A deep snort rose from the base of Donovan’s throat. “You act like Webb did us a fucking favor.”
“Van’s right.” Chase shared a look with the other man. “Fuck Webb. We’d all still be with DEVGRU if that asshole hadn’t—”
“That asshole went all the way to the President trying to keep Black Squadron One together and active,” Logan revealed. “He’s also been looking into things on his end. As much as he can without drawing suspicion, anyway.”
The room grew silent, the tension so thick it would’ve taken a fucking machete to slice through it.
Archer’s dark gaze intensified. “What the hell are you talking about, Hayes?”
With a supportive squeeze of his hand, Natalie encouraged him to tell the guys what he’d discovered so far.
“That day the hammer came down on the team, I waited until you guys left, and I went back to SECNAV’s office.”
“Why would you waste your time doing that?” The question came from Van.
“Because I wanted to let him know exactly what I thought about the decision to end our careers over something that wasn’t our fault.” A quick glance at the woman in his arms. “I wanted to remind him of everything welostbecause someone else either fucked up or set us up.”
Chase snorted. “Fat lotta good that did.”
“It didn’t get us our Tridents back, no,” he conceded. “But I did find out that Webb went to bat for us after all that shit went down.”
Archer gave a slight tilt of his head as the man asked, “Went to bat, how?”
“Back-to-back mission failures and two unintended deaths…one of those our own man…” Logan filled his lungs and blew out a breath. “The powers that be wanted someone’s head on a spike. There were too many eyes on the situation. Too much media coverage to do their usual rug-sweep.”
“They wanted a head, so Webb handed them ours.” Donovan took a swig of his beer.
“Wrong.”Time to set the record straight.“SECNAV fought to keep the team together, but his hands were tied.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit, Van,” Logan insisted. “I saw the emails myself. Webb tried calling in every favor he had, all the way up the chain, but it didn’t matter.”
“Because they all knew if we were still active duty with all those resources at our disposal, we’d eventually uncover the truth.”
Everyone turned to Archer, who’d hit just hit the proverbial nail on the head.
Logan offered the man a nod. “And the truth is, either someone connected to that last op dropped the ball or—”
“They purposely sent your team in thereknowingyou were walking straight into the enemy’s hands.”
It was Natalie who finished the disturbing thought.
“Does SECNAV know about your new business venture?” Donovan stared at him from across the room.
“Not yet. I was waiting to see if there was even anything to tell. But that day in his office, he said if we ever need anything…” He gave each of the men a sincere glance as he swept the room. “There’s no pressure here, guys. Do this or don’t, it doesn’t change anything between us. I just know the kind of work I want to do and hammering nails and driving screws isn’t it. And if we do this…if you guys agree to come here and get this thing up and running, we’ll be able to work together to get Hunt the justice he deserves.”
“And take down the sons of bitches responsible,” Archer added with a menacing tone.
“Trust me.” Logan met the other man’s gaze. “We get to the truth; heads will definitely roll.”
“Don’t want them to roll,” Archer told him. “I want them fucking destroyed.”
A slight dip of Logan’s chin let the other man know he wanted the same.
While his men digested the entirety of the proposal they’d just been given, he and Natalie waited patiently. It was a big decision and not one he wanted them to make lightly.
Minutes later, Archer broke the tense silence.