Nobody spoke. Zac shifted his weight. Gabe crossed his arms. Dorian watched the screens. Four old soldiers, standing down for the first time in their lives.
?*
* Books from characters in this chapter:
Finn Bollinger – EAGLE
Ray & Dorian Lindstrom (Theo & Savannah as children) – GHOST, SCOUT epilogue, BLAZE
Gabe Collingwood – ANGEL
Zac Mackay – CYCLONE
Lincoln Bollinger – HERO’S TOUCH
Boy Riley & Girl Riley – PHOENIX
Bear & Joy – HERO MINE
Theo & Eva – HERO UNBOUND
Derek & Becky – HERO’S FLIGHT
Callum & Sloane – HERO’S HEART
(No, Scarlett doesn’t have a book yet; maybe next Christmas)
Chapter 7
Tactical Christmas
TheoLindstrom
(Married to Eva Dempsey-Lindstrom; son of Dorian & Ray Lindstrom)
The cold hit like a wall the moment Theo stepped outside.
He moved into the trees without hesitation, his breath forming small clouds that dissolved into the dark. Snow muffled sound—advantage and disadvantage both. Behind him, Bear and Derek fell into formation without needing direction. Muscle memory from years of training together.
Scarlett had already looped around to the south approach. He couldn’t see her, but he knew she was there.
His mother was out here too. Somewhere. Theo didn’t bother looking for her. If Ray Lindstrom wanted to be found, she’d let you know.
This was probably nothing. Most of their work at Linear Tactical was training other people how to survive. Real-world ops were rare—rarer still ones that amounted to anything. But his parents’ past meant Theo could never treat an unknown approach asprobably nothing. Not until he’d confirmed it.
And if it wasn’t nothing—if this was the day his parents’ enemies finally found them—then it was Theo’s job to handle it. Not his father’s. Not anymore.
That thought sat heavy in his chest as he moved through the darkness.
He ran scenarios. His father’s enemies would be professional. Precise. Lethal. They’d know the property’s vulnerabilities, would have studied satellite imagery and approach vectors. They wouldn’t stumble through the woods on foot in December. They’d come in vehicles with support, or they’d come in absolute silence, and the first sign of trouble would be bodies.
This approach was wrong for that kind of threat. Too visible. Too slow. Too amateur.
But amateur didn’t mean safe. Amateur could mean unpredictable. And unpredictable could get people killed.
If Theo made the wrong call tonight—stood down when he should have pressed forward, or escalated when he should have held back—people he loved could pay the price. His father would never say it, but Theo would see it in his eyes. The knowledge that he’d trusted his son with the family’s safety and his son had failed.
Theo wouldn’t fucking fail.
