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“Hey,” Fish whisper-yells. “I don’t need any loose cannons on this. You’re too worked up to be anything but a liability. Your ass stays right here until we call for you.”
The big former Marine looks ready to fight the SEAL leader but backs down, knowing he’d have to take on all of them if he tried. Aaron growls out a warning to the SEALs, “If you get her killed, there won’t be anywhere you can hide.”
Fish gives Aaron a solemn nod, and the SEAL team disappears into the jungle. The men move like ghosts, surrounding the shack and taking down the kidnappers in a matter of minutes.
The second the last man falls, Aaron drops his gear, racing through the jungle to reach Sadie. As he nears the shack, an arm suddenly falls across Aaron’s chest, barring him from entering the makeshift prison. The SEAL holding him back speaks with an Australian accent, “Hold on, mate. Let the doctor check out your friend and get her covered.”
“Doctor?” Aaron asks skeptically.
“Bona fide MD,” the man answers with a grin.
From inside the structure, the so-called doctor calls out, “Ink, come get a shirt from my pack or hand me one of yours. Better yet, see if Skin has any spare clothes. They’d fit better.”
“You don’t need it,” Aaron says. “I grabbed some of her stuff for when we found her.”
Aaron’s eyes plead with the man called Ink, who finally releases him. Fish walks by and claps him on the back. “Evac should be here in fifteen minutes.”
Overcome with relief, Aaron stares through the hole in the wall, needing a second to steel his nerves before entering. When he finally walks inside, the doctor is dabbing at a cut on Sadie’s cheek. She’s now lying squarely on the cot, having been righted by the SEAL. Bandaid spares a glance at the worried operative standing over his patient and accepts the shirt Aaron pulls from his pack.
“She’s going to be all right. Concussion, for sure. Possible fractured arm and ribs.”
A quick scan of Sadie’s injuries finds a splint on her left arm to go with the numerous scrapes and bruises forming all over her body. “She’s safe to move, so help me get her covered.”
Aaron keeps his eyes firmly on the crumbling block wall while helping the doctor put some clothes on the unconscious woman, his partner and best friend.
Not that he could admit this to any living human, but seeing Sadie naked was something Aaron had only imagined in his dreams. However, he would rather have the experience with Sadie awake and not hurt. And in his arms.
The familiar whomp of an approaching helo signals time to leave this hell hole. The doc pulls something from his large pack that resembles a portable litter. Before he can begin assembling it, Aaron bends down and lifts Sadie’s still body from the cot.
Sadie’s head lolls to his chest, and Aaron presses his nose into her hair, whispering, “I’ve got you, Mein Engel.”
Aaron carries Sadie across the dusty ground, lit by the helo’s lights. The SEALs have a pallet prepared on the floor of the helo, where Aaron lays her down gently. He sits beside her, takes her hand, and leans his head against the wall. Only then does his heart settle back to normal.
A few minutes into the flight, Sadie begins to stir. Aaron quickly releases her hand, placing a few inches of space between them. Sadie opens her eyes a short time later, and Aaron leans into her line of sight, unsmiling. “Welcome back, Marine.”
Three Months Later
Sadie
“Sadie!”
My surroundings waver, but the icy grip on my heart remains.
“Sadie, let him go!”
Aaron’s voice breaks through the shrill calls of the lemurs and squawking birds found in the Luzon Rainforest. The jungle sounds fade as I wake, leaving only pained grunts in the otherwise quiet area. I’m not in the Philippines.
Heart thumping in my chest, I open my eyes to a room full of people, all of them staring at the man struggling in my grip. Not again. I allow my legs to fall open, releasing the man’s neck from the choke hold I had on him. He falls to the floor, gasping for breath as he scrambles away from me.
Shit.
The man I nearly killed, one of our newer guys, rubs his neck while staring at me as if I were crazy. What’s his name?
“Everybody out,” Aaron booms.
The crew jumps, quickly grabbing their shit and heading for the door. I don’t blame them. Aaron “Grim” Hosfeld can be damned scary.
Aaron and I met at basic training as Marine recruits. Like most of the women at Parris Island, I noticed him right away— chiseled jaw, wise countenance, and warm, green eyes. He stood out in any crowd. Hot as hell.
