And he wasn’t going to lose a damn one of them. Sure as hell not here, on home soil, because of a motherfucking traitor.
Chapter Twenty
Tag awoke with a groan, caught in a tidal wave of searing, raw agony. He tried to lift his head, only to freeze as an incandescent vice of pain fisted him.
Fuck…what the hell had happened?
“Welcome to the land of the living, sleeping beauty.”
The voice was Dev’s. But more clipped. Maybe even concerned.
“Sitrep?” The question took all his concentration and every ounce of his breath.
Where the fuck was he? What the hell had happened?
His memory was a hazy sieve, leaking information faster than he could fill it.
“You’ve been shot.”
“No shit, sher...” Tag’s breath strangled him before he finished that last word. He’d been shot before. He knew what shot felt like. “How bad?”
It couldn’t be that terrible. He was still alive.
“Bad enough.” Dev’s voice tightened, turned grim. “Stop talking. Conserve your oxygen. I have a compression needle in and a chest seal in place. But the paramedics haven’t arrived.”
Okay, maybe he’d been overly optimistic. He fought his burning lungs for another breath.
“Hang in there, Taggart. You hear me?” Dev barked the order, his tone brusque and demanding. “I didn’t lose you to some swamp rat while you were out on rotation. I’m sure as hell not going to lose you on our own fucking soil, to a fucking team brother.”
Tag didn’t blame him. The paperwork would be a bitch.
He wrestled his paralyzed lungs for another breath. The resulting agony sent him skidding into the darkness again.
The next time he fought his way to awareness, a hazy memory rose in his mind. Sarah. Mitch. Sarah’s voice pleading with the bastard.
“I need to stop the bleeding. Please! He’s losing a lot of blood.”
“Then he’ll have to bleed slower. Back. The fuck. Up. He can live or die—right now—right here. Makes no difference to me.”
“Sarah?” The name burbled from him. Weak and wet.
“She’s fine. How about you concentrate on yourself.”
Dev’s response wavered in and out of Tag’s hearing. His C.O. was lying, Tag could hear it in his clipped tone.
“For Christ’s sake, just lie still.” Dev’s voice mixed with other voices uttering sharp, urgent commands.
He tried to open his eyes, but his lids wouldn’t cooperate. Hands roamed over him, a whole slew of them from the feel of it. Other people had joined their party.
He fought to concentrate. Only one person mattered. Only one was worth the effort of forcing his lungs and mouth to work. And Mitch had her.
“Find Sarah.”
“Stop talking for fuck’s sake. Just lie there like a good little operator and let the medics patch you up.”
It was Tram’s voice this time, but more tense then he’d ever heard it.
“Mitch has Sarah.” The words were garbled…breathless.
“We’re aware,” Dev said. “We’re handling it.”
They were? A flare of anger hit him. Burned through the pain. “Then… …why…you here?”
A bark of laughter rolled over him. “There’s the arrogant asshole we all know and love.”
“…after…chip.” Tag lifted his arm, which had to weigh at least a billion pounds and weakly shoved aside whatever was suddenly clamped to his face.
The resulting tornado of agony almost sidelined him again.
Almost. He gritted his teeth and road the darkness out. This was important.
She was important.
“No fucking shit. We’re handling it.” Dev’s voice was closer to annoyed, than concerned now.
Too fucking bad.
Someone had to look out for Sarah. “Give him the card.”
“We’re evaluating—” Dev’s voice.
“Give him …gasp…chip,” Tag broke in, groaning now. “Trade for her.”
It was as fucking simple as that. For him anyway. Sarah’s life was worth letting Mitch go free.
When silence greeted his demand, he grunted and tried to force his uncooperative body up. If they weren’t going to do it, he’d track Mitch down himself, make the deal.
He managed a twitch…maybe. This time the pain wasn’t playing games. It rolled through him like a damn earthquake, shaking and tilting and turning his world upside down.
Jesus…Christ…
“Just stand the fuck down,” someone said, either Tram or Dev, Tag couldn’t pinpoint which. “We’ll get Sarah back, damn it.” The voice wavered…grew dimmer…distant…
They better. It wouldn’t be worth climbing out of the void if Sarah wasn’t there to greet him.
With the memory of Brett’s still body and bloody torso front and center in Sarah’s mind, she climbed the stairs.
Was he still alive?
He’d lost so much blood. His shirt had been soaked with it. A person couldn’t lose that much blood and survive, could they? Her breath caught, hitching in her raw, tight throat, both an