about the man you thought you saw earlier—the guy missing part of his ear.”
Kim bit her lip but nodded. If he somehow had gotten here on base or worked here or whatnot, it would be better for all of Ethan’s friends to know about him. That didn’t make it any less mortifying though.
“It’s just for your safety,” Ethan assured her in a low voice. The deep timbre of his words soothed her. Somehow, she would always associate his voice with safety. Maybe because he’d chased after her in the darkness that night. She couldn’t see him and had been frightened beyond words, but Ethan had been there every step of the way, his calm assurances comforting her. “It’s better for the team to be aware since he had such a distinguishing feature. It’s unlikely he’s anywhere near here, sweetheart. But I feel better that Raptor is filling them in.”
“Raptor. That’s Blake’s nickname, right?” she asked.
She could tell Ethan knew she was changing the subject, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to think about the man who’d held her down and hurt her. Reliving those memories earlier had been bad enough. He let the subject slide and began telling her the nicknames of the rest of his teammates. She was a little horrified to learn Jackson had lived up to his name of “K-Bar” when he’d thrown a knife and killed his girlfriend’s abusive ex-husband. She knew Ethan and his teammates would keep her safe until they got out of here though.
And when they were back home?
Hopefully she could move on with her life. Maybe she’d get therapy and have setbacks along the way, but the man who’d hurt her would be far, far away and out of her life forever.
Chapter 14
Ethan leaned back in his seat on the C-17 cargo plane, glancing across the aisle at Kimberly. She’d stretched across a couple of seats, sleeping. They’d been in the air several hours, and a couple of guys on the team were getting some shut-eye as well.
Troy crossed over to him, grabbing a seat. “Hurricane’s zonked out,” he said with a chuckle.
Ethan smirked and nodded toward Ghost. “Same with him. Man. I’m too worked up to sleep right now.”
Troy raised his eyebrows, and Ethan leaned closer, speaking in a low voice. “That shit with Kim freaked out about the guy missing part of his ear has me worried. She was practically shaking when we boarded the plane. She was scanning the crowd, looking for him.”
“You really think he was there? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think she’d make up something like that. She really thinks she saw him on base earlier. But she went through a hell of an ordeal. Her mind could be playing tricks on her.”
“Yeah. She’s observant though. She wasn’t afraid of any of us.”
“We’re not terrorists,” Troy countered.
Ethan crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat again. “I don’t like it. We took out a couple of the men who kidnapped her, but he wasn’t there that night. We still don’t know who kidnapped her in the first place or how they even got on base.”
“It could’ve been someone who worked there,” Troy agreed. “An Afghani or a fucking traitor.”
“I think that’s part of the reason she’s so eager to see Hailey. They lived in the same building. Although I doubt Hailey saw anything suspicious. Ghost found her in her room during the fire.”
Troy clenched his jaw, nodding. “Raptor said you offered to let her stay with you?”
Ethan smirked, scrubbing a hand across his jaw. “I don’t even know where that came from. She wanted to see Hailey and maybe even meet Clarissa so they could commiserate. The words just popped out of my mouth.”
“You like her.”
“Yep. We’re on opposite coasts though.”
“So? Hailey moved across the country to be with Ghost.”
“Hailey already had plans to move after her stint in Bagram was up. Kim is a DOD contractor with a job at the Pentagon. I have to admit, I’m not fully versed in how the Army Reserves work either.”
“I think she’d have to put in for a transfer. Normally that couldn’t happen while your unit is deployed overseas, but this isn’t exactly a normal situation. I think she was TDY over there, and besides. She’s a POW. She went through a hell of a lot. They’ll probably just medically discharge her.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t really matter though. She might come to stay with me, but that doesn’t mean anything. I offered as