Chapter 17 Alex
ALEX
My feet touched the ground. I bundled up the chute, my eyes scanning for the other guys.
The jump and landing, my first with the team, were picture-perfect.
The weightlessness, the wind in my face, damn, it dotted the I and crossed the T on everything I dreamed of when I dreamed of becoming a team guy.
“You hit the ground like a pro, kid,” Parker stated as he walked up to me.
I smiled.
Sand.
Growing up in Southern California, sand was a part of life. Especially living as close to the beach as I did. Or so I thought. It was different here. Everything about this place is different. Even though I spent time in the desert—hiking, running, camping—this was unreal.
Everything here got covered in sand. There’s no getting away from it. It was insidious. It crept into your bedding, your socks, your underwear, your fucking crack. I’m pretty certain that it’s in my piss hole.
But the sand wasn’t the worst of it. The dust—fuck me. The dust from pulverized sand, that shit sucked. And never-fucking-ending.
We’d been here for a couple of weeks, turning and burning, op after op, pulling in intel, delivering it to Daniel, who looked worse each time I laid eyes on him. It worried me. He looked like he hadn’t slept since we touched down, and he looked thinner.
I missed…
Everything.
Our banter.
The quiet moments.
The feel of his arms around me.
His kisses.
His cock.
Dropping onto the ground, I leaned back on the ruck I still had on my back and loosened the straps so it would slide up enough to support my head. What I wouldn’t give to take off this fucking helmet and shower and pull on clean clothes.
Yet more things I missed—a bed, running water, privacy, and a good, hard fuck. I didn’t understand how I could live like a monk for two years only to turn into a twitchy, fucking mess after just a few weeks without a cock to ride.
Not just any cock. Daniel’s. That was the only difference between the two years and the time we’d been here in Afghanistan.
Fuck.
“I told you to get some sleep. Not sit out here and stew.”
Looking up at where Parker blocked the sun, I said, “If you stand right there for the next six to eight hours, I might be able to catch the Zs you told me to get.”
A yawn overtook me, locking my muscles down and making my eyes water. “Fuck! You can’t even yawn in this hellhole. I hate to admit, I miss the hospitality of the Brits.”
“Welcome to the teams, but fuck the SAS,” Parker laughed, dropping to the ground next to me, a bottle of water outstretched toward me.
Laughing at the dig at the mention of the love-hate relationship between the teams and the British SAS, I shook my head. “No point.”
“That new guy spit shine is wearing off.”
“Dust and sand, two great abrasives.”
“Hooyah. And I agree, I miss the Brits, too. This primitive dust bowl ground sleeping shit is for the fucking birds.”
“Yeah, leave it to us Americans to do things the hard way.
After a few laughs, we fell silent, and worry about Daniel ate at me. When I could no longer deal with the concern, I asked, “Have you noticed…”
Parker laughed. “I wondered if you were fucking blind or just didn’t give a fuck. Yes, I’ve noticed.”
“You’ve known him longer…”
“True, but he’s clearly chosen you to be his person.”
My brow furrowed. “He said you guys are best friends.”
“And we are, but,” Parker paused, checking the surroundings before continuing, “you’re the one in his bed.”
I grumbled, “What bed?”
“Yeah, places like this make getting your rocks off difficult, but taking the man some food on occasion wouldn’t be outside of weird. He’s our spook. We need him healthy. And if he’s not talking to me and he’s not talking to you, I’m even more worried than I was.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. Here’s my suggestion: fix yourself some grub, enough for two, then wander over to the command center, sit down next to him, ask some questions…”
“And offer him the food.”
“Um hmm,” Parker hummed. “And we’ll be getting bunks soon. The materials came in today.”
“Thank fuck.”
“Right? Weeks of sleeping on the ground has gotten old.”
“Weren’t you the man who considered this a birthday and Christmas present rolled into one?”
“Shut up.”
I laughed, then said, “I’m going lights out. Wake me up?”
“Will do, new guy.”
“Thought you said the spit shine wore off?”
“I said wearing off. It’s still there in places.”
I flipped him off, shut my eyes, and forced myself to power down.
A few hours later, under the cover of darkness, I wandered through the camp to the command center.
There was no privacy in there. The first floor of the tower housed the C2 and was an open-air breezeway.
I didn’t know how they kept all that tech gear humming the way they needed to, but that was outside my scope.
At the base of the tower, I spied Daddio—Daniel—slouched over a laptop. I stopped to watch while he remained unaware. He’d definitely dropped weight and maybe muscle tone, too, if his thinner face and slightly baggy shirt were anything to go by.
“If all you’re gonna do is lurk in the shadows, I have work to do. If you’re here about the package, it’s not ready yet.”
I smirked, eyes darting toward the few others in the area, before I responded, “I brought food.”
“I’d be ecstatic to hear those words if I thought by food you meant actual edible sustenance and not MREs.”
Laughter bubbled up, and I moved to sit at the table next to him. “Yeah, I wish I could say I had cheeseburgers from Hodad’s, but I managed to get my hands on the Chili Mac, and I traded for a couple packages of the Jalapeno Cheese Spread.”
“Holy fuck. That must’ve cost you.”
I set the packages between us, pulled out my Leatherman, and opened them one by one, handing him his first, then opening mine.
“It was worth it.”
A stuttered sigh, followed by several more, filled the space between us, then he whispered, “You heated it.”
“Only thing worse than an MRE is a cold MRE.”
He laughed, picked up his spoon, and dug in. I sighed and did the same, pressing my knee against the outside of his thigh.
“So, how is the hunt for the asshole who hit us going? We get very little of that in the intel briefings.”
“It’s ongoing. We’ll find him.”
I nodded. People like Daniel would keep things moving forward. Echo’s job, my job…I added, “And in the meantime, you’ll point the spear, and we’ll take out the cronies who provide aid and comfort.”
“Yes. The ops youse are doing…”
“Youse?” I laughed at the slip into Boston-Irish he usually covered with his Ivy League education.
“I’m tired.”
“When was the last time you slept?”
“Are you…”
Gunfire erupted, silencing him and forcing me to my feet. The rat-a-ta-tat of an AK sounded again.
“Is that what I think it is?”
I nodded, turning on my comms. Parker’s voice sounded in my ear as they came online.
“This is One. I’m at the northern perimeter under heavy fire. All stations report.”
“This is Three. Four is with me. We’re on the runway.”
“Six, Seven, and Eight are heading toward the southwest perimeter. Six and Eight will spread out west and south.
“Echo One, this is Two. I’m heading to the east gate. Devil Dogs report we are surrounded.
“Echo One, this is Five. I’m at the ops center heading west to rally with Six.”
I moved to do as promised, only to feel a hand on my lower back. I turned back. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Get your ass down.”
“I’m not fucking hiding. You need someone on your six.”
“Do you even have a gun?”
He pulled a pistol out from the small of his back with a smirk. “Yeah, I do.”
“That changes nothing. Get your ass down. You have people here to protect.”
“And who’s gonna protect you?”
“I’ll be fine. Now do what I said.”
“Dammit, you’re not fucking invincible.”
“No, but I am trained,” I headed off, keeping my head down as I ran into the firefight.
With the threat neutralized, camp calmed down, but only somewhat.
Afterward, everyone was on a heightened sense of alert.
When I finally returned to the op center, unsure of the welcome I would receive, Daniel was there alone.
I had no clue where everyone was. I was just excited to steal a moment alone with the man.
“Hey.”
The look he gave me chilled me to the bone.
“Daniel…”
“You can fucking leave.”
My head hurt; my brow furrowed so deeply. “What are you pissed about?”
His head swiveled; my gaze followed. We were still alone. When he turned back, he hissed, “Don’t do that again.”
“What?”
His chest bumped mine, his nose came within an inch.
“That shit where you treat me like useless fucking dead weight. You don’t need me, or you don’t want to need me, whatever the case may be.
I get that. But as stupid as it is, I need you.
I need to know you’re safe. But I don’t need you to protect me. ”
Daniel stormed off, leaving me staring at his retreating back. Well, I fucked that up.
“The target package is in the mountains of the Kunar province, 23 klicks southwest of the outpost. The helo will drop you here,” Daniel said, pointing at a position on the map, “three klicks north of the target, and you’ll make your way down the mountain to the village.”
“Coming down that mountain, middle of the day…” Marcus started.
Josh, Echo Three, picked up the sentence, “Is fucking stupid.”
Chris, Echo Seven, our best shooter, stood and went to the map Daniel and Turner were standing in front of. “This looks like a great little hidey-hole. We set up here,” he pointed at one spot, then another, “and here. Then wait for the fucker to stick his head out.”
Turner said, “This is a capture-only mission. The target is likely to have high-value intel.”
“Well, that’s gonna make things interesting,” Parker said.
Turner crossed his arms. “Wheels up in four hours.”
Daniel turned and walked out of the command center. My eyes followed him. We’d not spoken outside of tactical conversations since the day the insurgents attacked the camp.
“You know he has a room of his own, right?” Parker asked, startling me.
“What?”
“Apparently, the Agency’s spooks get their own space. You might wanna go patch things up.”
Parker left me sitting there.
I had four hours before I had to ride into a firefight and a shit ton of stuff to do, but all I could think about was Daniel. I wanted to see him smile and laugh again. I wanted to feel his arms around me.
Hell, I’d give anything for just a few minutes alone with him.