Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Danny tugged on my hand, and I followed his gaze.
I’ll be damned. Our pickup was actually a helicopter. We were used to rusty Jeeps from the last bloody war.
“Let’s go home, baby.” I picked up the pace. God knew how long we’d get to stay at home. Probably not for more than a couple of months.
We ran for the center of the valley, where the helicopter touched down.
I ducked for the blades and squinted as we kicked up a surge of desert sand.
“Holy shit,” Danny laughed over the roar.
He jumped in first, and I followed.
Only then did I see who was in the front. Oh, fucking hell, it was good to see the twins. It’d been months, for chrissakes.
River handed us helmets and communication devices while Reese got us up in the air again. But not on his own. River was doing his part too. What the fuck?
“I didn’t know you were in the area!” Danny exclaimed.
“Everyone’s in the area now,” River chuckled. He had a point.
I strapped myself in and double-checked that Danny was secured too.
“I have a better question,” I said. “Where the fuck did you steal a Black Hawk, ’cause I know you didn’t get certs to fly it.”
In fact, it wasn’t feasible. The amount of training required, not to mention flight hours in other helicopters—
“You know how you’re always tellin’ us to acquire skills we don’t advertise?” Reese hollered. “Yeah, this isn’t one of those.”
Danny cracked up.
I rolled my eyes.
“Let’s just say Reese is good at networking,” River drawled. “We have thirty flight hours, though. We’re not brand-new.”
Thirty? Thirty?! I was flying across the desert with two newbies who didn’t have pilot certs or a coordination crew?
Fuck me, put me down right now. I wanted to walk back to safety.
“So, what’s new?” Reese asked happily. “How’s the farm? How’re the animals? How’s the kinky sex?”
“This is how I’m gonna die, isn’t it?” I asked no one in particular.
Danny laughed and grabbed my hand. “You’re too funny, Daddy.”
Oh, there was nothing funny about this at all. Two young men simply did not fly a Black Hawk on their own. Couldn’t they have found a Cobra or something?
“Don’t worry. We’re four minutes away from our hideout,” Reese stated.
“Who’re you with?” Danny asked.
“Split special recon detachment from the Army,” River answered. “Quinlan’s there too. He set it up.”
No surprise. He’d built up an impressive network from his time in the forces, and Terrance was lucky to have him full time now. Danny and I were currently under TJ’s command, but when we hadn’t been informed of who was picking us up tonight, I’d suspected he and Quinlan were joining forces.
“Does anyone else have ‘Fortunate Son’ on repeat in their head?” Reese hollered.
“I’d rather you fucking focus on getting us back on the ground,” I barked out.
Three hellions laughed.
I was getting old.
Thankfully, we survived the ride, and we touched down on a lower plateau in the mountains. The hideout consisted of two twelve-person tents that housed our operations, and we had two soldiers in full gear meeting us as Danny and I essentially hit the ground running.
We descended the mountainside, and Danny communicated with one of the soldiers, presumably in an attempt to find out what they were here for. Given their field, it was undoubtedly similar to our task. Finding intel, clearing the way for advancement of troops, which…obviously explained Danny’s urgency. This was his past. He used to be part of one of these detachments. They were his Special Forces comrades. They spoke the same language.
When we reached the tents, I took charge again, spotting Quin in the tent reserved for working. He stood by a large table with lanterns in each corner of a massive map, and he was glad to see us, that much was clear.
“We lost comms an hour ago, so I can’t get through to TJ,” he said. “I’m relieved to see you survived and that the twins didn’t crash the bird.”
“That would suck on our part,” one of the soldiers said gruffly. I assumed the helicopter was their ride in and out of here.
I handed over the memory card to Quinlan and let him know I’d taken an estimated hundred photos too.
“Great, thank you. We’ll get that to DC ASAP,” he replied. He peered around me as the twins entered the tent. “Get some rest, boys. You’re off to Kandahar tomorrow. Paul needs an escort.”
“Copy that,” Reese confirmed.
Quin bent over the table to jot something down on a note. “Give this to your ride. You’re all on the same plane going to Kabul, and then you’ll split up. You’ll be on foot tomorrow morning. These are the coordinates to the airfield. The Marines control it.”
“Mathis?” I heard Danny ask incredulously.
I glanced over my shoulder, seeing another soldier enter the tent with a surprised look on his face.