“We’re all glad you’re recovering man, and I hate to ruin that by having to tell you about the shit storm that’s been brewing,” Alex says.
“I told him some things, mostly about Matt and how the gremlin of a general didn’t want to go looking for him, but that’s pretty much it,” Liz states to the group.
“There is not much more to tell. Scott not wanting to go after you threw us off, but I try to understand his stance from a technical standpoint,” Alex begins only to be cut off by Liz.
“Okay, but again, what about how he got pale and switched up as soon as I mentioned the fake footage? He believes it’s real, and having video of what happened shouldn’t scare him if he did nothing wrong. And don’t get me started on Matt saying Riley was never supposed to come back.” The three men staring at her with wide eyes make her snap her mouth shut, wondering if she said something wrong.
“When did he say that?” Alex asks. His icy tone and hard stare make her wish she could slide off the couch and disappear.
“The day we got Ry home. You guys were meeting with the evil one and he was sent to keep an eye on me. I told him to leave and he told me he hopes I am that committed to him when he takes over. I asked why he thinks that, or something, and he said Riley was never supposed to make it back.”
“And I know it doesn’t mean much since I wasn’t here when all this went down, but I believe her. She has great instincts when it comes to reading people, you know that is one of the main reasons I wanted to bring her on,” Riley adds.
“Fuck!” Alex shouts, standing from his seat, startling everyone.
“What’s going on?” Riley asks, concerned.
“I don’t know yet, but something is not right. I didn’t justbrush her off when she told us, but you know there is only so much I can do. We started to get suspicious after the second mission. Scott refused to let Liz go and insisted Matt keep an eye on her, but when we got there, it was empty like the first one. He keeps telling us his intel is fresh, like hours old. Ry, there is no way Dmitri would be able to clear his forces that fast. He was sending us to another abandoned camp,” Alex seethes, pacing back and forth, the betrayal clearly taking its toll.
“Did you guys see Scott that day? Right after Liz accused him of using Dmitri to do his dirty work and get rid of Riley?” Tyler asks. When no one responds, he continues, “It was just for a second, but I saw him look at his computer. It made no sound, didn’t light up, but he looked at it, only when she said that.”
“Dmitri bragged to me. When he had me on that table, he told me he has men in our ranks, someone high enough to send him weapons and they were making sure I would never be found,” he says quietly.
“What are you saying?” Alex asks, slamming himself back into his seat.
Tyler reaches over and takes his hand, holding it firmly in his lap. One of the only signs of affection the two are willing to share around others.
“I’m saying, we don’t know who we can trust outside of this room. Someone is helping the enemy, and I intend to find out who that is. I was cleared by psyche, and the doctor said I can start doing more physically, so I’m taking my position back––”
“No,” Alex interrupts. “Doing moremeans nothing. You are not cleared by medical to be back in the gym let alone the field. We can handle looking into this while you handle getting your body fused back together. We need to figure out what is going on, but not at the expense of your health. I am staying in charge until you are fully cleared.”
“Like hell you are!” Riley shouts, launching himself up from the couch. He tries to hide it, but Liz can see him wince with the sudden movement. “My position is not yours to take. I am your commanding officer, injured or not,” he barks.
Before anyone has time to stop it, Alex is out of his seat, stepping up to where Riley is clearly seething. She can only imagine how bad this could get, and when neither Mikey nor Tyler get up to stop it, Liz takes it upon herself to get in the middle.
Wrong choice.
“Maybe we should get back to talking about what is really important––” Liz starts, trying to get Riley to sit back down.
“Stay out of this,” Alex snaps, startling her enough to take a step into Riley. Cursing herself in her head, she knows what is about to happen, and knows it is not going to end well. She should have known better than to get between them.
“What the fuck did you just say to her?” Everything stills the moment Riley pushes past Liz to get to Alex, sending her tumbling to the floor.
Before he makes it a step further, the realization of what he just did hits him, stopping him in his tracks. In that moment, Tyler jumps up, pulling Alex away and forcing him into the seat furthest from the couch, standing guard to make sure he stays down.
“Baby, I–” he tries, turning to crouch next to her, only to be cut off. Rarely, in their short time together has he seen her this angry.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she shouts, shoving his hand away and scrambling back onto her feet. “How the fuck did this go from realizing the general may be working with a terrorist who has tormented all of us, to this testosterone-fueled bullshit? I know you’re protective, but really, pushing me because he was a little mean? And you,” she turns to where Alex is sitting, “who fucking cares if he is not cleared yet? He is doing great and it’s not like he isgoing to be out there brawling with every person he sees. He can lead from this room while he heals. Did you ever think that he may need to take his roll backtoheal? No, you didn’t.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry, honey,” he says, hanging his head with a sigh that tells her he means it.
“Really, you have a fucking pet name for her now? Maybe Matt isn’t the only one trying to take everything from me.”
“So, it’s okay for Mikey to call her names, but the minute I do, I’m trying to take her?” Alex retorts.
She can see Riley readying to lunge at his friend, fighting over nothing but neither one is willing to back down.
“Oh my god! What are you, six?” she seethes. “Mikey and I have matching jammies we wear at slumber parties. You want to get over protective and fight about that too?”
