Collateral Damage by Kaylea Cross Read Free Book Online Page A

bolt. But her aim was off.
    Her initial burst missed wide of the far left truck. It swerved, veering toward the one closest to it. Both trucks took a sharp turn and chose a different path. Honor clenched her back teeth together and readjusted her aim. This time when she pulled the trigger, her aim was dead on. Her sweep hit the ground beside the first truck an instant before hitting the vehicle. The barrage of bullets pulverized the target, which burst into flames even before she’d struck the next vehicle, turning it into a burning pile of metal.
    Honor engaged the next target. She didn’t think about what she’d done, didn’t allow herself to think about the people she’d just killed. They were targets to be eliminated, a threat bent on unleashing death and destruction on her fellow soldiers, insurgents who would have attacked the base and killed countless service members if no one stopped them.
    She took out two more trucks before she ran out of targets.
    Still scanning the ground for more, she became aware of how hard her heart was slamming in her chest, of how fast and shallow her breathing was and the cool film of sweat covering her upper lip and back. Pulling in a deep breath she battled her body’s reaction to what she’d just done and kept searching for another target to engage. Behind her the crew chief was firing at something out the port side. To her right, Ipman was still manning his own weapon at the end of the ramp but not firing.
    On the ground below them the vehicles from the wave they’d stopped in its tracks lay burning, clouds of black smoke streaming into the clear air. She had no idea how in hell the attack had even happened but there had to be some sort of catastrophic breakdown of security to result in such a thing.
    “More targets approaching from the northwest.” Liam’s voice was calm and unhurried as he swung them around and headed in that direction. A few moments later he spoke again. “At least one triple-A in sight.”
    Honor’s heart rate jacked up. A vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft gun, capable of shooting down bombers and fighters…as well as big, slow-moving Chinooks. Her hands sweated inside her gloves as she shifted her weight and adjusted her stance, thumbs still hovering over the twin triggers. They had to destroy the AAA before it fired at them.
    The crew chief called over his shoulder at her and Ipman. “I got nothing yet. You?”
    “Negative,” they both responded.
    The pulse from the powerful twin rotors beat against her eardrums despite her ear protection, the big aircraft vibrating as it flew toward the new threat. She shoved back the alarm trying to rise inside her, refused to allow herself to be afraid. Liam was one of the most skilled and experienced pilots in the United States military. She had to trust his ability to get them close enough to take out the AAA without becoming a target themselves.
    “Got a visual of the target,” the crew chief suddenly announced.
    Honor didn’t bother glancing back at him, too intent on locating the target. Liam turned them again and at last she spotted the AAA. It was old, probably left over from the Russian occupation, and likely Chinese-made. The crew chief opened up his weapon on it just as Honor took aim as well.
    Something streaked toward them.
    “Incoming,” Liam warned, and put them into a climb so steep Honor had to grab at her harness tether to stay upright. She winced as the straps dug into her flesh wound. The sudden increase in G-forces made it feel like her stomach had been shoved down into her abdominal cavity. Before she could do more than grit her teeth and hold on, someone in the cockpit fired the chaff and flare launchers on the Chinook’s fuselage.
    Streams of white smoke and bright white light streaked through the air in front of her. The lumbering Chinook pitched hard to port, dropped, then rose suddenly in another steep climb. Honor gripped the handle on the doorframe and held on, praying the evasive