Special Forces: Operation Alpha: No Protection (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Gennita Low Read Free Book Online Page B

especially when it’s a joint mission with some other group. They had to be at a certain location by a certain time so Hawk’s people could create the element of surprise. And then they had to scale that wall during the diversion.
    She looked at it now and was surprised at her own nervousness. What if she got tired in the middle and needed a breather? It’s quite a long climb.
    Liam’s low voice came again. “I’ll be right behind you, pushing you up, if you need it.”
    Reassuring. Steadfast.
    “You reading minds now?” She adjusted her weapons so she could squat down behind a clump of bushes.
    “All that bouncing around earlier made a connection,” he mocked back.
    She rolled her eyes in the dark. Yeah, she was sure he felt that connection.
    “Fourteen minutes,” Wolf said, quietly. “We’re dividing into two groups now. Those with the mics, check to make sure they’re activated. Follow the hand signals, Zainab and Ella.”
    “Yes, sir,” Ella said. She heard Zainab’s same reply. Her friend was going with the other group.
    “Aye, sir!” The men drifted to their positions.
    The silence grew. She counted to a hundred, then backwards. She thought of what was over the wall, then stopped. Her imagination was too vivid and made her even more nervous.
    “The waiting’s the hardest,” Liam said, his body a dark shadow next to hers. “Try to think of other things to pass away the time.”
    “Like what?”
    “Bouncing. Ten minutes of bouncing.”
    Ella grinned. If the man insisted, she’d play his game. “Ten minutes? That’s all you got?”
    “The first time.”
    That made her blink and shut her up for a few seconds. “If it’s all bouncing, then what’s in it for me? A girl’s got to have more than a bumpy terrain to enjoy the ride.”
    A soft chuckle. “I’ll make sure of at least a few smooth laps around the course,” he promised. “You just have to let me find the right spot. You’ll definitely enjoy it then, I promise.”
    Ella swallowed and blinked again.
    “You guys know the mic is on, right?”
    Whoops. She felt her face going red.
    Liam gave a low, very male chuckle, and leaned close to her ear again. “Don’t worry. We talk shit over the mic all the time. It’s worse when the guys are alone.”
    “Hey, we don’t do that with our female soldiers.” Mozart said. “You two civilians just have to learn to be as well-mannered as we are.”
    “Pffft.”
    “Did someone pffft me?” Mozart asked.
    That someone replied with a profane comeback. Mozart affably returned the favor.
    She heard Liam chuckle again and glanced at him. He was peering out through a small opening he’d cut out in the shrub. She was sure he had his full attention on the target wall of the fort, just as the other men were too, even as they bantered easily with each other. His whole posture was relaxed. How many times had this man done this, keeping watch and knowing imminent danger was near, with his fellow SEALs? Enough times to just reassume the demeanor even after a long absence. Enough times that he was able to seamlessly jump back into the skin of a team player
    For herself, she realized her own journalistic skin was taking over, as she took in all these about the man beside her. She was interested in him. To the woman in her, yeah, he appealed to all her senses. To the journalist side of her, she saw depths in him she wanted to explore, needed answers for. His story called to her.
    He turned back to her. “Almost time.”
    “I’m ready,” she told him.
    She crossed her fingers. Said a quick prayer. Time for the Peshmerga side to take over, girl.
    * * *
    L iam surveyed the dark landscape. A familiar calm had descended on him. Something that had been gnawing inside him for a long time stopped and it was as if a horrible migraine had suddenly ended. A relief. In a strange way, a joy too. He relished the sudden quiet, the deep sense of self-awareness.
    He missed this.
    The camaraderie. The easy exchange