Chapter Twenty-Seven Audrey
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Audrey
After Chandler’s revelation, Alex took an immediate step closer to the screen. “What are you saying?”
Chandler let a quiet moment pass. “Before you guys joined us—and before private SEAL teams existed—there was Stratos.”
“Stratos?” Reed echoed. “Greek for army or multitude. Represents unity and power.”
Chandler stood, the tan, aged skin on his forehead creasing even more.
“There have been clandestine units operating without congressional approval or knowledge since as far back as the Cold War era. Different programs. Different motives. Always changing under different presidents. Rydell and Bennett are the only two to ever see eye to eye and pass the baton instead of burying it.”
“We’re clearly aware of that,” Ryder acknowledged, “given what my team does now. But we didn’t know these kinds of teams went back that far.”
“Stratos was created in response to the attacks on September 11. A unit composed of what they called ghost operatives. Men willing to have their identities erased. Men without family that could put country over self.” He stared down at the desk, shoulders hunched forward.
“They handled the dirtiest and most sensitive missions. Ones no one wanted their fingerprints on. That’s what I was told, at least. They had the perfect cover stories and airtight alibis, because as far as the world was concerned, they either didn’t exist, or they were—”
“Dead,” I whispered, my stomach no longer sick but free-falling.
Chandler slowly looked up without meeting anyone’s eyes.
“President Rydell wanted nothing to do with the unit. He had it shut down when he was inaugurated in 2013, then started up his own teams. Bravo, Echo, and now Charlie Team.” Chandler lifted his chin, eyes on Ryder.
“Now President Bennett has brought Delta Shield in as well. But you’re the only groups, outside of the help we get from Falcon Falls Security here and there, that works these types of off-grid ops now. ”
“Are you saying Mitch found out somehow that Stratos used to exist, and he was looking to expose a unit that had already been terminated?” Ryder asked him.
“No.” Chandler closed his eyes. “What I’m saying is, Mitch discovered Stratos was resurrected from the dead, and without President Bennett’s knowledge.
” Eyes open, he continued, “Mitch said he had files about the original program, as well as intel on the reboot of Stratos and who’s behind it.
He promised he’d turn over the evidence once he was secure in the safe house. Only he never had a chance.”
“Was it a drone strike that took out his vehicle? Bodies so burned you couldn’t even identify his remains?” Ryder guessed.
“Yes, but there was DNA evidence,” Chandler confirmed. “Though I suppose it could’ve been faked somehow.”
“And the key Audrey unknowingly had in her possession unlocks some type of safe or vault that holds the evidence he has on Stratos?” Ryder continued.
Right in front of me all that time.
“Mitch knew when you faked his death in the crash, his wedding band would be returned to Audrey with his personal effects,” Reed pointed out. “It was a calculated move, and from the sounds of it, he had no intention of turning anything over to you.”
“That means Audrey’s not just Mitch’s target,” my brother began while rising. “She’s become a liability to whoever’s currently running Stratos, since by now, if we know he’s alive, they must know, too.”
“Why wait until now, though?” I shook my hands out at my sides, joining Ryder on his feet. “Why not come for the key sooner? Why wait so long?”
Ryder turned to face me, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he shared, “Self-preservation. The second he came after you, he knew he’d signal to the world—to both Stratos and the government—that he wasn’t dead. That makes him a target, not just you.”
“If Mitch is truly alive and behind what’s going on, he needed someone on the outside to help him escape the transport vehicle to the safe house,” Alex said, his attention on Chandler for answers.
“We’d assumed there’d been a leak inside JSOC, someone with ties to whoever started up Stratos again, and they wanted Mitch and the evidence buried.
But we couldn’t find the source despite only a handful of people knowing the location.
So we believed it was a cyber breach, not a human one.
” Chandler dropped back into his seat like the weight of this was too heavy.
“We clearly never caught who was behind it.”
“We need everything you’ve got on Stratos.
Including files on anyone who knew your plans with Mitch to fake his death and take him to the safe house,” Ryder began, voice deep and authoritative despite who he was speaking to.
“If you want us to find a ghost, we can’t be working with guesses.
And the files Gwen gave to Gray to send us might as well have been pages from a coloring book.
Too much was blacked out. We need the unredacted versions on everything and everyone. ”
“I can do some of that. But unfortunately, there’s nothing on Stratos to give you. Everything was scrubbed from existence the second President Rydell declined continuing with the unit.”
“Why?” I couldn’t help but ask—probably the only one who wouldn’t get it right away, since I’d never served.
“To protect the current president from what the former one did. He kept his hands clean of Stratos by not knowing anything about it.” He drew his hands together, tapping his fingers against his lips.
“All information, along with their missions, was destroyed. One former Stratos team leader who’d been in charge of ops, but not an operator himself, was tasked with shutting it all down and assigning the men new identities and relocation packages. ”
“The president back then . . . he died two years ago,” Ryder said after exhaling a frustrated breath. “What about the guy who was responsible for ending it all? Can he help? Or is he possibly a problem for us, too? He had access to everything, so maybe he—”
“He’s also dead. No help to us now.” Chandler quickly shut down Ryder’s hope with that answer.
“And when did this new unit start up, according to Mitch?” That’s assuming we actually trust what he said.
“Four years ago.” Chandler dropped his hands to his lap as he added, “I had my best people, including my daughter, dig into everything after he was killed, but all roads were dead ends.”
“Because the only two people who knew what happened were literally dead,” I said in understanding. “Or fake-dead, and you didn’t have their names to track them down to question.”
“Precisely,” he confirmed.
Reed spoke up. “The man who helped shut down Stratos . . . President Rydell clearly knew who he was since you do, and he must’ve trusted him. But given the fact we have a problem with dead men not being dead lately, you sure he is? If anyone would know how to fake his death, it’d be him.”
“No, he’s dead. And unfortunately, he betrayed President Rydell’s trust in 2018 and wound up in the same kind of CIA black site prison Beth’s in now,” he answered while shooting a quick glance Alex’s way.
He paused and took a breath, then continued: “That man helped Rydell launch Bravo and Echo Teams. He practically wrote the handbook on the units, promising him he’d apply what he knew from Stratos to prevent the same mistakes being made. ”
“I’m sorry, what?” Ryder circled the coffee table to stand closer to the screen like he might reach out and grab the man’s tie, then use it to strangle someone.
I had a few ideas who’d make a great target. Mitch. Beth. Rhett. To name a few.
“Who was he?” my brother snapped when Chandler remained eerily quiet.
“Will Hobbs, alongside Bravo One’s sister, helped recruit Bravo One; then Will became a liaison for Bravo and Echo for five years before Bravo found out Will was a traitor.”
“You’re telling me this former Stratos guy was one of the architects behind the president’s teams, and he’s a traitor, and he’s also dead?” Ryder hissed, hands clenching at his sides. Ready for war.
“It gets worse,” Alex rasped, and I looked over at him as that bad feeling in my gut intensified. “Will Hobbs was a good friend of Beth’s.”