was a step too far. You need to rein it in before you destroy all of our fucking careers.”
Dex watched him storm out of the room. Fuck, Ryan had never spoken to him like that before. Cautiously he looked at the rest of the team. “You all feel the same?”
Mackie was the one to speak up. “Dex, we love you, man. You know that. But you said yourself when you asked us to follow you here, that the stakes are higher, the risks greater. We’re all still standing here because more often than not you always make the right call. I’m proud that we brought Bravo home, but it was a big risk, not just because of the noise we made, but we were outnumbered and are lucky to have got out of there without any casualties. We don’t have the backup, the QRF. This isn’t SEALs. We’re on our own. We trust you when you give us an order. Don’t make us doubt that.”
Mackie and the rest of the team left, leaving Dex alone. He’d messed up big time. If his team doubted him, they had a serious problem. And hell, the thought they might doubt him was a kick in the gut.