Page 25 of Devlin

The door opened, and Todd and Cole stepped inside. Devlin looked up as Todd dropped onto his own bunk. “What kind of satellite view can Sadie get for us?”

“She’s good,” Cole answered. “But if we want a deep dive, we might need to loop in Mace’s team in Maine. He’s got a power couple on staff who can pull just about anything.”

“I forget you’ve got a tie-in with the other LSI locations,” Todd said.

“I worked with your brother Blake… well, William.”

Todd nodded, as he looked at Devlin. “My younger brother, William Blake, works for Mace in Maine. My younger sister now works for Carson in California and is married to another Keeper.”

Devlin pulled out his phone and dialed LSIMT. It was the middle of the night there, but LSI was a twenty-four-hour operation. Someone would pick up.

“Devlin? You’ve got Casper.”

“Now that we’re boots on the ground, it’s clear we won’t be able to pinpoint what’s happening without satellite support. Cole thinks we might need to bring in Mace’s people. Logan can make that call, but we need visuals on nighttime truck activity in the meantime—particularly heading west toward the Congo border. Start with the refugee village of Sweswe, but expand to all the villages if possible. We need to know who’s coming and going at night. Especially if they’re heading to the west and the Congo border.”

Casper let out a low whistle. “That’s a tall order, but I’ll get Sadie on it. Logan will be briefed first thing, and I’ll update you as soon as I have something.”

“That’s all I can ask,” Devlin said. “And I’ll check with the FSO here. I’ll pin down dates and times. That’ll give Sadie more specifics.”

Casper added, “Everything going okay there?”

Devlin hesitated, his eyes flicking to Todd and Cole, who watched him closely. They might not know everything, but they could sense when something personal weighed on a man.

“For now,” Devlin answered. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

Disconnecting the call, he leaned back against the wall, exhaling heavily as he gathered the maps and notes. The room remained silent, but he could feel the weight of his teammates’ stares. They were patient.

He clenched his jaw, hating talking about his history. Hated the vulnerability of it. But this wasn’t just his past. This involved Mia, and whether he liked it or not, that meant his teammates deserved to know at least the basics. Todd and Cole mirrored his posture—seated, forearms resting on their thighs, waiting until he was ready to speak.

Finally, Devlin sighed. “Alright. I’ll give you the short version so you know what I’m facing.”

“You don’t owe us anything,” Cole said, shaking his head.

Todd nodded. “Your past, your business.”

“I appreciate that,” Devlin admitted. “But when it comes to Mia, you need to understand. Especially since my mission here isn’t just about this case any longer. I need to protect her. And I also need to reconnect with her if she’ll let me.”

They nodded, giving him the space to continue.

“You already know the beginning… high school sweethearts. Dated all through college, stayed together after. I went into the Marines, then SEAL training. Mia went to grad school near the base. We made it work, even with the separations. By the time I finished BUD/S, we were living together and talking about marriage, kids, the whole thing.”

Todd let out a low whistle. “Sounds like the great American love story.”

Devlin held his gaze, surprised by how true the words felt. “It was. Until I blew it to hell.”

He exhaled slowly, rubbing a hand down his face. The words were hard to say, even now. “We had a mission that went sideways. Two of my team members died. A few others were injured. One of the guys was married and had kids. When I got back, I had to watch his wife crumble. The team was given a few weeks off to deal with everything, and I spent most of them at the bottom of a bottle.”

He shook his head. “Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Mia getting that same knock on the door. I kept thinking about how she was at the point in her program when she was looking at jobs—figuring out where in the world she might want to work. And it got in my head. Messed me up. I convinced myself that maybe I should let her go, give her the freedom to make choices without me tying her down.”

A heavy blanket of silence settled between them. Todd was the first to speak, his expression dark. “I swear, man, the only thing I can think of that would’ve blown that apart was cheating. But I know you. And even though I didn’t know you back then, I know you wouldn’t do that.”

Devlin nodded, his throat tight. He had worried they might look at him differently, but neither man’s expression held judgment—only understanding.

“There are things I need to say to Mia first,” he admitted. “She deserves the full truth before anyone else. But let’s just say that something happened, and I knew it would make her walk away.” His voice dropped lower, thick with regret. “Because I didn’t have the fucking strength to just let her go.”

Cole and Todd exchanged a glance.

“You broke her heart,” Todd said quietly. “But you never betrayed her.”

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