Which one?
Parker was okay. That I knew.
Someone was critical. Someone was dead.
My mind ran through the roster. Every name, every face.
Alex. Jason. Chris. Dom. Marcus. Josh. Sammy. Their faces flashed before my eyes as if they were flashing up on the monitors. The worst-case scenario—Alex being dead—made me feel like the worst prick imaginable.
“What’s their ETA?” I asked, looking back at the useless piece of shit that was their commander.
He stood, legs splayed, arms crossed over his chest, his face devoid of any emotion. He shook his head so slightly I thought I imagined it. But then he did it again before turning and leaving the command center.
“Twenty minutes,” the intel petty officer responded.
“Do we know…”
She shook her head. “No, sir. We won’t know who until they’re on the ground. No names are to be used over the air.”
I nodded. I knew this.
So my option was to wait here and be a zoo exhibit for the command center or…
“Call me if there are any changes.”
“Yes, sir,” the intel petty officer said.
“Thanks, Petty Officer Rakes.”
“You’re welcome, sir.”
I turned for the door, my hand gripped the knob, and the sheer amount of willpower it took not to jerk it off the fucking hinges nearly did me in.
Twenty minutes later, I stood on the edge of the airfield, waiting for…fuck it sounded cheesy as hell…my fate to be decided. How I fucking fell in love over the course of a couple of stolen moments with a closeted, Navy SEAL who hated relationships and love and who felt that needing someone made you weak and powerless, and wasn’t even old enough to buy alcohol legally beat the shit out of me.
But I had.
A relieved sob choked me. I thanked God I bucked up and told him how I felt about him before the team rolled out for this mission. The thought that he could be dead, that he could’ve left this world without knowing how much I loved him gutted me.
Rotor blades beat the air, getting louder the closer they got. It was too fucking dark to see anything until…the lights on the chopper broke through the darkness. My heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing all kicked into overdrive, setting my nerve endings on fire…
“Please God.”
“Agent Lennox?”
“Yeah,” I responded, not taking my eyes off the wicked big metal bird slowly lowering itself to the ground.”
“Agent Lennox, you need to come with us, sir.”
“I dunno know what you want, but it’ll have to wait,” I stepped onto the tarmac as the tires of the Blackhawk hit the asphalt.
Two hands wrapped themselves around my elbows, halting me in my steps.
“No sir. Under UCMJ Article 128, you’re being arrested for assaulting a superior officer…”
I watched Parker jump out of the chopper as the medical unit rushed forward. His gaze swept the area, landing on me. He turned and spoke to Marcus—so it wasn’t either of them—before he rushed toward me.
“Gentlemen, I swear to you, he’s not a terrorist. Just a know it all mouthy Boston Mick.”
