Page 17 of Cord SEAL

“How did we miss this?”

“We’re fighters Lo, since when have we ever given a second thought to politics?” They kept us so busy who the fuck had time?

“Yeah, but this shit was right under our noses the whole time. Did you find the other one in there?”

I knew whom he meant without asking. “No, but I still have a ways to go yet.”

“I hope to fuck he’s not caught up in this. I’d hate to think the old man was surrounded by enemies at the end.”

That shit left a bad taste in my mouth and sent my mind down a whole new path. I didn’t say anything about what I was thinking, not yet. I needed to do a little more digging and a lot more thinking before I voiced that particular evil. Because I knew if there was any truth to it, my brothers would be destroyed. Though it was no fault of ours. But if it turned out that the ‘friend’ in question had been the one to set him up, this place was gonna become a battlefield.

“We go back to the beginning, connect the dots.” Lo opened a drawer and pulled a file. Organized fucker that he is you can trust him to have every move written down in there. “Here it is, general Starks made the call about Khalil’s resurfacing. This was a few weeks after we settled in here. A few weeks after that, we were told to stand down until farther notice.”

“Yeah and in the midst of that we learned that the commander may have been murdered, stumbled onto a trafficking ring and have assholes trying to kill us and our women.” It was beginning to look more and more like the place had a direct link to whatever was going on, but how do we connect a small town in Georgia to the middle east and one of the most dangerous men in history?

We threw around some ideas but it was obvious we were still missing way too much of the puzzle and just going around in circles. I tried an old technique that came in handy in the field. I disassociated myself from everything and built the blocks, each in their own place, like with like. Pretty soon a picture was beginning to form in my head and I felt that rush of excitement in the blood. The one that tells me when I’m on the right track!

“It’s not the place, it’s the commander.” How the fuck had that one slip by us? It was glaring us right in the face. “Remember what Lyon said, he asked us if we had all worked for the commander at some point in our career, meaning us Law, and Creed. We know how Lyon got involved, through the Porters. Stockton told Lyon and Ty that the thing with his kid was a favor to the Porters, payback. We know the Porters are in bed with Khalil and how, through the uncle who’s a senator. But we never figured out why here. I mean let’s face it, there are a million better places to run that shit. Who was here before we came?”

“We already thought about that Cord and still couldn’t come up with anything remember? We know Law and Creed worked with the old man over the years, but we don’t know on what.”

“But, Lo what if it was all to do with the Fox? What do you wanna bet that this begins and ends with him?”

“Get those boys on the phone. All our Ops were confidential, but maybe they won’t mind sharing. We’re all playing on the same team now aren’t we?”

CHAPTER 6

CORD

***

“Law, is this phone secure?”

“Unless my nosy ass wife is on the other line. Dana Sue, hang up the damn phone.” We heard a huff and a click on the other end. “You boys having this kinda trouble? Ever since we got back from Lyon’s my place is like fucking Quantico, fucking females are getting into everything.”

“We’re trying to contain ours brother, but we have something more delicate to discuss so be sure your shit is titanium.” There was a series of clicks, a long beeping noise and then clean crisp tone. “We’re good, what you got?”

“We need to know what you and Creed did under the old man’s command. We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t pertinent to what we’re dealing with here. We kinda have our suspicions but we need verification before we can go forward.”

“Hoo, I guess it’s all good. I’d rather give my loyalty to you guys than those lying fucks in Washington anyway. It was Khalil. He was moving shit through the Congo and we had to head him off. Never did have eyes on the slippery fuck, but we confiscated the merchandise and pulled out. That enough to get you what you need?”

“Yeah brother, and Creed was on that ride with you too wasn’t he?”

“Yes he was, our boys joined forces on that one and a few others, but that was one of the ones we did for your commander. What’re you thinking?”

“We’re thinking whatever this is that’s going on in our backyard has more to do with the commander than the location.”

“What like some kind of beef between the two of them?”

“Something like that.”

“Then I guess you know they go way back, that fucker’s been on the radar going back years, started as a young boy with his old man.”

“He couldn’t have been more than twelve or so back then.”

“Well brother, there’s twelve and there’s twelve.”

“We’ll catch you soon brother got some shit to take care of. You guys found anything yet on your end?”

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