Chapter 1
Camp Eagle Claw,classified location Afghanistan…
The Afghanistan desert would have made the devil himself sweat, not that the devil was brave enough to set up headquarters in this godforsaken land. Only the United States Special Forces would be sick enough to pick the meanest valley in the Middle East as its home away from home.
Even the insects were AWOL. The only creatures crawling across the sand were the death dealers – scorpions, snakes and Special Forces.
Operative Aaron Speirs, assistant medical sergeant and weapons expert, bent over and gripped the metal bar in front of him, working on his fourth set of dead lifts in the spotted shade provided by the camo net over Task Force Scorpions, TF-S, camp.
Up, down. Three hundred ninety-five pounds, nearly twice his bodyweight an extreme amount guaranteed to give him arthritis by retirement but he wasn't worried about that since most men in the Teams didn't live to see their fiftieth birthday. Sweat ran in rivulets down his shirtless chest, dropped to the scorched earth with a sizzle and evaporated instantly.
Up, down. One more round of lifts and he might fall outfrom weariness, which was exactly what he intended. He couldn't stop thinking about Celine Latimer with her perfect platinum hair and soulful eyes. He couldn’t forget the taste of her strawberry flavored lip gloss or the fact that it was his fault she’d been kidnapped.
Up, down. Another lift. Aaron's exhausted muscles screamed in protest, but he kept moving, ignoring the pain.
Why had he turned her away?
Because he knew what would happen if he let himself care about her – he’d lose her just like he’d lost his mother.
He yanked the weight up hard. How many people had to die before he learned his lesson?
He’d buried his mom ten years ago, someone else had dug the grave but he’d put her there. The memories crashed into him. Her blank stare when he’d found her on the bathroom floor, blood flooding from her wrists. Dammit, how could he have been so blind? If only he’d been paying closer attention…
Aaron ground his teeth together and held the ungodly weight high, fighting the cold seeping into his chest. But no matter how hard he tried to resist another image flashed. Shane falling to his death in that ambush, his scream cut off when he hit the ground.
Celine.
The hurt in her eyes when he’d cold shouldered her…all because he couldn’t face the fact he’d been unable to hold his vow to never do to a woman what his father did to his mother.
Now they were all gone. Guilt bred and multiplied in him, taking over everything else.
“Dammit, Speirs, drop the weight before you crush your spine.” Ethan Slade, communications sergeant and Aaron’s best friend, strained under the weight of his bench press five feet away.
Aaron blinked the blinding brightness of the desert into focus, shoved the memories down and turned to Ethan with ablank expression.
Ethan racked his weight and shot upright. “Don’t give me that fucking look. I know exactly what you’re thinking.”
Aaron let the weight crash to the ground, ignored the sweat stinging his eyes and reached for the barbell again. “Giving up already?”
He had no intention of letting Ethan go at another one of his amateur counseling sessions.
Ethan ignored the barb and mopped the moisture from his face with a nearby towel. “You need to ease up, give yourself a break.”
“Celine’s not getting a break. Caroline’s not getting a break.”That dammed thought crept into his nightmares every single night.
“You drowning in guilt won’t save them either.” Ethan tossed the towel on the bench and stood.
He stood, pulling the bar up with him. “Who said anything about guilt? I’m out for revenge. Cold and simple. Guilt hasn’t got anything to do with it.”
Ethan strode to Aaron’s gym bag and yanked out Aaron’s BDU jacket. “Really?” He ripped open the front pocket and pulled out two photos. “Then why do you carry their pictures over your heart?”
Ethan held the pictures up right in Aaron’s line of vision. His mom’s sad smile mocked him. The one screen shot he’d taken with Celine taunted him.
“Fuck you.”
Those pictures were the ghosts that haunted him daily for his fuck up.
Ethan didn’t relent, instead he shoved their faces closer. “You couldn’t have done anything to stop it, bro. She wanted to go after your dad left.”
