Danger Close by Kaylea Cross Read Free Book Online Page A

story.”
    “Yeah, well, you’ve now got a captive audience with the two of us here. So what the hell’s going on?”
    He hesitated a long moment before answering. “Has to do with a job I was recently on.”
    She could just imagine what sort of “job” he referred to. “And?”
    Another grunt and the sound of material shifting, as if he’d just shrugged. She opened her mouth to say something else but the distant sound of voices made her whirl to face the cave entrance. She could feel the tension radiating off Sandberg as he squeezed past her. Crouching in front of her, he reached back and put a hand on her shoulder, whether to reassure her or order her to stay put, she couldn’t tell. Instinctively she backed up toward Thompson and withdrew her weapon from its holster.
    Sandberg’s wide shoulders all but blocked the trickle of light coming down the tunnel. The male voices grew louder, then came the sound of footsteps in the cave. Voices echoed off its walls, carrying to them. Erin couldn’t understand what was being said, but the angry tones told her all she needed to know. Someone from the enemy security force was there, arguing with at least one of the villagers.
    Her fingers tightened around the grip of the pistol as she waited, barely daring to breathe. Sandberg was still-as-stone in front of her. One man snarled a string of what sounded like curses at someone else, then the crash of what sounded like crates or boxes filled the air. Tension rolled off Sandberg at whatever they said, pulsing from him in tangible waves. Erin swallowed, fought to calm her racing heart as she strained to hear if anything was happening behind them in the tunnel. Were they being cut off? Surrounded?
    The arguing continued for long minutes as the soldiers searched the cave. Then, finally, one man gave a terse command and everything got quiet. Real quiet.
    Sandberg stayed poised ahead of her. After an unknown amount of time passed he began inching his way toward the cave opening. She stayed where she was, ready to grab Thompson and start dragging him back the way they’d come, or rush out shooting to defend Sandberg. He paused just out of view and remained there for a few minutes. Not long after that, a man called out softly. She was shocked to hear Sandberg answer him a moment later. Why had he just given away their position?
    Shuffling footsteps came closer, and she relaxed when she recognized his big silhouette blocking the opening. “Come on,” he said softly, reaching out a hand to her.
    She hesitated for a heartbeat, then took it and allowed him to help her to her feet. His warm, sure grip helped calm her racing pulse. “What’s going on?”
    “They’re gone. Looking for us up the mountain. But they won’t be here long—backup’s already on its way up. Should be here within a half hour, the elder said, judging by their progress up the hill. We’ll wait just at the cave entrance for them. Can’t bring a helo in here without giving away our position and there’s no good place for one to set down, so we’ll likely have to hump it out to an extraction point for them to pull us out.”
    Erin eyed him. She might not trust Sandberg fully, but he’d gotten them to safety and had put himself in front of her to protect her and Thompson. She’d follow his lead for this part of it too. “Well,” she said into the darkness after a long silence. “Guess this means we’ve missed our flight.”
    Something close to a chuckle answered her, but it sounded rusty, as if it had been so long since he’d done it that he’d forgotten how. There were so many things she was curious about with him. Just what the hell had he been doing on this last “job” of his? She settled back against the rock wall, resigned to spending at least one more night at Bagram.
    The man was still hiding something big from her, something that had almost gotten them killed. Once she got back to Bagram, she intended to find out exactly what had precipitated