Page 59 of No Going Back

They started swimming. Sam wasn't joking, the current was strong, made worse by the wind that had increased since they arrived. Dex knew Mackie would be fine, but he was concerned about Tyler. They’d already done this swim once tonight. Now they were against the current, while less than ten minutes ago, Tyler had been unconscious. He stuck close to his side and noticed Mackie doing the same on his left.

Forty minutes later, the Zodiac came into view. Ryan leaned over and pulled Tyler aboard first, then he helped Mackie and Dex.

“Thank fuck.” Tyler collapsed back against the side of the boat.

Ryan laughed. “What’s the matter, Mr. Navy SEAL, don’t like the water?”

“Fuck you.”

“What are you doing here, Ryan?” Dex looked at his number two as they put their coms back in.

“Making sure the boat stayed in place, boss,” he replied without apology.

“I told you to go,” Dex reminded him.

“Actually, your exact words were ‘get Gomez on the bird’ and I did that. You didn’t say anything about me getting on it.” Ryan was smirking. Ignoring him, Dex directed his attention to Tyler.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“What the fuck happened, Ty? I told you to call for back up.” Dex forced himself to keep his voice neutral.

“I tried. Coms weren’t working. There was no time, and I made a call.”

“The call you should have made was before you even entered the building. We don’t work alone. We’re a team.”

Yeah, he was being hard on him, but hell, Tyler knew better. If Tyler’s decision to go in alone was a result of his head being elsewhere, then he should never have let him come on this op.

“Dex, I couldn’t know the fucking padlock was wired.”

“That’s not the point. What would have happened if you walked in there and came face to face with hostiles guarding the room? This would have been a fucking recovery not a rescue.”

The tension in the boat was thick. Dex sighed. He was rattled. Always was when one of his guys had a close call. But knowing Tyler’s head wasn't completely right was making him question his decision about bringing him along. He activated coms.

“Base, this is one, we made it to the Zodiac.”

“Everybody OK?”

“Some of us are. Tyler apparently wants some additional water training, says he’s forgotten how good it feels to be in the ocean for so long,” Mackie said sarcastically.

“Screw you,” Tyler retorted.

“I’ll make sure we work that into some drills.” The amusement in Sam’s voice made them all smile. “Helo is twenty minutes out. Want to tell me what happened?”

“Tyler got you an early Christmas present,” Dex said. Despite the circumstances, Tyler had potentially secured some serious intel.

“We already got Gomez, so I’m intrigued.”

“Three hard drives, pretty sure they’re full of intel, considering they were booby-trapped, and Tyler got electrocuted trying to take them.”

“What?” Mira’s voice shrieked in their ears. Dex winced, looking at Tyler. He hadn’t realized she was still on.

“I’m fine,” Tyler said.

“That’s some haul. Nice work, Tyler,” Sam said.

“Thanks, let’s hope it was worth it.”

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