“Dex?”
Dex turned to find his brother standing there, his gaze on the jacket in his hand. “Hey, Chirpy,” Dex said softly, walking to Cael.
“That’s Dad’s, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Dex replied quietly. As much as he didn’t want to add to his brother’s worry, he was done hiding the truth from Cael. “We found it on a chair inside. There were bloodstains. They looked fresh. I don’t know if the blood was Dad’s, or if the Makhai are just fucking with us, but….” Dex swallowed hard, and Cael sucked in a sharp breath, followed by another. Dex quickly pulled him into a hug, murmuring in his ear, “We’re going to find him, okay? He’s stronger than those assholes realize. This is Dad we’re talking about. He survived our teenage years, so he can survive anything.”
Cael sniffed and let out a quiet laugh. “You mean your teenage years. I never stole his car to go on a date with a junior when I was fourteen.”
Dex pulled back. He shrugged and held back a grin. “I didn’t steal it. I was borrowing it. Besides, you never would have reached the pedals at fourteen.” Dex winked at him and laughed when Cael shoved him, grumbling under his breath that he was a jerkface.
Cael returned to Ash’s side, his anxiety visibly easing as Ash once again occupied his attention. Dex’s smile fell away, exhausted by the pretense.
After Hobbs cleared the truck, having scanned it for any devices that didn’t belong there or any signals out of the ordinary, they all climbed in and headed back to HQ. Everyone was quiet, and Dex held a tight grip on his father’s jacket. Sloane was right. He had to keep his shit together.
BACK AT HQ, they’d dropped their gear off in the armory before heading upstairs to the locker rooms for a quick wash while they waited for their meeting with Sparks. After the announcement went out in the media about the changes to Destructive Delta, she’d been inundated with phone calls. The timing was shit-tacular. Dex stood in front of his open locker, staring at his father’s jacket hanging neatly on the wooden hanger.
“Dex?” Sloane came to stand beside Dex and put a hand on his shoulder.
Dex smiled sadly as he motioned to the jacket. “It was John’s, you know.”
“The jacket belonged to your dad?”
“Yeah. The right pocket has a hole. Tony says he was always bitching at Dad to get it fixed because of course that was the pocket that my father kept shoving all his change into. The coins would fall into the lining, and whenever they had to chase someone down, Dad would jingle and give their position away. It drove Tony batshit crazy.” Dex slipped his hand into the pocket, his lashes growing wet as he laughed softly. “The hole’s still there.”
“And Tony never gave it to you?” Sloane asked gently.
Dex shook his head. “He tried to. A long time ago, but I could see how much it meant to him. Besides, my dad had given it to him after my mom bought him a new one for Christmas.” Dex’s jaw muscles tightened. “That was the one he’d been wearing when he was killed. Tony couldn’t bear to see it. John’s blood had soaked into the leather.” Dex slammed the locker shut. “Let’s go talk to Sparks.”
The team was waiting for them outside, and together they headed for Sparks’s office. The door was open, and she motioned for them to enter. As soon as they were in, she put the room into privacy mode.
“Is that going to work?” Cael asked.
Sparks nodded. “I have a small team of operatives who I trust with my life. I had them install a new system. It’ll take the Makhai weeks to break through it, so we have some time.” She reached behind her desk and pulled out a metal case. After placing it on the desk, she opened it. There were eight earpieces, and eight cell phones. “Everyone take an earpiece and a phone. Seb, Hudson, Rafe, and Dom have already received theirs.” She tapped to the one she was wearing. “These are secure and use a private tower, which will keep the Makhai guessing. The same software has been installed in your BearCat’s security console. Unfortunately, Themis is still compromised.”
“What about everyone’s families?” Dex asked, not mentioning it was Wolf who’d brought up the information. “What if the Makhai decide to go after them to get to one of us?”
“Several hours ago, I had everyone moved to a secure location under the guise of official THIRDS protocol concerning a possible threat to their safety due to a sensitive case your team is working. I assured them you were all well and would see them as soon as you were able. They’re safe.”
“And what about the Chairman? Has he been in touch?” Dex asked.
“Yes. So far he’s instructed me to upload whatever is on this drive. It arrived by courier an hour ago.” She placed a small black USB fob on the desk. “I’ve managed to deter him for a few hours since the fob needs to be plugged into one of TIN’s servers. One only I have access to. Fortunately for us, I can’t get to any of our facilities due to the current media frenzy over today’s announcement.”
A thought struck Dex. “Wait, you made sure the announcement went out. You were buying us time.”
Sparks nodded. “Under the current circumstances, the announcement would have been canceled. I made certain it wasn’t, making it look like a clerical error. Based on the intel we have on the Makhai, I knew whatever they had in mind was a long time coming, and they’re not about to risk everything by having me go out there with all this media attention. They’ve waited years. I’m sure they’d wait a few hours until things die down. The PR department is handling everything, but several news stations want to hear from me. I’ve bought us several hours, twelve at most.”
That was a few more hours that Tony would be safe. They needed to make the most of that time. Dex looked up at Sparks. “Have you learned anything about this Chairman asshole?”
“From the small amount of intel I’ve managed to gather, I believe he’s the one in charge, which would mean everything orchestrated by the US branch of the Makhai has happened because of this Chairman. If we find him, we can cause the Makhai some serious damage.”
“Any luck figuring out who he is?” Sloane asked.
Sparks shook her head. “Nothing. It’s very possible the Chairman is one of the founding members of the Makhai. No one knows who he is or what he does outside his role as ‘the Chairman.’ What I do know is we’re getting close. That’s why they’re hitting us hard. As calm as the Chairman seems, I’m thinking he’s starting to get desperate. With Moros gone, along with several of their associates, and Wolf not only working with us but against the Makhai, I think the Chairman is getting worried.”
“Good. He better be fucking worried.” Dex studied Sparks. She looked like she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure. “What? You want to say something.”
Sparks let out a heavy sigh and took a seat behind her desk. “This is bigger than we imagined and possibly connected to the events of 2005.”