Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,4
Mac asked.
“The life of one of our soldiers. Do you have a medic with you?”
Bull lifted a finger. “That would be me.”
“The Ranger I’ve been working with needs assistance. He has a couple of gunshot wounds. He’s in the back of the building with my cameraman and the Afghan the Rangers were sent in to find and extract.”
Mac’s eyebrows rose. “Faaid?”
Kylie’s lips twisted. “Yup. The man of the hour.”
Bull hurried toward the back. Tank followed.
Mac shook his head. “We were sent in when the intelligence guys caught wind the Rangers were being set up to fail. The Taliban found out where Faaid was and got here with twice the numbers of the Ranger squad sent in to extract the informant.” His lips quirked upward in a smile. “I can’t say that I expected to find you holding off all those Taliban soldiers, while protecting the man everyone was after.”
“I didn’t plan it that way.” Kylie sighed. “This was supposed to be a fairly simple extraction. Get in, rescue Faaid and get back out. Capture the action on video, conduct an interview with Faaid and show what a great job our folks in uniform are doing.” She snorted softly. “Simple.”
“Until it wasn’t so simple.” Mac nodded, glad he’d made it in time to stop the Taliban gunman from shooting the woman who’d ditched his ass all those years ago.
Chapter 2
Kylie’s heart beat fast and furious. She couldn’t tell if it was from the adrenaline rush of having had to kill three Taliban terrorists or because she was standing now with the only man she’d ever loved.
She feasted her eyes on him, taking all of him in. God, he was sexy in his desert camouflage uniform and helmet. She couldn’t have distinguished him from any other soldier except for the eyes and that low, resonant voice that made her blood hum and her heart sing.
One of Mac’s teammates poked his head through the door of the building. “You guys need to wrap up this party. We’ve got incoming.”
Tank emerged from the back of the building, the Army Ranger slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Party?” he said. “I’ve had about all the fun I can stand in one day. Yo, Blade, what’s happening outside?”
“Dawg’s on the roof,” Blade said. “He’ll provide cover while we make our way out of this village.”
Mac held out his hand to Kylie. “Ready to blow this popsicle stand?”
She nodded.
Together, they hurried for the door.
Rucker and Dash reached it first.
“We’ll provide more cover while you get your lady, the cameraman, our informant and the Ranger out.”
The two men moved out and into position to defend the others.
Mac pushed Kylie behind him, stepped through the door first and looked around for any sources of trouble. Once he was convinced she was fairly safe, he turned to Kylie. “Come on.”
She let him pull her down the street, taking them toward the edge of town. They ran, keeping ahead of any terrorists who might be stalking them.
“Where are we going?” Kylie asked.
Mac held her hand tightly. “Our extraction point is at the edge of town.”
Tank followed, the Ranger draped over his shoulder, Faaid and Josh following close behind. Other members of Mac’s team formed a semicircle around the group.
Ahead, she could see the edge of town. As they came up beside the last building, she spotted the Blackhawk helicopters, lowering to the ground.
Army Rangers were loading onto one of them. As Kylie watched, the full chopper lifted off.
“All we have to do is make it from here to the helicopter without getting shot,” Mac said, “and we’re off.”
Kylie snorted. Running out in the open across an area void of vegetation would make them easy targets for getting shot in the back. However, they had no other choice. “I can’t wait.”
“Good, because we’re going.” Mac hustled her in front of him, using his body as a shield for any bullets that might fly at them from behind. They ran across the open field.
Mac forced them to zigzag to avoid being easy targets for whomever might be aiming in their direction. When she reached the helicopter, he gave her a boost up into the opening.
Josh scrambled aboard, Faaid came next and Tank set the Army Ranger on the floor of the chopper.
Mac’s teammates converged on the helicopter.
“Are we all accounted for?” Mac asked.
“All except Dawg,” Blade said. “Rucker’s a little way back, covering for him.”
Mac tilted his head and spoke into his mic. “Dawg, you on your way?” He waited