I’m manning one of the machine guns. Speed, who’s joining me from Bravo team on support, has the other.
We’re as ready as we can be.
And we still have hours until that ship docks.
The moment we touch down, it’s a race to unload our gear from the plane and load everyone up into the helicopter. I pause for a second when I notice our pilot is a female.
“Ariel Black. I’m your taxi driver for the evening.” She shakes hands with Max and the rest of the team.
“This is my team, and Griff here will be riding shotgun with you.” Max briefly introduces us.
“Hi.” I expect a soft, feminine shake when I take her hand, but she returns my grip with strength.
“You riding with me, then?”
“Looks like.”
Ariel takes one look at me and her brow arches in question. I say nothing, not feeling like I need to explain myself to a helicopter pilot. She releases my hand and moves on to introduce herself to Charlie team.
“Dude, do you know who that is?” Knox tugs me aside and I do a double take at the awe filling his voice.
“No.” I’ve already dismissed the pilot.
“That’s Ariel Black. She’s a fucking legend. Ex-army, three combat tours in the desert, war decorated. My team had injured men. We were pinned down and requested medevac. She flew into that mess.” He lifts a brow like that means something to me.
I give a shake of my head because I’ve never heard of her.
“Dude, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and went down. She landed that thing like it was nothing, all while it spewed fire and smoke. She lost her co-pilot and two of the four special ops surgical team members on board, but she fucking pulled the two injured men free of the wreck all by herself. With a shattered leg! Defended them too. They call her Battle Angel. Fucking legend.” He presses forward and enthusiastically shakes her hand. “Name’s Knox and fucking pleased to breathe the same damn air.”
“Excuse me?” Ariel’s brows quirk up.
“Desert, several years ago, you came to medevac our wounded. RPG took you out and you saved…”
“Yeah,” she rubs the back of her neck, “that was a bad day in the office. I lost three men.”
“And saved two others. It’s a real honor to be working with you again. You joining the Guardians?”
“Naw, I’ve got a great job here. Still flying medevac though, off the rigs, but got a call from an old friend and couldn’t say no. Feels almost like old times.”
“I know what you mean.” Knox can’t keep his eyes off the pilot, but I see a flash of gold around her left ring finger. Knox is going to have to keep moving along. That chick is taken.
He says a few more things while everyone loads up. Ariel Black tilts her head, assessing me. I swear she’s looking for something. When her gaze lingers on my leg, her eyes brighten.
Color me impressed. I swear I’m not limping but she figures everything out. No need to tell her why I’m not with my team. She gets it. While Alpha and Charlie crowd into the helicopter, Speed and I take up our positions by the twin machine guns at the open bay doors.
Dressed in black tactical gear, my teammates smear black paint on their faces as Ariel takes us up. The Zodiacs they’ll soon be riding are black. My team is decked out all in black, and the muddy waters of the Mississippi are dirty brown during the day and midnight black at night.
Black on black on black.
Nobody will see them coming. Charlie team does the same.
It’s after midnight, but still sweltering hot in the cloying humidity of the Mississippi Delta. We sweat like stuck pigs and draw thick, humidified air into our lungs.
My nerves buzz and jangle, which is odd for me. I’m not the nervous type. Quite the opposite. During a mission, my emotions disappear while I embrace the lethal killing machine that I am. There’s no time for shit like emotions during an op. I’m damn good at my job. My ice-cold demeanor on ops got noticed and is, in part, how I was recruited into Delta Force while in the military.
Like Delta operatives, Guardians are recruited from all branches of the military special ops community. We’re brothers in arms, and nearly every one of us is a former Delta operative. After what Knox said, I’m surprised Battle Angel up at the stick isn’t getting recruited. We need battle-trained