Several shouts came from below, men firing their weapons at the giant, metal birds. Thankfully the men behind the choppers’ controls knew what they were doing.
Ghost and his team offered cover, raining gunfire down on the hostiles while the helicopter Matt was in took off. He was grateful as fuck for the men of Delta, and through his fear for Kat, felt a rush of relief when he saw Ghost and his team were in the clear.
Doing his best to control his shaking hands, Matt quickly started an I.V. Next, he administered a shot of powerful antibiotics to ward of any infection.
After checking to make sure her pulse was still present, Matt did his best to clean and dress the area the bullet had entered. There was no exit wound, which meant the bullet was still inside Kat.
Praying harder than he could ever remember, Matt kept pressure on the wound the entire way to the private airstrip where the R.I.S.C. jet was waiting. With no electronic monitors to rely on, he had to go old-school, like he had hundreds of times in the field.
Only those times were different. Those were his fellow soldiers. His brothers who’d known exactly what they were signing up for.
This time, it was Kat. And she was his…everything.
Once they were on the jet, Matt managed to keep Kat stable, but he didn’t dream of relaxing. Not even when they landed at the U.S. military base in Baghdad.
A team of doctors met them on the landing strip. After giving them his medical report, they’d promptly whisked Kat away without even giving him the chance to kiss her goodbye first. That was a good thing, though. Because this wasn’t goodbye.
Itcouldn’tbe the end. Not after he’d finally found her again.
“They’ve got her now, Matt.” Gabe squeezed his shoulder. “She’s in good hands.”
Matt looked over at his team leader. “They’d better be the best. She deserves nothing less.”
Hours later, they were all sitting and standing outside the building designated as the base’s makeshift hospital. Matt had wanted to take her to Landstuhl, the U.S. Naval hospital in Germany. But even in the private jet, the trip would’ve taken too long.
Kat was strong, yes, but a person’s body could only withstand a certain amount of trauma before it began to shut down. By the time they’d landed here, her heart rate had already begun to slowly drop.
Matt knew bringing her here was the right decision. He only hoped that decision resulted in her life being saved.
His phone dinged with an incoming text. Leaning against the metal building, Matt glanced down to see it was from Ghost.
Any word on your girl?
He responded…
Not yet.
Ghost wrote back…
Keep the faith, brother. She’s tough. She’ll pull through.
One corner of Matt’s lips almost curled. Damn, he liked those guys.
I’ll keep you posted.
He quickly typed out another text right after that one, adding…
Thanks again. For everything.
A few seconds later, Ghost wrote back…
Anytime, brother.
Matt allowed himself to grin slightly when he read that last text. The Delta guys may be on a different team, but they were brothers, all the same.
“You’re smiling.”
He looked up to see Gabe walking his way. “Ghost texted, asking about Kat.”
