Ward swallowed hard. “You just saidI love youlike you mean it.”
“I do mean it. I love you.” He crossed drew his finger across his heart in the shape of a cross. “I vow it.”
Ward’s hands found his face, and his fingers threaded into his hair. “Then here’s mine.” His voice shook, but his gaze didn’t waver. “I love you. In the I’d-cross-worlds-for-you kind of way. In the I-wake-up-because-you’re-beside-me way. In the I’ll-fight-like-hell-to-keep-this way.”
Viper kissed him—slow, deep, and unhurried. When they finally parted, Ward was smiling, eyes glassy, breath tangled with his.
“Night, baby,” Ward whispered. “I love you.”
Viper didn’t even blink. “I love you, too. Night.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Saonae Island
The heatstill rose off the rock in shimmering waves. Even days later, standing near the lava field was still like being in a sauna, but hotter. The cooling lava still emitted gases in more places than Viper was comfortable with. The rock would take weeks or maybe even months to be cool enough to touch. “None of you assholes are to step on any black rock,” he warned, “because we can’t tell what’s solid and what isn’t.”
He stood at the edge of the lava field, a bundle of sweat-soaked clothing in one gloved hand and a branch in the other. He draped the battered uniform on the branch and dragged it over the steaming hot lava, burning and scorching it in places so it would look like the uniform he’d worn during the eruption.
Behind him, the others followed suit. Ward was the one who had suggested it, reminding them that their uniforms had to look like they’d spent two hellish days dodging falling ash and lava.
“Thanks,” Viper said quietly. He made sure to keep his voice low enough that only Ward would hear him. “If you hadn’t thought of this, we would’ve looked too clean. No burns, no rips, not even ash... they’d have asked questions, for sure.”
Ward winked at him. “Just goes to show that you didn’t have a bad boy era in high school. Always cover your ass, twice if possible.”
“Mission accomplished.” Reaper stepped back from the flames, shaking off the embers from his destroyed uniform. “If you’d told me last week that I’d be destroying my uniform, I’d have punched you in the mouth for speaking such lies.”
Viper silently agreed. It went against everything that they were to desecrate a United States Uniform, even a covert black ops one. But to keep his men safe, he’d deal with the guilt that doing so wrought.
Kaze smirked, then yelped when he got too close to the lava because he hadn’t been watching what he was doing. “Hell of a cover story. Lost in the blast, hunkered in a lava tube, and climbed our way out of hell.”
Zero scratched behind his ear and tossed a damp glove onto the pile. “I’ve heard worse origin stories.”
“No one gets out of a volcanic eruption looking like a shampoo commercial,” Juice added. “We’d be dead giveaways without the grime.”
Viper stepped back. “We gotta find some fallen ash that’s cooled enough and roll around in it like hogs in a mud hole.” There was absolutely no point in having their uniforms all singed and dinged up if they themselves were clean as a whistle. “Alright,” he said, voice slipping into command again. “Find me cold ash, stat.”
The team moved as one, stepping away from the smoldering pile and fanning out across the field, checking for cool enough ash to roll in. Their movements were silent, professional, andpracticed. Each of them had slipped back into operator mode with frightening ease.
“Got some that’s lukewarm,” Reaper called. He dropped to the floor and rolled over and back, coating himself from head to toe in the ashes. One after the other, they followed Reaper’s lead until they resembled filthy gray ghosts.
Ward wiped his hands across his face, smudging the ashes until he too was a filthy mess.
“Ready?” Viper asked, stepping up beside him.
“Yeah. Let’s finish this.”
Viper stepped a few paces away from the others, pulled his field radio from his pack, and extended the short antenna. The handset crackled to life in his gloved hand, and he took a breath, then keyed the mic. “TOC, Volcano One, how copy?”
He cocked his head to one side and listened to the static. He was just about to repeat the call when a clear but agitated voice answered.
“Volcano One, this is TOC. All Stations, status, One—stat.”
He glanced back at the others, all spread out in a wide semicircle on the beach, looking like they'd crawled through hell and clawed their way back.
“Crispy around the edges,” Viper said, “but all accounted for. Seven survivors. No KIAs. Requesting immediate extraction. Current position grid coordinates transmitting now—code Delta-Seven-Charlie, standby.”
There was a slight pause followed by, “Coordinates received, Volcano One. Copy seven souls. You’re on a secure line, Sir. What’s your condition?”
