CHAPTER ELEVEN
MARSHALL
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You haven’t experienced true darkness until you’ve been in the desert. Here there’s no electric pollution to provide the light we’re used to in cities. It’s just the moon and the stars.
Tonight, it’s a week past the new moon so there’s little help from la luna.
When I close my eyes, I imagine I’m lying next to Trina, her long toned legs twisted between mine and she’s panting after I’ve made her scream.
From pleasure, for the record.
Instead, I have sweating men lying next to me. I wouldn’t survive out here on my own—probably—so I’m not completely unhappy about it, but I’m keen as hell to get home.
The past three days have been a fucking disaster. It all started during the briefing. Colonel Rockingham introduced me as Green Beret, Sergeant Adams, and explained that I was here on a private assignment.
He was explicit in his orders that everyone was to assist me.
“Can we get a bit more information than that?” Rogers asked, getting a few raised eyebrows for his effort.
The colonel slowly turned in his direction and I could see he’d been digging for patience. I wasn’t surprised. Miller has likely pushed everyone’s buttons, as he seems to do everywhere he goes.
“You want to do my job, Lieutenant Miller?”
“Yes sir,” he replied, and a few guys laughed.
I didn’t.
His response had been disrespectful, and it was only because I had context and a history with Roger that it reminded me how much I distrust the guy. I might not have anything solid to back up that feeling, but I trusted it.
Which is why I wasn’t thrilled that he was here.
I wanted to get in and out, then home.
Hell, I might’ve even put up with a TikTok influencer in exchange for never seeing the guy’s face again.
“The only information you need right to know is that Sergeant Adams is joining you on the mission to the Jahra region.” The colonel had glanced at me once more. “Remember the threat from landmines is still high.”
I’d nodded.
I didn’t need to be reminded but I appreciated him being thorough. I’d previously seen two of my men blown to pieces a couple of years back.
It’s not something you forget.
After that, I’d paid attention to the broader briefing and made notes on how I’d adapt my mission around it.
And who was doing what. Some of it was humanitarian based, with some reconnaissance to find some known terrorists that have been identified in the area.
Ground crew had been requested by command to go in and confirm, so we were looking at a multi-focused mission.
The fact Delta Force had been called in told me they were confident the terrorists would be there.
“Sergeant Adams, you’ll join the team in the Black Hawk with a drop near the Iraq border. Then you’ll be on foot and meet up with Delta Force.”
“Yes, sir.”
That was aligned with what Josh had shared in the briefing document from higher ups.
No surprises so far.
“If you need any supplies, grab them now.” The colonel tells me, then glances around the room. “Wheels up in thirty.”
“Hooah,” a bunch call out—the army war cry—as bodies start to move out of their chairs that scrape the floor.
The colonel adds, “Rogers, I hear you were previously stationed with Adams. How about you shadow him until he connects with Lieutenant Rodriques and the Delta team.”
Fuck.
“Is that what we do with private consultants? Babysit them?” Rogers scowls, although I think he was aiming for a laugh.
Trust me, I was as un-fucking-happy as he was.
I held my tongue—just—but the astute leader was watching me long enough to pick up my reaction.
“You’ll be rid of him in a few hours.” The colonel assured me, slapping me on the shoulder as he passed.
Unfortunately, he’d been wrong.
With a fresh pair of socks, my boots tied tightly, and my black tactical gear packed with weapons, night eyewear, and a rifle I slid my pack onto my back and ran toward the Black Hawk.
Chop, chop, chop.
The sound pumped through my body as adrenaline filled me. A mix of anticipation and excitement. It was like this every time.
Then, after cramming into the craft, we’d lifted into the air and flew across the enemy terrain.
After repelling near the border, we made our way through the dark, almost abandoned, port city until we stopped near a warehouse. There the Delta Force team appeared.
A huge copper-haired guy held out his weapon hand after swapping his gun. “Sergeant Adams?”
I was clearly identifiable given I wasn’t in a US military-issued uniform.
“Rodriques?”
We’d shaken hands and he was all business, introducing me to the rest of the team. Everyone else seemed to know one another which told me they’d done missions together previously.
That boded well for a successful few days.
I couldn’t help thinking, this could have been me if I’d joined the infamous Delta team.
There was a buzz about them that no soldier could deny.
They demanded an unspoken respect. This wasn’t my first time working with them.
I knew they were the best of the best. Some days I wish I’d joined. It would have been an honor.
Plus, imagine being able to smile knowingly at Ryder and bring that guy down to ground for once in our lives.
Totally worth it.
I respect the hell out of him...but he doesn’t need to know that.
He knows.
“Okay, gather ‘round.” Rodriques said. “We’re going to cross the waterway here and make our way into Iran while the rest of you head off to the city.”
That’s where the humanitarian work was happening. I knew it was part US assistance and part cover for what we were really doing out here.
“There it’ll take us a few days to get close to our target. Command is staying close with drones above us so we can get confirmation before moving in.” Rodriques had then turned to me. “I don’t have a full briefing yet on what you need from me.”
I indicated he follow me across the ruined building and without hesitation he did.
So did Miller.
“Sergeant, this is a classified conversation,” I’d said firmly.
“My orders were to shadow you,” he argued.
“Until we connect with Delta.” I glance at Rodriques.
Miller didn’t move.
I grit my teeth and hold his gaze without blinking. Try doing that in the desert with sand flying around.
“Return to your team.” Rodriques instructed him and Miller met his stare, nodded, and then shot me a deathly glare.
Jesus Christ.
“Something I need to know?” the Delta leader asked me.
Good question. One I would have asked myself in his shoes. Tension between personnel created a threat to the success of a mission.
“Former colleague. Unhappy to see me back now. I’m a deserter. Apparently.”
A look of realization crossed his face.
“Ah. Gone private?”
“Yup. With Black Hawke Security in California.”
Rodriques laughed. “Fuck me. You’re working with Ryder St. James. Tell that asshole I said hello.”
Of course they knew one another.
“Will do.” I pressed my lips together into a genuine smile. “But in answer to your question, no. I have no problem with Miller. Hopefully, he pulls his head in.”
Rodriques rubs a hand over his face, glancing over at the other men. “Yeah, that mentality is bullshit. I’ve seen your file. You’re a Green Beret and nothing changes that. So, let’s just get this shit done.”
My kind of guy.
“Agreed.”
I appreciated having an operator like him on the team I was working with. Especially one leading. Roger Miller wouldn’t be a problem. Hopefully we’d leave him behind with the peacekeeping mission.
Again, luck wasn’t on my side.
He and Johnson shadowed us across the border so I had just spent the last three days with him. Three long days.
I was ready to fucking shoot him.
Between Johnson, Rodriques, and the other Delta guys, they kept me sane, and things were going fine until the day we arrived at our destination.
Yesterday.
Up until then, our mission had been covert. We were a handful of bullets away from going home.
Trina’s pretty lips were front of my mind.
We’d stopped at the low populated mountain range surrounded by dusty rounds and a handful of houses. Then waited for instructions from command.
Rogers was on comms, being the communications expert on the team, and we’d been relying on him for the intel.
And waited.
Nobody knew I was here to eliminate a target, although it was pretty obvious. I wasn’t heading to this location for a sandwich.
Turns out, their guys were at the same place. So, after sharing that with command, we’d been told to wait. And we had.
While we did, Rodriques had pulled me aside. “Listen I know this is off books, but if there’s anything I need to know that will endanger my team, now is the time to tell me.”
“Got it.”
He waited as we stood staring at one another. One powerful warrior to another.
“Fuck me.” He shook his head.
“I’m sorry man. Like you said, it’s off the books. I can’t. If there was anything that threatened a life, I’d tell you.”
He gave me a dark look. “No surprises, Adams.”
That’s when I made a calculated decision.
Out here in the desert you have to make decisions to survive that the guys sitting behind desks don’t really understand. I understood Rodriques’s position and if I’d been in his shoes, I’d feel the same.
He saw the moment my eyes darted to the side and back to his. His shoulders dropped, and while it was just an inch, he moved closer.
“I won’t be breaking away. My target is in the main building.” I’d just told him I was here for a kill shot. “Then I’m returning with you.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“I’ll only need one shot. It will be clean.”
His eyes remained locked on mine as he processed my words, processing them fast.
“Are we competing for a kill here?” he asked.
“No.”
“So, this is what? A coincidence they’re in the same place?”
I didn’t know. I wasn’t privy to the identities of the other men, although their names were mildly familiar.
I’d rubbed the back of my head and then over my stubble which was growing after days in the desert. Sand clung to the sweat on my skin. “I don’t know, man. I have my orders. That’s all. I’m not briefed fully on who my target is.”
He nodded, glancing around the terrain.