Page 86 of No Regrets

“I didn’t. Never needed it. Ryan and I put cameras in yesterday. He’s checking the footage now, and we’ll run the notes for prints. It might be nothing, but I thought you should know.”

“Dexter, this isn’t nothing. I don’t like the fact that they went to your home, knew where you live. They could have texted, emailed, called you, but they chose in person, handwritten. Whoever this is, is making it personal and means business.”

Dex slumped back in the chair, rubbing the back of his neck. Yeah, he’d already come to that conclusion. He wasn’t worried about this fucker coming for him. Bring it on. He would gladly go toe to toe with him. Playing this cat and mouse game, that pissed him off.

“I’m going to get someone here to look back over the two ops you’ve done for me so far. Is there anything else you think this could be connected to?”

“Nothing comes to mind. But Christ, Sam, I’ve made a lot of enemies over the years.”

“Yeah, but this starts now, after you joined Onyx. I don’t like it.”

“Ryan said the same thing.”

Sam stood. “Let’s see if your cameras caught anything.” He led the way back to the war room.

“Morning boys. Any luck here?” Sam asked.

“The cameras picked these up.” Mackie put the images up on screen. “He never looks at the camera, as if he knew they were there.”

Dex studied the pictures. The guy was in a dark hoodie, and jeans, maybe five-five, scrawny, around a hundred-forty pounds. He wore a ball cap under the hood shielding his face. No way they could get an ID.

“What time?” It looked like dawn.

“Six-thirty this morning,” Mackie confirmed.

“I’d gone for a run.” He was right; the son of a bitch had been watching him. “Maybe this isn’t about an op, maybe it’s more personal,” Dex said, thinking aloud.

“Done anything you shouldn’t have lately?” Ryan raised an eyebrow.

A picture of Sally up against the wall outside Jerry’s flashed to mind. He dismissed it. That was ridiculous.

“You’re team lead, Dex. If someone wants to punish the team, you’d still be the likely target,” Steve said.

Sam handed the envelopes to Mackie. “Let’s run these for prints. See if we get anything. The intel team will help you.”

“Sam, if you have people going over the ops, then we can train as planned. Not much else we can do,” Dex said, baseball still in hand. He needed to train, exert some energy.

“Training can wait. You need more than just cameras. Lock it down. No shortcuts until we figure this out. I want any trips of your security alerting me and the team.”

“Sam, I can handle my...”

“Dawson, that wasn’t a suggestion. Don’t be a fucking hero. We have no idea if this is one person or a dozen. Do not underestimate this threat, understood?”

“Understood.” Fuck, he hated it when Sam used his last name. It meant he was genuinely concerned and pulling rank.

“In fact, I want security put in at all your homes. Better to be safe than sorry,” Sam added.

KELLY STOOD AT THE counter ordering. After an exhilarating day working, she’d decided to treat herself to the best damn Chinese take-out she’d ever had. Today had been a good day. She’d uncovered a weapons-dealing operation they’d been tracking for months. Kelly knew how to access systems, even hack some. She knew how to decipher data, monitor the dark web, interpret it, and had a unique ability to see beyond the obvious. It was why she was so respected as an intelligence officer, why she had always worked with the best of the best, Navy SEALs. Uncovering this operation today had given her an ego boost. She still had it!

The door chimed and she turned, eyes widening in surprise.

“Fancy seeing you here.” She smiled.

“Still the best Chinese on the island.” Dex stepped closer. “You didn’t want to cook either?”

“Not much fun, cooking for one.”

“Tell me about it. No fun eating alone either.”

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