Chapter 7 #2
She kept the bright smile on her face though her insides churned at the thought of all she would face in the coming weeks. “Sounds great.” She threw the remnants of the toast in the trash and turned to face him. “Ready when you are.”
He picked up his keys from the counter. “Let’s go then.”
They were putting on their coats when she stopped and looked up at him. “Do you really think this is going to work?”
“It has to. We can’t let the Freedom Force get that uranium.”
She nodded. But she didn’t tell him she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to pick out Al Ahmad in real time without giving away the game.
It turned out that training for a HOT mission was not like going to the gym and taking a spin class. Nor was it like surfing. Thank God for the surfing, however, because without the level of endurance required for the sport, Lucky would be in a whole lot worse shape than she currently was.
She stood bent in half after their current training session, panting, sweat rolling down her face as Kev sauntered toward her.
He didn’t even look winded after the latest circuit of the obstacle course.
But he was sweaty. Damn. Hot and sweaty.
His T-shirt clung to hard muscles and his brow glistened.
His dark hair stuck to his head and his eyes gleamed hot as lasers.
“You okay?”
She straightened, putting a hand in the small of her back and huffing in a breath. “Yeah, fine.”
He frowned. “Sorry to push you so hard, but it’s gonna be rough in Qu’rim. You have to be ready.”
“I realize that.” She shivered. They might have been working up a sweat, but as soon as she stopped moving, the cold air got to her. It wasn’t too bad, in the low fifties today, but it might as well have been a hundred below to her.
“You need to go inside for a while?”
She firmed her jaw. “No.”
“It’s okay if you do. You can’t do everything in one day.”
“I want this over with. I want to go into Qu’rim, get Al Ahmad, and go back to my life. If I have to run this course ten times a day to make that happen, I will.”
“I know you will.” He shook his head. “Come on, let’s go in. We’ll do some target shooting next.”
“You don’t have to pull punches for me.”
He lifted one eyebrow. “It’s the first day, Lucky. I think switching it up is acceptable. By the time we go on the mission, you’ll be ready.”
She wasn’t so sure about that, but what choice did she have?
He started toward the compound, and she fell in beside him.
Other guys were on the course, going through their paces in full gear.
She’d gone through with nothing but the clothes on her back this time.
Kev was also wearing only his workout clothes, and she knew it was so she wouldn’t feel self-conscious about her lack of conditioning compared to the rest of them.
They passed into the building, and Lucky wrapped her arms around herself. She was never getting warm again, apparently.
“Go take a shower,” Kev said when they reached the women’s locker room. “Then meet me at the indoor range.”
She didn’t argue. The shower felt damn good on her sore muscles, and she spent more time than she probably should have under the spray.
But then she got out, dried her hair just enough so it wouldn’t frizz once she pulled it back in a ponytail, and dressed in a fresh sweatshirt and yoga pants before going to join Kev in the shooting range.
It was strange to walk around HOT HQ after so long away.
But this building wasn’t the same building she’d been used to at Fort Bragg.
And she wasn’t the same person. She passed people in the hallways who nodded at her.
No one thought she didn’t belong, though women weren’t numerous in this outfit.
But things were changing at the highest levels of the military, and women could go into combat now.
It was only a matter of time before they were actually on the teams.
Lucky found the range and stepped inside.
Kev was talking to Jack Hunter, and she stopped to watch them.
Kev was dark and intense while Jack was golden and equally intense.
Jack was one of the best snipers in the world.
She’d heard the stories about Jack’s kills back when she was a part of the organization.
But not all of them were official, so he didn’t hold the record for confirmed kills that he should have.
And that was the thing about these men in HOT.
They weren’t in it for the glory. Kev’s head lifted, as if he sensed her presence, and then his eyes met hers across the distance.
Jack turned and nodded. He wasn’t much of a smiler, that man.
Then again, doing what he did, she figured he had to be partly inhuman anyway.
Maybe they all were. She walked toward the two men, relieved in a way that she didn’t have to smile and pretend she was happy. A row of handguns lay on the table in front of them, magazines ready to go.
“How long’s it been since you qualified?” Kev asked her.
“Two and a half years. And I haven’t shot a weapon since I left the Army.”
Kev picked up a pair of goggles and earplugs and passed them to her. She put them on while he put his on. Jack picked up his own gear and went over to a different station.
Lucky stepped into the lane and picked up the MK 23.
It was smooth and cool in her hands, and she adjusted her position.
The target was suspended from the ceiling downrange, and Lucky took her time lining up the shot.
Then she squeezed off a round. The sound was deafening indoors, even with earplugs.
The gun kicked a bit, but she wasn’t unprepared for it.
Still, the shot went a little wild, missing the target completely.
Frustrated, she aimed and squeezed again. And again the shot missed the outline of the body, though it did hit the paper this time.
Lucky growled in frustration. She didn’t have time to be so bad. She had to get this right because her life depended on it.
She lifted the gun again, determined to hit the motherfucking outline this time.
And then she felt a warm body behind her and she went utterly still.