Her eyes lit up like she’d just been offered a private tour of a rye distillery.“I was born ready, young man.Someone help me onto that chopper.”With that she swept past the other women and headed for the waiting helo.
TEN
Wait,what?
Candace lunged forward and snagged her grandma’s arm before she could take another step.For a woman her age, Ruby was in damn good shape, but her arm felt frail and delicate in Candace’s grip.Her grandmother had no business going on that helo.“No way.”
The guys stopped and looked back at them, and Grandma hiked her eyebrows up to her hairline.“Excuseme?”
“You can’t go with them.It’s insane.”Candace tugged her back toward the resort entrance, determined to drag her there if necessary.
No surprise, Grandma dug in her heels.Literally.“Don’t you dare tell me what I can and cannot do, young lady,” she snapped, indignation stamped all over her wrinkled face as she wrenched her arm free.
Fighting back the urge to yell at her, Candace sucked in a deep breath and prayed for patience.“It’s too dangerous.You have no training.”At least nothing current.
Her chin lifted, pale green eyes glittering.“I have enough training for this.For God’s sake, it’s not like I’m going to be storming the bunkers with them.”Her face brightened with excitement and she glanced back at the men.“Will I be storming the bunker with you?”
“No,” Ryan and Taylor immediately answered in unison.
Grandma’s face fell a little as she switched her focus back to Candace.“There.See?I’m just going for a little ride, and maybe a night hike to find the entrance if they need me to.”
Dammit...“Then I’m coming too.”
The instant she said it, a bolt of uncontrollable, visceral fear sliced through her.Without warning, images of that hellish mission gone wrong in eastern Afghanistan flashed through her head like a high-speed slide show.
Her heart seized, then shot into a sickening gallop, turning her hands cold and clammy.It was like she was right back there again, trapped in those mountains while a blizzard raged and the enemy hunted them.
Everything inside her froze, her lungs, her blood.Her crewman’s face was so vivid in her mind.Dover stared up at her from the edge of the cliff he dangled from, the sheer terror in his eyes sending a shudder through her now.He’d been trying to help her up the mountain when he’d slipped.
She’d watched, helpless, unable to do a damn thing for him.A moment later he’d lost his grip and fallen, his chilling screams scraping over her psyche.The sound of his body hitting the rocks was something she’d never be rid of.No amount of time or therapy could ever erase something like that.
She’d sat with him in the cave after they’d retrieved his body, sat by uselessly as he’d slipped away.Had zipped the body bag closed over his face, knowing he’d never see his wife and child again.
Ryan had been there with her.He’d been her rock, her anchor and safe haven.Losing him would kill her.It terrified her to think of the dangers he would face when he climbed out of that helo tonight, here on home soil where he and the others should all have been safe.
Shaking off the harrowing thoughts, she forced herself back to the present, then clamped her hand around her grandma’s forearm and started toward the guys.She did notwantto get on that helo.Just the thought of it made her skin crawl and her stomach pitch.
