Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,36

of the Taliban soldiers had chosen to continue their search instead of investigating the explosion.

No one stopped them. They were all headed toward Mac and the fire blazing high into the sky.

Kylie’s heart contracted as they slipped over the top of the ridge and out of sight of the crash scene below. She should have felt relief but didn’t. How could she when the man she loved was down there somewhere, possibly surrounded by Taliban.

A thumping sound filled the air.

“Hallelujah,” Blade exclaimed. “Black Hawks! Hopefully they’re coming for us.”

Hope surged in Kylie’s chest. “If they are, we don’t have to leave Mac. We need to go back and cover for him until help arrives.”

Blade frowned in the starlight. “If I know Mac, he’d rather know you were safe and out of harm’s way.”

“I can’t go,” Kylie said. “You two go on without me. I’m heading back to help Mac.”

“You don’t have to go it alone. Looks like the choppers are landing in that depression ahead.” Blade tipped his head toward the helicopters, dropping low into the hills, choosing a flat spot to set down. As soon as they landed, men streamed out of the sides.

“Stay here with Musa,” Blade commanded as he eased Musa to the ground. “I’ll make the connection and lead them back this way.”

Before Kylie could protest, Blade took off across the rugged terrain. He met up with the soldiers coming off the helicopters. In seconds, they were headed back to Kylie and Musa’s position.

Blade stopped long enough to let Kylie know what was happening. “It’s our Delta Force team,” he said with a grin. “They’re going in to bring Mac back. I’m taking a couple of them with me to relieve Josh of Ahktar. You’ll need to come with me.”

“I want to go with the others to help Mac,” Kylie said.

Blade shook his head. “You’ll only slow them down. If you want to help Mac, stay with me.”

Kylie watched as the team ran across the terrain, fresh for the fight, unlike her. They would get there much faster than if she went with them.

“If you go with them, they’re focus will be on protecting you, not on getting to Mac,” Blade argued.

Kylie squeezed her eyes shut for a second, then opened them and squared her shoulders. “Okay. I want them to get to Mac as quickly as possible. Lead the way to Josh. I’ll follow.”

Between Blade and his buddy Dash, they half-carried Musa down the hill and back up the other side. Just when Kylie thought they’d never get to Josh and Ahktar, they rounded a boulder near a gravel road and came upon an SUV.

A voice called out, “Halt! Who goes there?”

“Josh, it’s me, Blade and we have Kylie.”

Josh stepped out of the shadows, leveling the rifle on Blade. Then he pointed the weapon toward the ground. “I thought you’d never make it back. And when I heard that explosion…” He shook his head as smile cross his lips as he spied Kylie. “Thank God.”

Kylie ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. “I was so worried about you.”

“Same here. I’m glad they found you.” He looked up from her face and frowned at Dash and Musa. “You’re not Mac. Where’s Mac?”

Kylie’s eyes filled with tears. “The Deltas are going in to bring him out.”

“He’s not…dead?” Josh asked.

Kylie shook her head. “No. He can’t be.”

“We don’t know. The team will get him out. In the meantime, how’s our prisoner?”

“He tried to get out of his bindings, but they held. And I didn’t take the gag out of his mouth.” Josh’s lips twisted. “I didn’t get to shoot him.”

Kylie laughed. “You sound disappointed.”

“The bastard would have killed you,” Josh said, a frown forming a V with his eyebrows.

“I’m alive.” She turned back the way she’d come and stared into the darkness. “Now all we need is Mac to come back alive.”

For the next twenty minutes, she wrung her hands, pacing back and forth in front of the SUV, her attention on the hills she’d passed through to get where she now waited.

When she heard the sound of rotor blades beating the air, her heart leaped into her throat and she turned to Dash.

Dash laid a hand over his ear, a smile spreading across his face. “They have Mac.” His grin broadened. “He’s alive and asking about you.”

The rush of relief that wash over Kylie was so powerful, it sent her to her knees. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

“Hey,” Blade slipped