Chapter 17
MIKEY
Seated, I leaned back against the tent poles, basking in the sunlight. Bernie and Duncan arm wrestled a few feet away on the ground, while Ford munched mindlessly on a granola bar. Scottie sat off to the side, doodling random designs in the sand. Waiting. All of us, geared up and ready to go, were simply waiting because the staff sergeant of the squad we were joining and Dom couldn’t agree on the right way to approach this mission.
Muffled voices respectfully argued with the colonel in his tent behind us. Our team had yet to even find out which soldiers were a part of the squad or how many. We had almost no details at all, other than our departure was delayed.
My gaze slid over to Scottie, her brows pulled tight. Creases indented between them were as tight as the rest of her expression. Something was on her mind. Something that I had to assume was a result of our earlier interaction.
I couldn’t blame her. What a fucking fool I’d been to so boldly talk about shit that she didn’t need to know. But the way she’d stared… If she’d only walked in a few minutes earlier. Squirming with such ill-timed arousal rising once again, I slid part of my rifle down to cover what I was struggling to conceal. If any of the guys noticed, I was fucked, but I couldn’t help it.
Suddenly, she plopped over onto her back. Sand sprayed up in a soft cloud around her and she groaned. “How long is this going to take?”
Bernie slammed Duncan’s hand into the ground as Ford bellowed, his belly bouncing a few crumbs from his vest. “The universal question. Why don’t you go in there and ask Dom?” Bernie teased with a smile as Duncan shook his hand out and posed with the opposite arm, ready for a rematch.
“Because I’m just a lowly corporal. Why don’t you go in there and ask, Lieutenant?” she snapped back.
“Feeling rather high and mighty are we?” Bernie taunted, and she raised a middle finger toward him.
“Fuck you, too, Crow.” Bernie grinned, wrapping his non-dominant hand around Duncan’s. “Why don’t you go wrestle with Mikey or something? He’s probably itching to spar with someone since no one agreed to be his partner this morning.”
I cocked a brow in her direction as she pulled her head up from the ground just enough to shoot Bernie a glare. Wrestling with Scottie didn’t sound bad at all, especially since it meant I would be able to touch her without fear of any repercussions.
“I wonder why nobody agreed,” she sarcastically replied, tossing a dig at me. Her narrowed gaze shifted to me, and I couldn’t help it. I winked at her. She rolled her eyes and plopped her head back down against the sand. Damn, she may not want this kind of attention, but I wasn’t going to stop. Not after seeing her reactions, not now knowing there was a small part of her that enjoyed them.
“It’s probably because word got around that he bites motherfucking ears off,” Ford casually said, tearing back the rest of the wrapper from his snack.
“I’m sorry, delight me with the tale of what you would have done differently in that situation?” I asked him, giving him the same eye roll that Scottie gave me.
Ford shrugged, his attention returning to Duncan and Bernie arm wrestling in front of him. “I wouldn’t have found myself in that situation to begin with.”
“Sure.” I shook my head and glanced back at Scottie. She pushed herself upright, inhaling deeply. Subtly raising my hand, I wiggled a finger, beckoning her to come closer.
Her cheeks turned a faint pink, and she shook her head.
Pursing my lips, I mouthed, “Come here.”
“No,” she silently replied, exaggerating the unspoken word with her mouth.
“Boo, hoo, baby,” I wordlessly said and balled my hand up, miming an infant crying.
She pulled her lips into a thin line, glanced around cautiously, and then finally crawled over to me. “What do you want?” she hissed, sitting up.
“Thumb war.” I grinned, and held out my hand.
“You ass,” she mumbled but slipped her palm against mine. Warmth from her touch slithered up my arm, reminding me of the man below the belt who needed to stand the fuck down.
The tent flap slapped against the side of the canvas and Dom emerged. His gaze snapped to each of us, the steam from his frustration still spouting from his ears. “Let’s fucking go,” Dom stated, clenching his jaw.
Ford sighed. “Things didn’t go your way, I presume?” He placed a massive palm against the ground and rose with a groan.
Duncan took advantage of Bernie’s momentary distraction and slammed his hand against the ground. “Hell yeah! Take that, dumbass!” Duncan exclaimed and then snapped his teeth shut, turning slowly to look up at Dom.
Dom’s red hot glower met his gaze. “Sorry, sir,” Duncan muttered.
A slow grin morphed over Dom’s face, raising a mischievous glint in his eyes. He wiggled his brows, leaving all of us confused.
“What the hell is going on?” Bernie asked.
“You fuckers really think I didn’t get my way? Damn, ye of little faith,” Dom explained, the grin widening even more. “Mikey, let’s go grab the dune buggies.”
Shooting both fists into the air, I jumped up not realizing my fingers were still wrapped around Scottie’s hand. “Fuck yeah!” I shouted, unintentionally ripping her from the ground.
“Ow,” Scottie muttered, landing ungracefully on her feet while glaring at me. I released her hand.
“My bad, I kinda forgot,” I muttered sheepishly, grimacing. She rolled her eyes, flexing her fingers to shake out the lingering pressure, and balanced herself.
“Don’t ask for another thumb war,” she grumbled.
Well, fuck. There goes casual option number one to hold her hand.
“Anyway,” Dom said, refocusing our attention on him. “We’ll have two extra soldiers per buggy, and then the staff sergeant will follow with the final three soldiers in the JLTV. I’ll explain our op plan over comms as we go since we’ve lost time as is.”
Dust sprayed from his boots, the heels kicking against the ground, and he buckled his helmet beneath his chin. My veins roared hot with excitement as we gathered around him. Even Scottie seemed momentarily distracted from whatever flirtatious advances that shouldn’t be occurring between us.
His eyes darted around the team, checking to see if we were alone, and then he nodded away from the tent. In silence, apprehension and curiosity thick in the air, we moved as one, over to a slightly more secluded spot.
Dom lowered his voice as we gathered tightly around him. “What I say here is not repeated, not even the sergeant knows this, copy?”
“Copy,” we muttered simultaneously.
“Good. Our real purpose is to go in and extract the remaining operator from the terrorist organization. The colonel doesn’t know if they’ve been made or not, and we have intel saying he’s part of this transport.” Dom paused and pulled a small, folded picture from his pocket. “Memorize this face. We will be privy to his name after we extract him. If you see him, radio bogey but say nothing else and then make his ‘death’ look good.”
My eyes roamed down the picture taking in his thin face, dark, nearly black hair, and close-set beady brown eyes with a thick, full beard. Something was vaguely familiar about this man. Our paths had crossed at least once before, even if his name wasn’t coming to mind. The eyes…
“Questions?” Dom asked and shredded the picture to pieces.
I shook my head as resounding noes were whispered within the circle.
“Alright,” Dom said, nodding once. We spun around as a group and made our way back near the tent, as if we’d never left.
The moment the tent flap flipped, Dom spoke loudly, “Let’s roll, motherfuckers.” The staff sergeant emerged from the tent, and a group of seven additional soldiers rounded a corner, marching our way.
The immediate thrill for our upcoming mission twisted into calculated anger upon recognition of one of the soldiers joining. Reyes smirked the moment he caught my glare. Warmth brushed against the left side of my back and pride swirled within the rage. Scottie, for whatever reason, had stepped into my back as if subconsciously seeking me out for protection. This was going to be very interesting.
Twisting my fingers tighter around the steering column, blood drained from my knuckles, turning white. Scottie sat quietly beside me, and I fought with every instinct that begged me to place a hand onto her thigh. For comforting a teammate, right? Nothing more. Neither of us had spoken about the certain soldier joining us for this mission, but there was a silent understanding surrounding the situation with him.
Even Bernie, ever-oblivious Bernie, had seemingly picked up on some tension because he’d craftily steered Reyes into the tan JLTV roaring behind us—the farthest we could get him from her. Sand peppered my goggles, spitting up from Dom’s buggy in front of us. The mask around my mouth and nose filtered the stuffy desert heat as we cruised onward, hoping to regain some lost time.
“Alright, listen up,” Dom’s voice entered the radio, splitting through my piping hot thoughts of ways that I could quietly dispose of Reyes. “Intel says that there are four vehicles in the convoy we’re targeting. The first and last vehicles are dune buggies like these two we swiped, also fitted with gatling guns. Tank and Matrix, you’re in charge of taking those weapons out. Do you copy?”
“Copy that, Phoenix,” both Ford, who was riding behind me, and Duncan, who was riding with Dom, responded on the comms. As I turned the wheel, we careened around a corner and began climbing a dune. The wind rushing through the metal cage surrounding our buggy cooled the sweat pooling at my lower back from the sun’s rays.
“From what we know, the bomb will be in the second vehicle. I’ll get Bernie there. Viper, you and Crow are in charge of taking out the third vehicle, which is supposedly full of weapons they’re transporting. Crow, you can choose from where you set up to do so, how far or close you are from the center of shit. But the moment that Viper and you have that truck secured, your focus becomes eyes for the team as a whole. It’s estimated that there will be around five combatants in each vehicle. We’ll ambush them as they pass through a ravine so we can approach from the rear and front without fear of them escaping through the sides. Questions?”
“Yeah, I got one,” Bernie replied first. “What the hell is the squad doing if we’re taking out the targets?”
Dom’s chuckle entered my ear. “They’ll take care of the combatants in the first and final vehicle.” Glancing behind me at the two soldiers hitching a ride with us, it seemed they were completely oblivious to our conversation.
I pumped the clutch and shifted, drifting around a corner with my palm against the wheel. A nearly inaudible gasp left Scottie’s lips beside me, and I glanced at her, my eyes hidden behind the sunglasses. Was she hurt?
But a thin crack between where her mask ended on her cheeks and her sunglasses began turned a shade of pink, telling me something entirely different. All it took was a little shift and spin of the wheel to get her going?
“So, they’re on-sight backup?” Duncan asked through the radio.
“Shit, we’re becoming bougie as fuck ’cause we’ve never had that before,” I replied, and Bernie’s cackle sent a ringing through my ear.
“I thought we were going to be the backup this time,” Ford replied. He leaned back in his seat, shifting uncomfortably against the two soldiers seated beside him.
“Yes, we are,” Dom replied.
Scottie’s eyes briefly caught mine, and even though her face was hidden from view, there had to be the same level of confusion written upon her features that twisted mine.
“But we’re taking lead?” I asked.
“No. But Bernie is the best at explosives, which means that he got volunteered to dismantle the damn thing. One in our team is going in, so I, as your LT Commander, refuse to let him go in without us having his back. Besides, why would you not want the best of the best?”
“Ah, fucking loopholes,” Ford muttered through the comms.
A chuckle left my chest as I glanced over at Scottie. I really wished that her face was not hidden behind the mask, curiosity roared hot begging to see what she was feeling.
Shit.It hit me like a mortar to a wall. Scottie was consuming my thoughts, and all we’d done was flirt a little. Wait, because she was still trying to settle into the team, not because of the flirting. That’s right. We were headed into this mission and she was assigned to the same task and target as I was—a truck full of weapons.
Whatever strange feelings of desire and warmth that swirled within my veins was going to have to wait. Having our first successful mission as a team on this deployment became top priority, not whatever confusing thoughts Scottie created in me. Keeping our sniper safe needed to be my focus. It was my focus. Everything else faded as quickly as the sun was slipping away in the sky.
“When is the convoy supposed to be making its pass through the canyon?” I asked, realizing that we were quickly encroaching our rendezvous point that the JLTV would be stored at, before the rest of the soldiers made entry on foot.
“The truck of weapons has made their progress slow, so we estimate at 0400 hours. That should give us enough time to get these buggies in place, camouflaged, and out of the way before they even know we’re there,” Dom answered through my radio.
“I’m assuming I’ll be parking and ambushing from the rear?” I questioned, cruising around another corner as we dropped into a small pass between massive dunes. Three klicks ahead should be an old, abandoned outpost where nothing but a few cement barricades remained. That was the intended location to stow away the JLTV until we returned from a completed mission.
“Correct,” Dom replied.
“Is our arrival time calculated with the soldiers on foot included?” Duncan asked.
“Yes, Matrix,” Dom confirmed.
“We’ll still be cutting it close. That only gives us maybe thirty minutes to get in position before the convoy is supposed to come through,” Duncan explained.
Determination and that ever-present desire to do some damage rolled thick, prickling beneath my skin, as I shifted the buggy and we roared through a short tunnel. It spit us out a klick away from the outpost, the cement barricades hazy in the distance.
“That’s why I expect perfection, as usual, even if we are just back up, do you copy?” Dom’s voice turned stern, hardness coating his words.
“Sir, yes, sir!” we replied in unison through the radio.