Page 107 of No Mistake

“Please tell me it was worth it, that Sophie and the hostages are OK.”

“Sophie was completely unharmed. The crew got a few cuts and scrapes. Nothing serious.”

Ryan sighed, relaxing back into the pillow. He’d handle the pain, knowing she was safe. God, he wanted to see her. He was kind of disappointed she wasn’t at his bedside.

“Ryan, I’m sorry I wasn’t there, man.”

Ryan snapped his head to him, cursing as pain zipped through his neck. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“We have each other’s backs, always. I didn’t have yours.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? If I could move right now, I’d knock you the hell out. You always have my back, and you did. I’m here, aren’t I?”

Ryan raised his hand. Dex took it in a bro handshake. Shit, no way was any of this Dex’s fault, and he wasn't going to let him carry that guilt.

“Yeah, you’re here, but I’ll tell you something. That’s the first time we’ve been off balance before going on an op and I didn’t like it.”

“Me neither.” He held Dex’s gaze for a moment, acknowledging that was the first and last time he would let that happen.

“You know they say married couples should never go to bed on an argument.” Ryan grinned.

“You’re seriously comparing us to an old married couple?”

“Nah, fuck. This is the first bust up we’ve had like this. Married couples fight every day.”

Dex smiled, but it didn’t fool Ryan. The man was beating himself up over what happened. He went to move.

“Ah fuck!” It hurt more than he realized.

“Hey. You’re not meant to be moving.”

“I just want to sit up a little.”

Dex pressed a button and lifted the upper part of the bed so Ryan was more upright.

“Better?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Ryan touched his face tentatively. “Tracer did a number, huh?”

“Tracer did that?”

“He didn't have a choice. Perez was putting the pieces together that he was giving us info. He had to prove he wasn’t.”

“Shit.”

“Another bad ass scar to add to the rest.”

Not even a grin? Shit, this was not Dex. Was he still pissed at him?

“Dex, what I did, leaving the team, put you in an impossible situation. You gotta know I would never intentionally do that.”

“I know.” Dex ran a hand over his face. “As team leader, I was angry, but we should have cleared the air properly.”

“That’s on both of us and I think we learned our lesson. You were right, this was very personal to me. But you know that didn’t have anything to do with what happened. We couldn’t have seen this coming.”

Dex didn’t respond, pulling out his cellphone. “The guys left to get cleaned up. Sam’s here, and Kelly’s with Sophie and Chloe. I’m just going to let everyone know you’re good.”

“Was it that serious?”

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