I asked as a formality, but no one answered in the affirmative. My boots clicked together as I rushed to Dirk at the door, then raised my arm and circled a hand above my head.
Our group burst out of the room and was met by five guards armed to the teeth, as well as the Terrorist in Charge. He stood at the center of the corridor and opened his arms like he was about to kick off an orchestra.
His men surged out from behind him, and the next few minutes were absolute bedlam.
“Get down,” I bellowed as the first shots rang out. The hostages hit the floor immediately.
Eden and I took out a few of the attackers, though I nearly took a bullet in my shoulder. Thankfully, Dirk proved to be pretty damn useful. While we were covering the group, he managed to usher them out of harm’s way.
Debris from the firefight rained down on us. Walls and trinkets exploded as bullets mowed into them. It was total chaos, but eventually, we made it out.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked as soon as we were clear of the house. I turned to face them, breathing hard as excess adrenaline burned through me.
Other than a few scrapes, bumps, and bruises, no one had been injured. Dust and bits of rubble covered our clothes. Eyes were shiny and too wide, but I knew the hostages’ shock would wear off.
“Okay.” I nodded, shooting a thumbs-up at Eden who was keeping watch on the house. “Let’s move out. The rally point isn’t far from here.”
Only once the hostages were safe and loaded into a van to get them back to the base did Eden sidle up to me. His gaze was firmly fixed on our lieutenant. The man might as well have had a thundercloud on a leash for the storm that brewed in his eyes when he glanced over at me.
“Shit,” Eden muttered. “This isn’t going to be good.”
“Relax. I’ll deal with him.” It wouldn’t be the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last. “Go. Check on the hostages or something. Just get away from me.”
He tried to protest but did what I asked a minute later. The lieutenant marched up to me with a hard, glacial expression that never slipped. “You didn’t wait for my order.”
“We saw a window of opportunity, sir. The radio went silent, so we took it.” I held his gaze. “Which led to the safe recovery of all the hostages. The mission was a success.”
He harrumphed but kept his calm. “You and I are going to have a talk about this little stunt once we get back to the base.”
After staring me down for another minute, he shook his head and walked away when someone called out his name. Eden appeared beside me again, not succeeding at hiding his smile.
“There’s going to be hell to pay when we get back.”
I shoved my shoulder into his, grinning as I watched the lieutenant retreating. “Yeah, but what can they really do? We got the hostages out, didn’t we? Fuck the orders. We got the results, bro. That’s all that matters.”
Chapter 2
Sofia
Discuss three root causes of common health issues affecting the wellbeing of children and families. A smile spread on my lips as I read the penultimate question of my last final for the semester.
The Determinants of Children’s Health class had been one of my favorite electives this semester, and I was blowing through the final with no problems.
Easy. I could think of at least six root causes I’d have been able to discuss in detail. Let’s go for childhood obesity, family disruption, and environmental health problems.
My pen scratching against the surface of the paper joined in the sounds of sighs and the ticking of the clock in the quiet room. The guy next to me kept letting out these annoying little grunts, but I tuned him out enough to concentrate on answering the remaining questions.
As I added the period to the end of my last sentence, I sat back in my chair and praised all that was holy that finals were over. Studying to become a doctor meant putting in long hours, but this week had been ridiculous. I hadn’t even brushed my hair in the last three days.
The tousled beach look I was rocking in my shoulder-length bob hadn’t exactly been planned. It looked tousled because it really was. But whatever. Once I got some sleep, I’d worry about personal care. At least the hot pink headband I wore