Page 130 of No Going Back

As much as he wanted to be with her twenty-four seven, they both decided they would take things slower. They still lived separately, although sleepovers regularly occurred. But they went out to dinner, and the movies, and took walks. All the normal dating things Tyler had never done with anyone before, and he was enjoying it. Spoiling Mira, seeing her smile, was the best feeling in the world.

He pulled up to the Farm, surprised to see the parking lot full of vehicles. Way more than just Raven. He strode in to find Sam, Raven, Kelly, Mira, and all of Nyx team in the war room, lounging around, chatting. It didn’t sound or look like a pre-op briefing.

“Hey, Ty, thanks for coming.” Dex handed him a coffee.

“No problem. What’s going on?”

“Not sure. Sam wanted to pull everyone together.”

As if on cue, Sam let out a whistle, grabbing everyone’s attention. “OK, people, let’s settle down.”

Tyler moved toward Mira and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before taking a seat next to Mackie.

“Seeing as both teams are home for once, I thought it would be a good chance to bring everyone up to speed on a few things.”

“Dex finally pushed you over the edge and you’re retiring?” Liam grinned; Dex threw his baseball he’d been playing with at the other man’s head. Liam caught it easily and laughed.

“One, how fucking old do you think I am? And two. If Dex had pushed me to the edge, he would be the one leaving, not me,” Sam shot back lightheartedly.

“Why do you both think it would be me pushing too far?” Dex asked innocently. At that, the whole room burst out laughing.

“Oh, brother, I love you, man, but you are in a league of your own on that one.” Liam threw the baseball back at him.

“Don’t get too comfortable, Liam, you’re not that far behind.” Sam grinned at Liam’s shocked face. “Alright, now that we’re clear I’m not retiring, let’s get to business.”

The room quieted, waiting for Sam to continue.

“As you know, reconstruction is underway at FBI HQ. Security measures have been stepped up there, as well as at every other agency office in the state.”

Tyler stole a look at Mira, wondering how she was going to feel if she had to go back there. She smiled at him, not giving anything away.

“The intel we recouped from the raids is still being reviewed in detail, together with the hard drives Tyler secured. We also have the camera footage and phones from... the incident.” Sam shot Tyler a look.

“You mean, my almost beheading,” he said. “You can say it. It happened,” He was slowly getting past it. The nightmares came less frequently.

“Or in this case, what didn’t happen,” Dex said.

Tyler and Dex fist bumped.

“I have people working on everything. Kelly and Mira will help if time allows. We did secure seven cell members. Agent Adams and Lopez were able to get three more locations from them, but when they raided the houses, everyone was long gone.”

“Any information on future targets?” Ryan asked.

“No. But considering the cell members were all in LA and San Diego, the bombing at FBI, Reborn’s message making this personal, and Hakim Aiz knowing exactly who Tyler was, I think we can be fairly sure they’re targeting this area.”

“Nothing more on the Aziz brothers?” Dex threw the baseball at Ryan, who promptly threw it back.

“Not yet. I assure you, while it was a priority before, it’s an even bigger one now. Omar has still not returned to the hotel. The brothers may have gone into hiding after you rescued Tyler. Hakim told him too much. We’ll get proof that they are behind Reborn and we’ll find them.”

“Bet your fucking ass we will,” Liam said. “Looking forward to it.” He threw the ball back to Dex.

A picture appeared on screen. “These are the Aziz brothers in question.”

The room stilled. Dex lowered the baseball he’d been about to throw again.

“Kelly, do the honors.”

Kelly stood up and joined Sam at the front of the room.

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