“I’m not—” I swallowed against the copper in my mouth. “Not dying.”
“Good,” Parker said, jaw tight.
Behind him, Marcus rose, fury carved into every line of his body, from his clenched fists to his dark, horror-filled face.
Sammy slapped my cheek lightly. “Stay with me, Alex. Don’t make this worse.”
Thewhomp whompof a helicopter sounded overhead. A full contingent of Marines flooded the alley. One of them held a very familiar face.
“A Marine Raider riding QRF?”
Walker Holt smiled, patting my shoulder. “You ready to get the hell outta here?”
I nodded, watching them lift Chris first, then me. One thought looped through the haze in my head—The target didn’t run for no reason. And as everything tilted and blurred and the noise faded in and out, all I could think was that Chris had stepped into my line of fire without hesitation.
He ran because we were supposed to chase him.
And Chris Houser had stepped into the line of fire meant for me without hesitation.
He’d taken my rounds.
CHAPTER 20
DANIEL
One secondwe had eyes on the alley—on a SEAL leaning over a teammate on the ground, on a black spot growing under another SEAL next to them, on a fourth member of Echo standing over the guy bleeding out—and the next the drone signal degraded, and the screen went black.
“Signal lost,” the tech said.
No shit, Sherlock. Fucking idiot. People who point out the obvious need to be drawn and quartered. The man I loved, my best friend, and the team of SEALs I worked alongside were under fire—two of them on the ground, one of them bleeding out.
No clue who either figure could be.
And all for a target package not worth the cost, financial or human, we just paid.
“Castle this is Echo One.”
Thank fuck! Parker’s voice pierced the air.
“We crossed Jackpot. Echo Team RTB with package, one eagle critical, one eagle down hard.”
I would ring his fucking neck when he got back.
Turning to leave so I could stress in private, I ran smack into Commander Turner. The man looked green around the gills.Xander’s life could hang in the balance because of this man. Hell, he could fucking be dead. Because this asshat thought sending his SEAL team into an ambush that led to one man dead and another critically wounded.
“You did this!” I barked, poking a finger into the Commander’s chest. “I told you this mission would go sideways. And look.—one good man is dead, and another is hanging onto his life…”
“Son, you better…”
“I’m not your son. Don’t youeverinsult my father again!” I yelled.
“Boy, you best back up and get your finger out of my chest.”
“Fuck you, Commander.”
I spun on my heel; my fists clenched. The techs and analysts gave me wide berth, glancing nervously between me and the Commander.
One eagle critical. One down hard.
