Rise & Fall (THIRDS 4)

“What kind of help?” Dex asked. Something told him he wasn’t going to like the sound of this.

“The Destructive Delta kind.”

“Shit. You want me to bring the team in on this?” Absolutely not. Out of the question. Putting his career on the line was one thing, but his teammates? He couldn’t ask them for that. It was his idea. If shit went south, he’d suffer the consequences alone.

“Depends. You got a fully equipped surveillance van?”

“Um, no. You’re the super-secret specialist or whatever.”

“Squadron Specialist Agent. Dude, I can’t just pull a vanload of high-tech equipment out of my ass. If we were going through the proper channels maybe, but not on such short notice and definitely not while you’re out playing Batman.”

“All right, I get it. But I won’t bring Cael into this.”

“You know any other boy wonder who’s got the equipment and the know-how to set up a surveillance van? Kid’s got a shit-ton of equipment in his basement.”

“How the hell do you know?” What exactly did Austen’s job as Super Spy Whatever entail? He might have to ask Sloane at some point. Was part of Austen’s job to keep tabs on them? Is that why every squad had one? If it weren’t for Sloane’s relationship with Austen, Dex wouldn’t have trusted the guy not to go running to Sparks.

“Squadron Specialist Agent,” Austen reminded him.

“Right. Lo

ok, I don’t want Cael risking his safety or his career because of me.”

Ash let out a scoff.

“What?” It was like arguing was as essential to the guy as breathing.

“You know how pissed off Cael will be if we’re found out and you didn’t tell him? Not to mention how pissed he’ll be on top of that because you didn’t trust him to make up his own mind?”

Damn it. Why the hell did Ash keep making sense? As much as Dex hated to admit it, his teammate was right. Cael would be pissed off at him if he found out Dex was keeping yet more secrets from him. Seemed like lately all he did was lie and keep secrets from his loved ones. It was starting to become a disturbing trend, one he disliked himself for. Dex kept promising Cael he’d stop treating him like a little kid, and yet he continued to make decisions for him, thinking he knew what was best.

“Okay. I’ll tell him. No promises, though. What else do we need?”

“Face it, dude. You’re going to need backup. As scary and ass-kicking as Ash is, he ain’t a hundred percent right now. Hogan is a tiger Therian, Collins is a cougar Therian, and the rest of Hogan’s crew is made up of either Felids or wolf Therians. If you insist on doing this, one lion Therian and one Human won’t be able to stop them. Plus, you’re going to need firepower. Tranqs and shit.”

Ash cursed under his breath. “Letty.”

“Duuude, have you seen that chick’s house? She’s got a fucking armory in her pantry. You open any cupboard, and I swear to Santa’s jingly balls there’s like half a dozen guns in there somewhere. I’m pretty sure she’s got grenades in the cookie jar. There’s definitely an AK next to the cans of Goya beans. I saw her take it out to clean.”

“Oh my God, you do spy on us!”

There was a long pause. “No.”

“Whatever,” Dex muttered. He didn’t have time for this. “Okay. Guns. Letty. Fine.”

“You’ll need a medic. And a huge-ass tiger Therian wouldn’t go amiss. And really, it would be stupid not to invite the sniper along.”

“Fuck me.” Dex stopped at a red light and let his head fall against the steering wheel. “Okay, so basically we need the whole team.”

“I think I said as much like twenty curse words ago.”

Dex looked over at Ash who shrugged his shoulders.

“Thank you, Ash. What an incredibly insightful shrug. It really helped me.”

“Fuck off. Destructive Delta is family, Dex. I thought you’d know that by now. The least we can do is talk to them. Let them make up their own minds.”

“Good,” Austen stated cheerfully. “We’ll meet tonight. I’ll text the address.” Austen hung up without so much as waiting for a confirmation from Dex. Guess they’d be meeting tonight.