Page 55 of No Regrets

“It’s been almost two months. What’s the news on how Bravo were fed that intel and the target package for Lazir?”

Joe stepped further into the room and closed the door.

“An informant in Daram was close to Bravo’s target, Khalini. The CIA have been working with the guy for two years. His intel had always been solid. Khalini found out, took his wife and seven-year-old son, threatened their lives.”

“Shit. He's been scooped up then.”

“No. He’s dead, along with his family. It’s not clear who carried it out, but it was on Lazir’s orders. The only reason CIA know this is because they have an agent undercover on the ground there. He learned what happened.”

“Jesus Christ. Were they tortured?’

“Yes.”

Hell, Reborn was a ruthless, sadistic faction. One that needed to be stopped. “Are you saying CIA have a man close to Lazir? Do they know where he is?”

“Not close enough, and no, there’s no location yet, so no target package. But trust me, they have a task force specifically assigned to this. Nobody gets away with murdering one of our teams and torturing one of our people. It is priority, but that bastard is good at staying hidden.”

Yeah, Lazir had evaded them for three years before showing his face at that compound.

“Thanks for the update, Joe, I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. When he does raise his head, it’s highly unlikely a SEAL team will be sent in. They will want the op as dark as possible. Something to consider while you’re thinking about Sam’s offer.”

Dex watched him leave. Onyx, being the ones to go get Lazir when the time comes, certainly added a little more incentive to Sam’s offer. An idea started to form in his head.

Dex checked to see if there was a message from Sam, but there wasn’t. Damn. He shouldn’t keep the man waiting this long. He glanced at the clock. Another hour and he could get out of here. He’d call Sam and chat with him on his way home.

The hour dragged by, but finally Dex headed out to his truck. The team was walking toward him.

“Welcome home, boys. Nice job I hear.” Dex grinned.

“Yeah, piece of cake,” Steve said, but his pissed off tone didn’t go unnoticed.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen? I just spoke to Joe, and he said everything was good.”

“It was good. The op was textbook,” Tyler said.

Dex looked between them, they all looked tense and royally pissed off.

“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on then?”

“There’s more heat than normal. That’s all. We’re being watched a little closely,” Ryan said.

“Closely? We’re being fucking micromanaged. You were lucky you weren’t there, Dex. You’d have lost your shit. Did Joe not tell you?” Mackie asked.

“No, he didn’t mention it. I don’t get where this is coming from?”

“Captain Reynolds is now overseeing all of Alpha’s ops and apparently, he has a very distinct way of doing things. Basically, we’ve got to clean up our act. No joking around, full uniform, no beards, buzz cuts, just like being fresh meat,” Donnie explained.

“And we all get to debrief individually. Review our AARs with him,” Steve added.

“Is this because of Daram, the hearing?”

“It probably didn’t help, but I guess Reynolds was taking over anyways. So, with or without Daram, things would still be changing. It likely put us under the spotlight though.”

Fuck. Being a SEAL at their level meant the rules were relaxed a little. Dex had heard rumors about Reynolds, a stickler known for bringing down the hammer and making sure everyone toed the line. Hell, he knew he was going to have to watch himself when he returned to Alpha, but with Reynolds, he was going to have to seriously cover his ass.

“Dex, we’re heading to Jerry’s for a beer, you coming?” Tyler looked back at him as he started toward his truck.

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