Chapter 9 #3
The most beautiful sight of her life was the large Army truck parked in the middle of the street after they turned one last corner.
The Deltas operated like a well-oiled machine. It was both impressive and depressing. The latter because it was what she’d always wanted in a team of her own, but had never had.
“Let me take him,” Kane told her.
She’d barely nodded when Vandine’s weight was lifted from her shoulders. The relief was immediate, and she reached up to take Lucky’s hand. He’d already jumped into the back of the truck and was waiting to help her up. She put her right leg on the bumper and winced as pain sliced through her.
Ignoring it, and with Lucky’s help, she hauled herself into the back of the truck.
Scooting back to give the others room, she watched as Kane, Doc, and Grover easily lifted Vandine as well. They lay him down on his back, and Aspen quickly moved to check the tourniquet, to make sure it hadn’t loosened in their mad dash for safety.
Satisfied that the CAT was still doing its job, Aspen turned to Holman once he was helped into the truck. They hadn’t started moving yet, and she hoped it was because they were waiting for the other three Deltas.
Before she could open her mouth to speak to Holman, Kane put his hand on her arm. “You’re bleeding,” he said.
“I know,” Aspen told him, shrugging off her medic bag once more. She knew she’d been shot but she wouldn’t stop right now. Holman’s hand needed attention. Her wound obviously wasn’t serious, as she wasn’t lightheaded. She’d deal with it after she took care of her team.
As if sensing her determination, Kane didn’t say another word about it. When she opened her pack though, he did say, “What can I do to help?”
Thankful for an extra set of hands, Aspen said, “Give me a second.” Then she turned to Holman. The sergeant was sitting up, his mangled hand still cradled to his stomach.
“I need to take care of that,” she told him gently.
“I know,” he said, but didn’t otherwise move.
“You need more ketamine?” she asked.
She watched as Holman took a deep breath. His gaze went from her, to Kane, to the other Deltas in the truck.
She had a feeling Holman wanted to say he didn’t need any more painkillers.
Grover was the one to make the decision for him. “He needs it,” he said.
Holman grunted and looked at the other man.
“There’s no need to try to be macho, man,” Grover told him. “Take the fucking painkillers. It doesn’t make you less of a soldier.”
Holman looked back at Aspen and nodded. It was just a dip of a chin, but it was enough. She quickly got a dose ready and he held out his good arm, allowing her to administer the drug. The second she was done, he gripped his rifle once more.
“You want to lie down?” she asked.
Holman shook his head. “I can’t protect you if I do.”
Aspen swallowed hard. She had no idea if the ketamine was making him act protective toward her or what, but she wasn’t going to demean his good intentions.
“Okay.” She turned to Kane. “Can you hold his arm for me?”
“How?”
“Get next to him and grip his elbow and his forearm. This is gonna hurt. He won’t remember it because of the ketamine, but he’s going to yell.”
“I won’t,” Holman said in a whisper. “Yelling will bring the enemy.”
Without another word, Kane moved into position.
He held Holman’s arm exactly how Aspen instructed.
She unwound the bloody gauze she’d put on earlier and took a second to really look at her teammate’s hand.
It was gruesome, barely recognizable as a hand.
She knew at a glance that there was no way the surgeons were going to be able to save it.
Moving as quickly as possible, she wrapped a new bandage around the wound tightly. She needed to stop the bleeding and do whatever she could to prevent any more infection from setting in.
Holman squirmed in Kane’s grasp, but not one sound left his lips.
Just as she was tying off the bandage, she heard the other three Deltas return.
“Let’s roll,” Trigger said, jumping into the back of the truck.
He was obviously talking to the other two men, who had gotten into the front, because the second the words left his lips, the engine started and they were on their way.
“Don’t you need to stay and find Akhund?” Aspen asked.
It was Grover who answered. “We act as a team. We’ll get you three to base and safety, then we’ll head back out.
That asshole Spence is giving away the Rangers’ every move, with as much fucking noise as they’re making.
After his fuckup of a search today, we’re going to make sure he’s off the hunt.
We can find Akhund a hell of a lot quicker without Spence’s so-called help. ”
Aspen should’ve been offended. After all, she’d been looking for Akhund for the last month and a half too, but all she could think about was the fact that all seven Deltas were going back to base with her, Holman, and Vandine. They didn’t have to, but they were sticking together. Like a team.
If she had any doubts about how a team was supposed to operate, she didn’t anymore.
But she knew for a fact that even if she requested reassignment, she’d always be the odd man out. The Army might have opened up the Rangers and combat specialties to women, but for now, the price for acceptance was just too high. Derek proved that by leaving her alone today.
“Thank you for your help,” she told Kane as she eased Holman’s hand back into his lap. His eyes were glassy and his breathing was way too fast, but she wasn’t surprised. Not after what they’d just survived.
She turned back to Vandine, who was lying on the floor behind her, and checked his vitals.
He was still unconscious, but he was breathing and his heart was still pumping what blood he had in his body, which was a plus.
His blood pressure was way too low, and she considered putting in an IV, but decided they were close enough to the base that it could wait.
“Can I look at your leg now?” Kane asked from beside her. He was so close, it startled the hell out of Aspen, and she jerked away in reaction.
“Easy, polyagapiménos. You’re safe.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Poly-a-what-tos?”
But Kane’s lips didn’t even twitch. “Greek. Polyagapiménos. You’re still bleeding.”
Aspen craned her neck to look at her calf.
Her pants were covered in blood, but she honestly barely even felt any pain.
She flexed her foot and winced. Yeah, okay, that hurt.
But she didn’t think it was anything more than a graze.
She wasn’t bleeding out and, while it was painful, she was more concerned about the others at the moment.
She shook her head. “I can’t right now. I need to make sure Vandine doesn’t crash and get him into the OR. Holman’s not out of the woods either. It can wait.”
She couldn’t interpret the look in Kane’s eyes, but she flushed from the intensity of it. “What?” she whispered.
“I’ve never seen anything more impressive in my life,” Kane told her.
Aspen couldn’t take her eyes from his.
“We saw you and Holman running down the street and knew you’d turn toward our direction. We couldn’t shoot back at the men chasing you down because we didn’t want to hit you.”
Aspen nodded. She understood and appreciated that.
“Damn, woman!” Lefty exclaimed. “Watching you run while carrying a man way taller and heavier than you was pretty damn impressive.”
“And did you notice she had her rifle at the ready too?” Doc asked.
“Not only that, but she still had her pack on as well,” Grover added.
“And she kept going even after she’d been shot,” Lucky said.
“Like I said…impressive,” Kane finished. He hadn’t taken his eyes from hers while his teammates praised her.
Aspen shrugged, but deep inside their praise soothed her soul after what she’d just been through. “I wasn’t about to leave him behind. I made an oath.”
“An oath the rest of your team obviously doesn’t give a shit about,” Lefty grumbled.
Aspen forced herself to look away from Kane then. “They were given a direct order,” she defended.
“I don’t give a shit if God himself ordered them to abandon their team, they shouldn’t have done it,” Kane growled.
Aspen’s gaze went back to him.
“Seriously. Your team is your lifeline. They knew they were leaving you three to your deaths, and they did it anyway. That’s fucked,” Kane said in disgust.
“But—”
“He’s right,” Vandine said in a whisper.
Aspen’s head whipped around. “Sergeant!” she exclaimed, surprised he was conscious.
“It’s my fault,” the man said. “I’ve been deferring to Spence for weeks. I should’ve stood up to him way before now. I didn’t take leadership of my team, and as a result, they were confused about their mission and where their loyalties lie.” His hand came up and he blindly reached for Aspen.
She grabbed hold of it, putting her fingers on his pulse point to try to monitor his heart rate as the truck drove way too quickly through the town and back toward the base.
“The way he’s been treating you isn’t right. We’re Rangers, not fucking seventh graders. You really carried me?” he asked.
Aspen’s head was spinning with his topic change, but she nodded anyway. “You always partnered me with the biggest man on the teams just to see if I’d fail.”
“And you never did,” Vandine said with what sounded like pride. “You’re good people,” he said softly. “And I’m not just saying that because you saved my life.”
Aspen nodded again, not sure what to say in reply.
“Am I gonna lose my leg?” he asked, his eyes boring into hers.
Aspen wanted to lie. Wanted to tell him that he’d be fine.
That he’d be up and walking in no time, but she wasn’t one hundred percent sure, and the last thing she’d do was blow smoke up his ass.
“I’m not sure. But I’ve done everything in my power to help the surgeons out when we get there.
I am sure if it’s at all possible, you’ll wake up with all four limbs. ”
He nodded. Then his eyes focused on Holman for a moment before returning to her. “His hand?”