Chapter Twenty-Four Tyler #3
“So are the people who believe in these ideologies, drinking gallons of the old Kool-Aid. Even if the originators are gone, decades of bullshit lead new blood to adopt old causes. With AI and deepfakes blurring reality, propaganda’s now a weapon they wield better than we do.
Propaganda isn’t just talk—it’s started genocides like the Holocaust, whipped crowds into massacres like Rwanda, pushed nations into wars like the Spanish-American conflict, and spun lies that sent thousands to die in Iraq.
Who’s to say some batshit new blood won’t or hasn’t come along, decided someone’s old cause is their new cause, and taken action to make it happen? ”
“I hear you, but that’s our world.”
“That, brother, is fucked. That’s not my world, and won’t be my children’s world either—not if I can help it.” He shakes his head. “Even if I’m way off with what they’ve done so far, I fear it’s a warning that they have something bigger planned. With every attack, casualties nearly triple, right?”
I nod grimly.
“Which means … Fuck”—his expression turns somber—“the next hit will be catastrophic.”
“Sean—”
His wary eyes pin mine. “I can’t let my kids grow up in this shit, Tyler.”
“We’ll find them,” I assure. “Donovan’s working day and night, not resting until they’re caught. T’s just as obsessed, and Preston and I aren’t sleeping on this. We will get them.”
Sean nods. “Keep an open mind, okay, brother? We can’t rule anything out with these morally disillusioned wannabe deities doling out death like it’s their right.
They keep setting the bar higher. That’s not tinfoil—it’s fact.
And America turns two hundred and forty-six this year.
That’s not coincidence. It’s purposeful. They’re telling us something.”
“I’ll never dismiss you. I think we’ve got too little to latch onto, but I’ll look into everything,” I promise.
“I’ll keep digging, too.”
“Yeah, because I’m sure you’ll find the bad guys on the internet you despise.” I widen my eyes. “But do me a favor—don’t solder your tin hat on yet. You haven’t been married so long that Tessa can’t realize her error and toss you back at us. We’re fine with her having permanent custody.”
“Fuck you,” he chuckles. “I know it’s some 1984 shit, but you’re the one who confirmed aliens are real and got my dick hard. When is Preston telling the world about that?”
“They already know.” I shrug.
He cocks his head. “How?”
“Because your people have been on YouTube for years,” I quip before we all chuckle, Clint included.
“Whatever, dick. So, what’s the game plan for tonight?”
“This lead was too hard to come by not to get us somewhere. Donovan had to dig deep for this address, and to identify and pinpoint the location of these three. The intel came from a mix of signal intercepts, scrubbed satellite captures, and HUMINT pulled from weeks of tracking anomalous communications through darknet forums. Donovan spent weeks sifting through fake chatter to find signatures and consistent supply drops, ultimately greenlighting this op. We’re going in small to keep a somewhat low profile.
You’ll be Charlie team in, after action.
” I give him a pointed look. “And if you give me any shit about that, I’m sending you home, blanked out with a knot on your skull for Tessa to deal with. ”
“Define somewhat low profile.” He animates, ignoring my warning. “Can I at least get the tactical plan?”
The car comes to a stop, and I give him a slow, spreading smile, forever thankful we spent our last summer as boys together, nailing battle strategies and formations at my farm.
“I know that look, and hell yes.” He latches onto my intent, before I can even get a word out. “Let’s go.”
“Chow first.”
“Chow.” He shakes his head ironically. “Once a Marine, always a Marine, huh?”
I widen my eyes and mouth a “rah.”
The sun-soaked crinkles of his own eyes deepen as he speaks up. “You okay, man, for real? You know … about …?”
Just as the question leaves him, the door opens, and large hands grip his T-shirt before he’s jerked out of the SUV.
“Hey, hey! I know you missed me, you French bastard, but there’s no need to fuck up a fresh T,” Sean grumbles as Tobias roughs him up beneath the awning of the Michelin star restaurant.
My team having already done their sweep, the Secret Service spaced every few blocks until our departure.
The restaurant itself is closed to the public until its actual opening later tonight, gifting us this rare stolen time together.
As Sean dodges T’s playful swings, he manages to spout a greeting for Cecelia. “Hey, pup.”
“Hey back,” she giggles, her spreading smile taking up her gorgeous face as her twinkling dark blues find mine where I still sit in the SUV.
As Tobias continues to maul Sean, I lift my chin to her in greeting, blocked by Tobias’s rare show of affection.
Of happiness. One that’s becoming a lot less rare as the months pass with Cecelia by his side.
Knowing that, Cecelia holds my gaze, our mutual relief at seeing them in this way after endless years of the opposite. The two of them are now in a place neither of us thought was possible, even after their heavy-hearted exchange after taking Antoine down.
It’s in the split second before stepping out of the car, when I catch Clint’s eyes in the rearview and see his own concern—for me—that I realize my shield has been inched down. Whoever he sees staring back at him has him on edge.
Am I okay?
Within a blink, an image of Larissa threatens to fill my headspace—eyes filled with lust, lips parted with the call of my name.
The remembrance of the sound of it has an ancient stirring humming in my veins.
My cock twitches in my pants as more images threaten to replay, just before the bred soldier in me steps up and wipes them out.
Larissa DiCicco has no place amongst us and never will.
As for me, and how I feel … I gaze over at the people I love and, in watching them, easily summon my answer—it’s irrelevant.
I’m a weapon, nothing more.
* * *
Pulling a pin from the grenade, I stalk toward the open sedan under the cover of the trees as I clip out my order. “Alpha, stack up left. Bravo, right flank. Breach on my count—three, two, one … Breach, breach!”
Right on cue, I drop the bomb through the open window and into the guard’s lap just as Donovan and our Alpha team splinter the doors of the house.
Within seconds, twelve of my most trusted start to clear every floor, every hallway, and every closet of the two-story colonial.
Short spurts of gunfire ensue as I blink in my tunnel vision, taking out two guards running next to the house before they get a chance to take aim.
Within a few heartbeats, we’ve fully surrounded it.
Russell had blasted both his drones to clear all surrounding grounds free of any debris just after the doors were dusted. With the perimeter secured, I rest a little easier knowing Tobias remains with Cecelia idly in a nearby car.
When Cecelia insisted on coming, I couldn’t stomach sticking T on any team, even knowing an argument would follow.
The last one had ended in an ass-biting from Cecelia, who called me a ‘misogynistic GI Joe.’ Her rare lashing-out at me was warranted, but overruled by my incentive to protect her.
My promise to Tobias forever on the forefront, and if something happens to her, I’ll be forced to keep it.
Doing so means losing them both. An oath that has never sat right with me since I made it, even with my capabilities.
A promise I plan on making him relinquish as soon as he’s found a more stable footing in being a relationship man.
But as I glance back toward their idling SUV, a sinking feeling sets in.
As the snaps stop altogether, I realize we got little to no resistance in this mission.
There was far too little fight given to guard someone of fundamental importance.
I carefully watch the door for long minutes, the weight in my bones growing heavier by the second when no one, zip-tied and hooded, is escorted through.
“Clear,” Donovan snaps in irritation.
“Nest!” Donovan and I both bark in unison. “Where are they?”
“Infa says they’re still in the house, bottom floor,” Russell claps back.
“Negative,” Cooper, our Bravo team leader, reports from the ground floor. “Clear, there’s no underground.”
“The fuck?” Russell counters, confusion rattling his voice. “Give me a minute.”
“Less than,” I snap, my hackles continually rising.
Just after, Tobias pulls Cecelia from the SUV, and both their silhouettes disappear beneath the cover of thick trees. Tobias feels it, too. It’s then that I sense the same evil I have half a dozen times or more. The same prickly stillness in the air.
Something isn’t right.
Glancing back, I see Sean strapped up and masked nearby, idling as promised, but with one foot out of his van.
Sensing his eagerness to join, I hold up my fist to stop all movement.
When he begrudgingly nods, I rush toward the house.
Making it within a few quick strides, I stop the last of my Bravo team from filing in before he gets a chance to clear the open door.
“Go cover Royalty,” I order in code for T and Cecelia, feeling the edge of something important on the horizon. Our solid lead, the one that took us too fucking long to follow, is quickly proving a laid trap, but for whom?
Within a blink, the answer comes to me—they’re identifying.
“Keep covered, not an inch of skin!” I stamp out, knowing it’s most likely too late for some who’ve already heard the all clear. “Back to the nest,” I snap over the line just as my spine pricks with awareness.