Dale hesitated.His hands curled into fists, then relaxed.“Oren was ambushed by Carson a couple of times, the first a few days ago and then again yesterday.Not physically, but verbally.The guy knew things he shouldn’t—classified mission details, Oren’s injuries, psychological triggers.He used them.Shut Oren down completely.”
He drew a shaky breath.“It happened during a mission five years ago.His and Ty’s unit were in Somalia, outskirts of Kismayo deep in hostile territory on a snatch-and-grab op that went sideways.Heavy fire, multiple contacts.We were sent in to end the fight and bring back casualties.”
Bateman was nodding.“I remember that mission, it went FUBAR quick, right?Al-Shahaab extremists ...we were split up to cover more ground, and you led half of the teams we had with us into a partially collapsed structure while the rest of us searched the perimeter for survivors.”
Dale nodded.“We only found two survivors in that structure—Ty and another corporal.The place was a wreck, half-collapsed already and shaking like it had only minutes left to stand.The evac window was closing quick and I made the call to pull back.We evaced the two we found and moved to the extraction point.But Oren ...he was still inside.Buried under debris and we didn’t see him.Didn’t know he was there.We pulled out, and I left him there.”
“Fuck, it was Ty wasn’t it?The guy who came at us in the hospital hallway, begging us to go back and save his friend, that he saw him moving.”Ricky, voice devoid of the humor it held just moments before.
Dale paused, swallowing hard.“Yeah.By the time we mounted a rescue and got to him, it was three days later.Oren had been captured, tortured, starved and left with horrendous scars both physically and mentally.Fuck, he was near death by the time we got him back to Ty in that hospital.The guilt of leaving him there—it nearly broke me at the time.Now that I know he was mine?It might break me still.”
Silence followed his words, grim and unyielding.
Bateman swore softly.“Son of a bitch.Dale, that’s on me.If I hadn’t—”
“No,” Dale cut in firmly.“You don’t take that on, that is not how we work.I made the call, I left him.We all did what we thought was necessary at the time.”
“There is nothing in Carson’s records that talk military,” Marsh continued.“I am looking into it in more detail because I cannot find anything on the fucker from later than three years ago.Recent background on Carson confirms he’s been shadowing Oren for years.Whenever Redline Developments moved sites, he showed up within a few months—subcontractor jobs, freelance gigs, whatever he could land.He’s been getting closer and closer.”
“Fuck,” Dale wanted to leap up, find the prick, and beat it out of him, but there was more to this.If Carson was not responsible for the drones and security attacks, and he somehow doubted he was, then that thread of danger was coming on multiple levels.
“So, if the drones aren’t from Carson,” Hogan said, breaking his silence, “and other than the multitude of assholes we’ve taken down in various places around the world, who else could it be stateside?”
A heavy pause.
Dale glanced around the table.“Kai?”
Marsh’s lips thinned.“Could be.”
“Has anyone heard from him lately?”Ricky asked.
Bateman shook his head.“Not in a while.He’s been ...quiet.”
“You haven’t?”Hogan stood abruptly, the tablet in his hand hitting the table with a sharp crack.“Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”
Bateman’s gaze locked on him.“In what world do I report to you, Hogan?”
Hogan’s face flushed, voice rising.“We’re a unit.If Kai’s gone dark and you know something, we all should’ve—”
“Stand the fuck down,” Bateman said, voice hard.“Or I’ll stand you down myself.”
The room went deathly quiet.
Hogan, anger still simmering but tempered now by something softer.“He turned on us, Bateman.Kai’s not one of us.”
Bateman’s jaw ticked, his shoulders stiff.But after a moment, he nodded, just once.“You’re right.He did.But sometimes you cannot see the churning of the current beneath the surface of the water.”Bateman took a breath.“Kai is off-line.Deep cover.Life-and-death kind of deal.I don’t know much—just enough to know he can’t surface right now, and there is more to that situation with Eli than what we saw or know.If I hear anything else, I will talk to you about it.”
The tension in Hogan’s shoulders didn’t fully ease, but he gave a sharp nod and sank back into his seat.
Bateman straightened.“All right.We increase site security—internal and external.Marsh, tighten the firewall.Hogan, I want you and Ricky doing random physical checks.Ty and Oren are dropping the crew back to long service staff only and beefing up their own security around the building sites.No one gets in or out without us knowing.We lock it all down.”
There were nods all around.The energy shifted.Tension coiled, ready.
The Pathfinders didn’t just wait for the fight.
They prepared to meet it head-on.
Dale left the meeting with his jaw tight and his gut churning.The conversation with the Pathfinders had left heaviness in his chest.But what worried him more was the look on Ty’s face when he brought up Carson.There was no way Ty was going to let that slide.He knew his man too well.Ty would want answers—and he’d go looking for them.That could turn ugly fast.
