Delta Force Rescue - Elle James Page 0,47

halt in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. They couldn’t get there fast enough for Rafe. After seeing Briana bleeding at the hand of El Chefe, Rafe was ready for a fight. Being cooped up on a plane for hours, did little to reduce his anger.

He was glad to be on the ground again. They hadn’t saved Briana yet, but at least he was in the same country as the pretty social worker and had more of a chance of saving her than when they were back in Montana.

Hank had tapped on one of his movie star wife’s friends who owned a large plane they used to transport movie-making equipment and personnel to foreign locations. They’d loaded the cargo hold with everything they’d need to mount an operation to extract Briana from the clutches of one of the most notorious cartel leaders in Central America.

The plane parked in the general aviation side of the airport and was met by the customs officials of the country. Hank had arranged for them to see a crate full of movie equipment. After they’d checked the crate, they allowed the team to load the crates into waiting trucks inside a hangar.

A bus arrived from the commercial side of the international airport, and the Delta Force team from Fort Hood joined them.

Rafe had never been happier to see his old team as he was that day.

“Dude, I send you to protect my sister, and this is how you treat her?” Ryan “Dash” Hayes pulled Rafe into a bear hug. When he leaned back, he frowned, staring at the blood on his hand. “Get in a fight with one of those Montana grizzlies?”

“A grizzly would have been easier to deal with.” Hope built in Rafe’s chest. With his team there, they had half a chance against an army of cartel thugs. “I wasn’t sure they’d send you guys. I thought you were on a mission.”

“We were on the way back when I got the call from Bree,” Dash said. “I didn’t realize just how bad it was.”

“Neither did we. Obviously. El Chefe sent in a dozen of his mercenaries to get her out, along with a chopper and plane.”

“We heard. You’re lucky to be alive from what Hank told us.” Hayes tipped his head to the others standing behind him. “The guys are all glad to see you. We’re hoping we can talk you into re-enlisting. It’s not the same without our token Irishman.” He stepped aside.

“Yeah, man. I don’t have anyone to nag me to clean my weapon or change my socks on mission,” Doug “Dog” Masters said. He hugged Rafe then punched him in the arm. “You need to come back.”

“No shit.” Craig Bullington, otherwise known as Bull, pulled Rafe into a bone-crunching hug. The big mountain of a man could bench press four hundred pounds without breaking a sweat. “We miss having you around.”

“Speak for yourself.” Mike “Blade” Calhoun clasped forearms with Rafe. “Now, I have half a chance with the ladies without Donovan around to steal them. Unless he’s found one of his own. Then he can come back.”

Dash frowned. “You ain’t been hitting on my sister, have you?”

“Dash, I hope your sister is better looking than you,” Sean “Mac” McDaniel said, pushing him aside to get close to Rafe to hug him. “Is she better looking than Dash?”

“Much better,” Rafe said. “And she’s amazing, kind and selfless. Unlike her brother.”

Dash’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t answer my question. You been hitting on Bree?”

“If he has, he’s smart enough not to tell you,” John “Tank” Sanders, the old man of the team, said. He shook Rafe’s hand. “Good to see you.”

“Great to see you, Tank. You ever buy that piece of property out by Copperas Cove?” Rafe asked.

Tank nodded. “Closed on it the day before we shipped out on our last mission. Haven’t had a chance to get out there and see what needs to be done. Hope to build a house out there, someday.”

“Are you the next man to bail on the team?” Rafe asked. “You should be getting close to your twenty-year mark.”

“I have three more years to go,” Tank said.

“Tank, you should see about getting a desk job,” Rucker Sloan said, reaching in to shake Rafe’s hand. “You’re getting too old for Delta Force. Or maybe, we all need to be like Donovan and bail before we’re too old.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Tank said. “I’m not old. I can still outrun, outshoot and outfight any one of you dumbasses.”

Mac