“Oh,” she said, suddenly understanding.
Intense and grueling, training missions were designed to test a team’s reaction under stress. They were orchestrated to be as realistic as possible, except they weren’t. No one was trying to kill them during a training exercise.
“I’ve heard good things about you.” He pulled out the hose to his CamelBak and took a long pull of water. “Your team is impressed by you.”
“Thank you.”
“I have to say, I was a bit nervous.”
“About the mission?”
He shook his head. “I don’t mean to be a dick about it, but I have to be honest…”
“You didn’t think I could do the job.” She finished his sentence and found her irritation rising again.
Miles needed to shut up.
He grinned. “I didn’t.” He took another long drink. “I was wrong. Thought you should know that.” He scrambled to his feet and joined Collins and Warren at the ridgeline.
Drummond moved up to her position. “You okay, T?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Miles is a piece of work, isn’t he?”
“If you mean, he’s cocky as shit, arrogant as fuck, and overly presumptive, then yeah, I’d say so.”
Drummond laughed. “This is true, but aren’t we all?”
She rolled her eyes and gave a soft laugh. “Now, that is the truth.”
Shots rang out in the valley below. Gunfire exchanged for several heart-stopping moments. Then, silence split the night.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Pyrotechnics
RYKER
“Germany!”Ryker howled. “You want me to go to fucking Germany?” His mouth gaped at the absurdity of the idea. “This is supposed to be a local gig.”
Forest laughed. “Funny, but I was expecting that reaction. You should try to be less predictable.”
“Predictable, my ass. Nobody said anything about leaving the deployment theater.”
“I can’t believe you don’t want to get out of here.”
Leaving Afghanistan meant leaving Tia behind. Rock-and-roll dreams aside, he had priorities. Top on that list was the woman who not only made his dick hard, but had also somehow managed to make his heart ache.
“I’m not leaving.” He emphasized his words with a stomp of his boot.
Forest’s eyes cut down to the ground, and a smirk bounced on his lips. “You’re doing whatever your orders say,Sergeant.” Forest washaving too much fun with this exchange. The asshole cracked a huge grin. “That includes going to England.”
“What the fucking fuck? England, too?” This was madness and not what he’d agreed to.
Unfortunately, Forest had one thing right. He’d go wherever his orders dictated. In the military, the one thing a person didn’t own was the right to decide their fate.
“We leave tonight,” Forest said, striding away. “Right after the concert.”
