Page 68 of No Mistake

“Vitelli and Perez?”

“Not there. Getting Chloe was the priority. Now she’s safe, we can go after them.”

“And Tracer?”

Dex paused, his hand on the door to the war room. “He got away.” He pushed open the door and walked in.

Ryan followed him frowning. No way Tracer got away. A whole team against Tracer? No fucking way. Dex was holding out on something.

The team were around the debrief table, still in tactical gear. Sam sat at one end.

“How’s Chloe?” Tyler asked.

“In surgery, but she’ll be fine.” Dex answered, heading to the coffee machine.

“And Sophie?”

“Better now. Thanks to you guys,” Ryan said.

“Our pleasure.” Tyler picked up the infamous baseball, tossing it in the air. The baseball belonged to Dex, a memory of his late father. It had become a staple in the war room.

“Now we’re all here. Dawson, you want to tell me how Tracer evaded a whole team?” Sam asked.

Clearly, Ryan wasn’t the only one not buying that he got away. Dex sipped his coffee, leaning against Bertha and facing the team. Ryan stayed standing opposite as they all waited for his response.

“When the lights came on, the priority was Chloe.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Sam didn’t look happy and Ryan guessed he knew what they all knew. Dex had let him go.

“Look. It was a him or me situation. He killed Diego, probably saved Chloe’s life. I decided it didn’t need to be either of us.”

“The right call in the room, but the rest of Raven were downstairs. Any of them could have taken him.” Yeah, Sam could see right through their team leader.

“Tyler?” Sam directed his attention to the only other team member that had been in the room. Tyler put down the baseball, but Dex didn’t let him answer.

“I let him walk. My call. No one else’s.”

“Why?” Sam was remarkably calm. Ryan and the rest of Raven stayed silent, knowing when to keep their mouths shut.

“Because my gut tells me there is more to this than what we are seeing. Yeah, Tracer is operating in a gray area, but he did keep Chloe safe. And if we want to get Vitelli and Perez, he may be the one that can lead us to them.”

Sam leaned back in his chair folding his arms. “Have you tried contacting him?”

“Yes. Phone is still switched off.”

“When Tracer is ready, he’ll contact us,” Ryan said, wanting to back up his team leader.

“What makes you think that?” Sam asked.

“Because whatever is going on with him, he’s a Navy SEAL. He isn’t some ruthless gun for hire. He could have opened fire on the team at the first house, but he backed off. He didn’t have to meet Dex at Sharkey’s. He didn’t need to tell us to move Sophie. He could have had Chloe killed as soon as Raven breached the house tonight. None of those things happened. I’m with Dex. There’s something more going on here and leaving him in play may help us.”

“Glad to see you’ve been paying attention,” Sam said dryly.

“Team, I have something you need to hear.” Mira approached the table.

“We always want to hear from our intel gals.” Tyler grinned. Mira focused her attention on Sam and ignored him. Ryan picked up the baseball and threw it at Tyler, who caught it easily.

“What you got?” Sam asked.

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