Page 41 of Cade

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Cade and Cass walked into the suite, Brent and Tolin following them. Cade looked around the room, counting heads.

“Did we get them all?” he asked. Franco’s face was dark, signs of tears marring his features. Bodhi stood next to a young man with light brown hair.

“No,” said Bodhi. “We missed one.”

“Missed one?” asked Brent, staring at Franco. “Who? Who did we miss?”

“Magee,” said Franco. “Fucking Magee. Cops were already there when we arrived. Killed his wife and kid, brother. When he realized what he’d done, he killed himself.”

“Shit,” muttered Brent. “What do we do? What now?”

“You’re going to Louisiana for a few days,” said Doc. “Our compound.”

“No offense, but I don’t really know who the fuck you guys are,” said Brent. “I let them in because Franco said it was alright, but I’m not going anywhere until someone explains.”

“Alright, Junior,” said Trevor, stepping forward. “Let me explain to you who we are. We are REAPER-Patriots. I’m a retired SEAL. Doc over there is a retired Ranger. Bodhi and Cade both retired Army. Joseph retired Delta. We are not fucking around, and neither are the people looking for you. They’d rather see you dead than back on active duty. They have no clue that we’ve found you first.

“Right now, we have the upper hand, and you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t give a shit that you’re feeling uncomfortable. We’ve got three men dead now. Three of your men because of that fucking thing they put inside you. We’re trying to help you and prevent any more deaths. If you’re out there and not offing yourself, they’re going to be happy to do it for you.

“So, you have a choice, Junior. You can sit your ass here in this rainy fucking place and wait to be picked off, or you get your sweet little Marine ass on that jet and go where we know you’ll be safe.”

Brent swallowed, looking around the room at the faces of his teammates, all in awe at the men and women surrounding them. The other faces looked less amused or awed. He nodded, standing.

“I’ll go. My apologies, sir. We didn’t know.”

“Good man,” smirked Trevor. “We just want to keep you safe.”

“Yes, sir,” he said.

A loud knock at the door had them all quiet. Bodhi looked through the peephole and grinned at the room. He opened the door to reveal Frank, Parker, Tailor, and Alec.

“Did you call for an escort service?” smirked Alec.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” said Tolin, “what are those?”

“Why does everyone say that?” asked Tailor. “Y’all, that just ain’t nice. My name is Tailor Bongard. This here is Alec Robicheaux, his nephew Frank Robicheaux, and this is Devin Parker. We are your paid escort service.”

“Well,” smirked Brent, “I’m not worried about a damn thing. How about you guys?” He turned to look at his remaining teammates, Franco smiling at his friend.

“Sir, I’d like to stay,” said Franco.

“I know you want to, Franco, but you’re at risk here. We need to get you out of Washington and somewhere they won’t expect to find you,” said Cade. “I promise, we’ll get these guys.”

“You’ll call if you need us, right, sir?”

“I will if our medical team says you’re fit to return,” said Cade. Doc nodded at the other man.

“There will be an entire team at the compound. They’ll go over you with a fine-tooth comb,” said Doc. “When you leave, you’ll be healthier than you were before all this mess.”

The men nodded, heading toward the door with part of Team Big. Franco turned, staring at the group of people.

“Don’t die for us,” he said, staring at them. “We’re Marines. That’s what we do. Ooorah!”

“Hooah,” smirked Cade. With the remaining men gone, the original team stood in the suite, staring at one another.

“We need to find Pitre and figure out how he’s involved in this fucking mess,” said Trevor. “I don’t like that he was the one giving orders. I thought he was no longer active.”

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