“No,” Dakota replied. “You, Tank.”
His eyes widened. “Me?”
“You’re runnin’ The Day of Destruction,” Greystone said. “The team has prioritized that case over everything.”
“I’ll do it,” Teddy said. “Whatever we need to get the job done.”
Excitement thundered through him. Being asked to step up was an honor. For as long as he’d been working, he’d been a beta to his brothers or his cousin. This washischance to be seen as a leader. It was his mission, made sense that he’d been given this responsibility.
“Great,” Dakota said. “Keep me in the loop.”
“We got you,” Greystone said. “This is a temporary fix until you find someone to help you run your billion-dollar empire.”
The energy in the room shifted. Dakota was a beloved member of ALPHA BLACK OPS and a strong leader.
“Tank, I love you,” Slash said as she placed her hand over her heart, “but Dakota and I go back aways. Gonna miss you, DL.”
Dakota tossed Slash a nod. “Same.” He pushed out of thechair, shot the team a confident smile. “Regardless of who’s leading the mission, the group, or the organization, we’ll get it done. We’re not just employees, we’re family.”
“I get it,” Teddy said. “Even temporary goodbyes are tough.”
Dakota extended his hand to Greystone, who rose and shook it. Then, the team said their goodbyes.
Slash swiped away tears and Sin looked like his soul had been ripped out.
“I’ll be back,” Dakota said in his best Terminator voice. He left the group laughing, and shut the door behind him.
After the OPS returned to their seats, Greystone said, “Tank, update us.”
Teddy plugged in his laptop, toggled over to projection-mode, and shone the photos on the back wall. Slash rolled her chair out of the way while Emerson hit the lights.
“These are the three terrorists I took out,” Teddy began. “The first one is Sunjib Farquin, a prominent lieutenant in the Haqazzii cell.”
After Teddy’s brief rundown of how he caught him, Sin said, “A pit maneuver. Nice move.”
Teddy acknowledged him with a nod. “Farquin said, ‘You will die. Then, we kill your team. When you are all dead, we are going after thebigone. The one where we bring America to its fucking knees. Death and destruction to America.’”
“Hmm,” Addison said.
“The big one,” Emerson murmured. “The. Big. One.”
“Yeah. Before we unpack that, the second terrorist said, ‘Haters of democracy and countries that loathe America will make their move when America falls.’ He added, ‘When we cut off the head of the eagle, it cannot fly. Then, we will finish the job we started. America will be overtaken by powerful people.’”
Caroline pushed out of her chair, walked over to the white board pasted on the side wall, and jotted down those statements.
“I haven’t posted these photos in the private chat groups on the Dark Web.” Teddy paused. “I think we should. What do you guys think?”
“Post the pics,” Greystone said.
“Hell, yeah,” Slash said. “Let’s poke those sons of bitches.”
The team agreed. The photos of the three dead terrorists would get posted.
“Before I do that, we gotta decipher their code,” Teddy said. “Let’s throw out any idea that comes to mind.”
“I’ve got one,” Caroline said, “and it’s not good.”
“Let’s hear it,” Teddy said.
As Caroline spoke, a heavy silence fell over the room.
In his gut, he knew she was right.
How did this go from bad to worse so damn fast?
