Page 100 of What I Should Have Done

“So,” I started, inhaling deeply and wanting to fill the empty silence that surrounded us again. My heart cracked, but I closed my eyes, ignoring the searing agony ripping through my soul. “How’d we get out of there anyway?”

“Well, it helped that Karim seemed so focused on heading to go locate his Black Box,” Dom replied.

“Whatever’s on there has got to be extremely valuable. More valuable than just some logs or shit like that.” I adjusted the helmet on my head, dried blood scratching at the crown. “Wait, two things. One, why did he just accept the tags as is? Wouldn’t he have noticed they’re fake coordinates? And two, what about when he figures out they’re fake coordinates?”

Dom dug into his pocket and pulled out a packet of chew. “Mikey made the fake coordinates in a relatively realistic location that the Black Box might have been stowed. So when he checked them over, they’d pull up a location that was believable. But I’m already banking on him finding out they’re fake before he even gets to the given location. And yes, before you ask, I had the colonel send a squad out to the destination just in case.”

“So, more than you and Mikey know the coordinates,” I stated.

Dom shook his head. “No. The colonel and that team know the fake location.”

“Right.” I ran a palm over my brow, frustrated that things were connecting slowly for me. “And you think that he’ll be warned they’re fake coordinates because of Reyes.”

“We don’t know for sure that the mole is him, but yes.”

“Karim called me ‘squib.’ Plus, Mikey said that Reyes thought he should have my position with the team. You think the kidnapping is related, what better way to ‘prove’ he should’ve been the one and not me than that?”

“Yes, true. Which is why the moment we’re back at base, we’ll have the colonel detain him and interrogate him.” Dom stuffed some tar between his teeth and lip.

“So, what’s stopping Karim from coming after us again while we’re simply walking back to base? We’re sitting ducks. Out in the open,” I asked.

Dom pulled his lips into a thin line. “Nothing. But that’s also why we’re not taking a break. We’re going to ruck straight back to the outpost.”

“You know what, better question, why the hell aren’t we going to the actual location of the Black Box?”

“Two reasons. We don’t have any other mode of transportation at the moment. And since I’m the only one that knows where it is actually located, we aren’t in a rush. I want to check on a hunch about Reyes first and allow us time,” he replied.

“What hunch?”

“I’m guessing he’s already gone AWOL.”

“Why would you say that?” I glanced at Dom. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he spit some nicotine from his mouth.

“Think Scottie. Karim tracked us. Ambushed us right where Mikey assumed he would. The only way al-Jabari would’ve known any of that is if Reyes had informed him. Which leads me to believe that Reyes knew we were onto a mole. Onto him.”

I shook my head. “I just have a hard time believing Reyes did all of this because he was jealous of me.”

“Oh, Scottie. There’s obviously more than just jealousy that caused him to do all of that shit. Money for one. I bet Karim offered him cash that the military could never match. But jealousy is a huge motivator, a powerful emotion. Karim probably offered him power, or a matching position to the one he believes you stole from him.” Dom looked away, spitting out some tobacco as we continued plodding alone.

“I never thought of myself as dumb, but man, hearing all of this, knowing Mikey and everyone else probably already reached these conclusions makes me feel like a real idiot,” I grumbled.

Dom chuckled lightly. “Not an idiot, Scottie. You’re just inexperienced. Besides, you’re not a SEAL. You don’t have the same training as we do, and you forget Mikey and Duncan’s rates are both intel specialists.”

Slipping my tongue across my dry lips, I briefly closed my eyes. “People underestimated Mikey a lot, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. Most of the time they saw a kid with aggression issues and a temper.”

“Your old commander, Griffin, he saw something different.”

“I won’t lie, when it came time to draft a new SEAL, Mikey was not on my list. His scores were unique. Ranking really high, almost too high in things like close-quarter combat and marksmanship. Hell, his fucking skills with a blade were insane. But then it was almost as if he purposefully scored the lowest possible to still pass in other things. So I wrote him off.”

“Seriously?” I furrowed my brows, glancing at Dom. For this brief interlude in my grief, it was nice talking about Mikey like this.

“I learned a lot from Griffin. He pointed out how unusual and deliberate Mikey’s scores seemed to be. Mikey also didn’t go out of his way to draw attention, but everyone knew who he was. So, I, of course, wrote him off again, but Griffin…” Dom’s eyes glazed over, and the volume of his voice dialed down to barely a whisper. “What’s he going to think when I have to tell him?”

I glanced at him, sorrow filling my soul. Not just for me and my plight, but for Dom’s. There were no words able to adequately answer a question as heavy as that one. Nothing I could say would console Dom.

Sighing, I shifted the topic. “What happens now?” I asked, realizing I wasn’t sure what the protocol was.

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