Danger Close by Kaylea Cross Read Free Book Online Page B

all this.

Chapter Five
    Erin trudged back to her B-hut in the early morning sunlight a few hours later, still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. After staying in that cave all night and hiking nearly four kilometers to the extraction site with the rescue team, then the debriefing she’d just come from, she was exhausted. And since she wasn’t going anywhere until at least tomorrow morning, she was looking forward to some serious rack time.
    Opening the door of the hut, Erin stepped inside to find Ace standing next to her bunk, in the process of stripping off her flight suit. “Hey.”
    Ace paused in the act of pulling down the zipper and blinked at her in surprise. “Hey. What are you doing back here?”
    “Short version of that story is that I had quite a little adventure yesterday on the way to Kabul that I can’t talk about. Except I can tell you that I got to spend some quality time with Cam earlier this morning.” Cam Munro was a Pararescueman, and engaged to Devon, a former roomie of theirs. He and the CSAR team had dropped in by parachute before hiking in to the rescue site to lead them to the extraction point. She’d never been so glad to see a familiar face when he’d shown up in the cave just before dawn.
    Ace’s dark eyes widened as she scanned her from head to boots. “Holy shit. Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine. Just tired and shaken up.” And pissed that no one would tell her anything about the incident. There was no way those guards would’ve just randomly targeted them. She knew this whole thing had something to do with Sandberg’s “job” he’d mentioned, but he hadn’t told her anything more. When she’d stopped to see Thompson at the hospital after he’d been stitched up—no surgery required other than a good debridement, thankfully—he’d told her he hadn’t heard anything either. He was bad enough that they were sending him home though, and he was slated to be on a transport bound for the States in a few hours. Ironically, it now looked like he’d arrive home before she did.
    Ace eyed her in concern, taking in the fresh scrapes and cuts on her forearms. “You sure you’re all right?”
    “Yeah, just tired.” The only sleep she’d gotten was brief combat naps in that tunnel, until she’d at last succumbed and fallen fast asleep sometime before dawn. She’d woken to find her head resting on Sandberg’s muscled shoulder rather than the rock wall when he’d shaken her slightly to alert her that the rescue force had arrived. Though she couldn’t be sure, she suspected he must have settled her against him at some point during the night. And even though he was a virtual stranger who’d inadvertently put them in grave danger, she couldn’t deny the magnetic pull she felt toward him. Waking up against his powerful frame had made her feel oddly safe and protected.
    Ace sank onto her bunk, frowning. “Will you still get to take your leave?”
    “God, I hope so. You just get in?”
    “Yeah. Had a good night. Took out two targets.”
    “Perfect. We can crash together.” And after everything that had happened, she’d feel better knowing Ace was close beside her while she slept. Erin dumped her ruck at the foot of her bunk, unlaced her boots and pulled back the fresh sheets she’d put on before leaving yesterday. Ace hit the lights and within minutes of crawling between the sheets, Erin was asleep.
    A brisk knock on the door woke her sometime later. Still groggy, she lifted her head from the pillow and looked behind her at the other bunks. Ace was already up and gone, and she was alone. What time was it?
    Another knock. “Lieutenant Kelly?”
    She sat up, rubbing her aching eyes. “Yes?”
    “I’ve been asked to escort you to a debriefing, ma’am.”
    Oh, God, another one? “All right. Hold on a minute.” She got herself together, put her boots on, grabbed a bottle of water and opened the door to find a young sergeant