often called a poor man’s atom bomb. A barrel filled with cylinders containing chlorine gas was dropped from a helicopter. There was no explosion, just a deadly vapor as the broken canisters full of noxious gas leaked, causing respiratory failure, chemical burns, blindness, and a whole host of other issues.
“Anything else?” I prompted.
“Dr. Davidson is ambitious, and when I say that, I really mean obsessed.” She paused again and pinched her lips, wanting to say more but under strict policy not to. “He wanted Lore by any means necessary. Some of the tactics he’d suggested went against the rules of engagement. When called out on those actions, he fervently argued that capturing Lore was more important.”
“Who called him out?” Trey inquired.
“I did. And that was not the first argument I had with the man about his tactics.”
“Fuck,” Drake mumbled.
“Can you give us anything else?” I asked, knowing my question was futile.
“All I can tell you is Dr. Davidson spent a lot of time with the Lieutenant Colonel and he’s not my biggest fan.”
I glanced at Carter. He was studying his cousin carefully and looked like he had something to add but was holding back.
“What’s on your mind, Carter?”
“Is Dr. Dickwad the type of man to hold a grudge?”
The air around the room turned stagnant. Most of the hostility was rolling off of Drake, but plenty was coming from Trey, Luke, Matt, and Logan. The men were close to Liberty, but out of those four, it was Trey whose eyes narrowed. Liberty and Trey were tight, they’d bonded after the bombing in Lebanon that had ended Trey’s naval career. Drake for obvious reasons had serious unease about his fiancée going out on missions with her special forces team while the person responsible for her capture was still unknown. Carter, too, had obvious reasons. But it wasn’t until that moment I’d caught on to how deep that bond had dug in. We were all naturally protective, but Trey’s large frame vibrated with anger.
“I don’t know the man well enough to say for sure,” Liberty said. “He doesn’t like me. He didn’t before I questioned him, but having the audacity to speak my mind royally pissed him off.”
“Why?” Carter pushed.
With a long-suffering sigh, Liberty looked at her cousin and gave him a small frown.
“You know how it is. SEALs, Rangers, Special Forces, they’re all the same in that it’s a boys’ club. I knew that going in. I knew I had a long row to hoe. I knew I had more to prove than any man there. I knew whoever I was paired with as my battle buddy was gonna think he drew the short straw. I’m not as strong as the men I trained with and I never will be. That’s not a weakness, not when I’m smart enough to recognize that, work around it, and not try to front like I can carry a two-hundred-pound man five miles when I absolutely could not. Ranger school was a bitch, but I knew that going in. It took a while for the men around me to see I wasn’t asking for special treatment. I didn’t want my standards lowered because I was a woman. Eventually, every man came around but only after I proved my worth.
“Special Forces training was worse. Way worse. I caught shit and I had to eat it because I had no choice. I had to prove myself all over again and I did. No favors, no special treatment, no female standards—either I could do what the men had to do or I had no business being there. But in the end, it was worth it, I proved something. Not to them, to myself. But even though I demonstrated—repeatedly—that I’d earned my place the same way every man had, there are still those who believe that the Special Forces community should only allow men into the club. And that goes across all branches in the military. But it is not my job to change their minds. My job is to complete whatever mission I’m sent on. And that first clusterfuck of a mission notwithstanding, I am damn good at my job.”
“So, he doesn’t like you because you’re a woman?” Carter bit out.
“He doesn’t like me because he’s one of the good ol’ boys who still believes a woman has no place in battle. He couldn’t hide the fact he hated that I’m a female lieutenant in the Army who happens to be the OIC of a special forces element and