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“Don’t have to be a dick about it,” Matt grumbled.

Nick rolled his eyes. “Yes, he does.”

“Maybe to you.”

“You were included.”

Sean pinched the bridge of his nose, telling himself he couldn’t get away with killing them. Though he was sure plenty of people would believe Matt and Nick had somehow met with an accident, the people who counted wouldn’t.

“It’s hard to believe they’re highly trained adults,” Ricardo mentioned from beside him.

Sean turned to look at him in exasperation. “Have they always been this bad, and I’m only now noticing? Or are they so much worse than usual?”

Ricardo shrugged. “I haven’t noticed a difference.”

Sean had, but not just in how much Matt and Nick had taken to bickering. Thankfully, they rarely got into full-scale arguments, but the sound of their irritated chatter back and forth was almost worse. It didn’t help that Ricardo had somehow mastered the art of blocking them out, either choosing to ignore them or somehow finding a way not to hear them. He’d always been good at it but seemed oblivious to everything now.

The thought made him feel even worse when he realized Clint would have stopped them, somehow managing to keep the peace.

Sean growled. “I don’t care if I’m being a dick about it. You two have been doing nothing but bickering all day. You sound like little kids. You’re soldiers, highly trained, deadly soldiers. Fucking act like it.”

They shot him mutinous looks, but they finally shut up, which was all Sean could hope for. Save for finding a way to gag them, Sean didn’t know how to keep Nick and Matt from arguing. Like brothers, the two men were also very close, spending their free time around one another and knowing every detail of each other’s lives. The whole team had been close, butdespite the apparent need to argue about everything, Matt and Nick had been perhaps the closest of the original five Team Maelstrom members.

And Sean didn’t know what had happened to that.

“So, what do you want us to do?” Matt asked, barely keeping the edge from his voice.

As he felt his temper rising, he could sense Ricardo drifting away from the conversation. Nick looked like he wished he were anywhere else, and Matt looked like he was spoiling for a fight. It felt as though the four of them were rapidly spiraling out of control and away from one another, their ironclad bonds splintering and threatening to shatter under the right pressure. And despite trying, there wasn’t a thing Sean could do to stop it.

Sean’s jaw tightened. “Forget it. General Winter isn’t going to care if we leave an hour early. He’ll expect that we have our shit together by the time the next exercise comes around, so get your shit together, and let’s get out of here.”

“Yessir,” Matt shot back, annoyance clear on his face.

Ignoring him, Sean walked past the duo with Ricardo behind him. The boat that would take them back to the peninsula on which the fort sat was on the other side of the island. No doubt, Matt and Nick would have appreciated help hauling the equipment, but Sean figured they could make up for being unruly asses by lugging it back themselves.

“Do you think they’re going to have it out one of these days, or are they going to keep bickering like little old ladies until I lose my sanity?” Sean asked Ricardo once they were what he felt was a safe distance away.

“It doesn’t help when you don’t have any patience.”

Sean snorted. “I think I’ve shown them a shit ton of patience. If I didn’t, I would have knocked their heads together ages ago. They never used to fight like this.”

“And you used not to wander off and stare at the ocean, and you’ve never been the most patient of people, but you never barked at us either.”

“I always bark.”

“Not like that.”

Sean glanced at him, thought about arguing, and decided against it. There’d been enough tempers flaring and heads butting for one day. Plus, Ricardo wouldn't give him the fight he could feel himself spoiling for. The munitions expert never lost his temper and only raised his voice in a firefight to be heard above the noise of bullets and mortars. There was always a little distance in how Ricardo handled others, but that distance had never been greater than during the last few months.

“I’ve also never watched my team fall apart,” Sean finally said, looking away.

He wasn’t surprised when Ricardo said nothing, lapsing into predictable silence as they made their way through the dense trees and onto the beach. No one wanted to talk about the gaping wound in their team, still aching and bleeding months after the loss of Clint.

Clint Finer had been a good man with a clear head, and he’d also been an excellent recon and intelligence specialist. He knew exactly how to situate himself in the dynamic established by Nick, Matt, Ricardo, and Sean, and he did so with the finesse and grace that Sean had envied. Without meaning to, the man had become a key member of their team, not just in the field but back in the safety of home. He had been their brother in arms, best friend, and support.

And now he was dead.

Ricardo reached the boat and checked it over. “What are you going to tell General Winter?”