“Echo One, this is Two. I’m heading to the east gate. Devil Dogs report we are surrounded.
“Echo One, this is Five.I’m at the ops center heading west to rally with Six.”
I moved to do as promised, only to feel a hand on my lower back. I turned back. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Get your ass down.”
“I’m not fucking hiding. You need someone on your six.”
“Do you even have a gun?”
He pulled a pistol out from the small of his back with a smirk. “Yeah, I do.”
“That changes nothing. Get your ass down. You have people here to protect.”
“And who’s gonna protect you?”
“I’ll be fine. Now do what I said.”
“Dammit, you’re not fucking invincible.”
“No, but I am trained,” I headed off, keeping my head down as I ran into the firefight.
With the threat neutralized, camp calmed down, but only somewhat. Afterward, everyone was on a heightened sense of alert. When I finally returned to the op center, unsure of thewelcome I would receive, Daniel was there alone. I had no clue where everyone was. I was just excited to steal a moment alone with the man.
“Hey.”
The look he gave me chilled me to the bone.
“Daniel…”
“You can fucking leave.”
My head hurt; my brow furrowed so deeply. “What are you pissed about?”
His head swiveled; my gaze followed. We were still alone. When he turned back, he hissed, “Don’t do that again.”
“What?”
His chest bumped mine, his nose came within an inch. “That shit where you treat me like useless fucking dead weight. You don’t need me, or you don’t want to need me, whatever the case may be. I get that. But as stupid as it is, I need you. I need to know you’re safe. But I don’t need you to protect me.”
Daniel stormed off, leaving me staring at his retreating back. Well, I fucked that up.
“The target package is in the mountains of the Kunar province, 23 klicks southwest of the outpost. The helo will drop you here,” Daniel said, pointing at a position on the map, “three klicks north of the target, and you’ll make your way down the mountain to the village.”
“Coming down that mountain, middle of the day…” Marcus started.
Josh, Echo Three, picked up the sentence, “Is fucking stupid.”
Chris, Echo Seven, our best shooter, stood and went to the map Daniel and Turner were standing in front of. “This looks like a great little hidey-hole. We set up here,” he pointed at one spot, then another, “and here. Then wait for the fucker to stick his head out.”
Turner said, “This is a capture-only mission. The target is likely to have high-value intel.”
“Well, that’s gonna make things interesting,” Parker said.
Turner crossed his arms. “Wheels up in four hours.”
Daniel turned and walked out of the command center. My eyes followed him. We’d not spoken outside of tactical conversations since the day the insurgents attacked the camp.
“You know he has a room of his own, right?” Parker asked, startling me.
