been a few short hours since she’d failed to notice that she’d been shot—ish—in her arm. For all Thomas knew, she had a long-standing habit of not-noticing when she was wounded and bleeding.
“Nice to see you, too, LT,” Rio said as he signaled for Tash to turn in a circle while he checked her for bullet holes. He beckoned her closer, leaning in to stare hard into her eyes, looking for signs of shock, as he reported, “We got an SUV parked just down the mountain; gravel road on the other side of the perimeter fence. Tasha’s good.”
Out of all of Thomas’s friends and teammates, Tash had always found Rio to be the most annoying. In the past, he’d teased Thomas mercilessly about having a teenaged best friend, but Tasha currently didn’t have even the slightest urge to punch him.
In fact, she’d never been more glad to see him, ever, in her entire life.
True, two SEALs and an SUV were a far cry from the swarm of helos Thomas predicted would be coming on that very first night they’d huddled together for warmth in their very first hide. But she had zero complaints.
Rio gave them a swift rundown of why the rescue op was limited as Thomas swiftly fashioned a splint for Ted’s broken leg, using the fleece belt from his “pants” to tie it in place.
A series of attacks by homegrown terrorists in several U.S. cities meant that the helos and their crews were a little busy. Also, all nonessential flights had been—and were still—shut down. Rio and Dave had driven cross-country—three thousand miles—to get to Maine, at the request of Uncle Alan, who was fine, but also busy.
Very, very busy.
“What are you wearing?” Rio asked incredulously as the “pants” sagged down to Thomas’s thighs, revealing the cheerful red plaid he wore beneath.
“Long story,” Thomas said shortly. “You got a med kit with painkiller? Morphine, ketamine?”
“Good idea,” Rio said. “Ketamine will make those pants look so much better—oh, you meant for the prince.” He got serious. “Med kit’s in the SUV. We got fence cutters, too, LT.”
“We need to move.” Thomas raised his voice. “Patterson!”
Dave appeared almost instantly. “Yes, sir. Hey, Tash. Everything’s still quiet out there, but we probably shouldn’t linger. But while I was taking photos of the scene for my new FBI overlords, I found this.” He held out a small handgun. “I think maybe it’s Prince Tedric’s...?”
“Absolutely not,” Tasha said. “Ted doesn’t even like it when his security detail carries firearms.”
“Report from the admiral said he was armed with a handgun,” Rio countered.
“It explains the small caliber wound in his leg,” Thomas said.
“Uh oh,” Dave said. “You think he shot himself? I mean, accidentally, but... Damn.”
“Help me get him into a fireman’s carry,” Thomas ordered.
“I did not have that on my bingo card,” Rio said as he moved to assist. “I had Ted gets shot by the bad guys, and Ted shoots us, but not Ted shoots himself.”
Dave pocketed the weapon. “Let’s not give this back to him soon, then.”
As they started to lift Ted, he roused, moaning in pain, and struggling to get away from them.
“It’s okay, you’re okay, we’re friends, I’m Lieutenant Thomas King, U.S. Navy SEALs,” Thomas told him, but it wasn’t until Ted spotted Tasha that he calmed down.
“Tash! Natasha!” He reached for her.
“I’m here, Teddy.” She knelt next to him, taking his hands.
“Are you okay?”
“I am,” she reassured him.
“Damnit,” Thomas said. “I was hoping he’d stay unconscious longer.”
Ted was groggy, dazed, and it was clear that moving, even just a little, was terribly painful. “Thank God,” he breathed.
“Did you hit your head?” she asked him.
“No, but I shot myself. Christ, it hurts. I was trying to get my gun and I fumbled and it went off. I’m an idiot.”
“How we doing this, LT?” Rio asked. “We need to get out of here.”
“What are you doing out here?” Tasha asked Ted. “Didn’t the security team get you to safety?”
“Moving him’s gonna hurt him like hell,” Thomas said.
Ted glanced up at that. “Not moving hurts him like hell, too.” He looked back at Tash. “They flew us out via chopper. But no one went back for you. They just left you. I was furious. Did you find the shelter?”
“We did,” she reassured him. “We ate your corn flakes and your disgusting almond milk.”
Ted laughed a little at that. “I knew you were too much of a smartass to die,” he said. “Shit, this really hurts.”