isn’t normal, boss.”
“For someone who’s been through what he has, I’d say yeah, it’s pretty normal. He just needs time.”
Before Geo could push the issue, Jaxon was already turning away, shouting, “A-10 inbound in twenty, people. Let’s hump all this shit over to that courtyard.”
There wasn’t anything for Geo to do but let it go.
Gritting his teeth, he grabbed a corner of the blanket filled with weapons, and with three other guys, ran it over to the compound, a tethered Bosch easily keeping pace with him. The SEALs unceremoniously dumped the blanket into the rocky dirt, then sprinted back through the gate and across the field for about a hundred yards, where they threw themselves into a ditch next to the rest of the guys.
Cade had jammed a hood over the prisoner’s head, and the kid lay curled up on his side in the dirt, blood already seeping through the bandages on his arm. He was quiet, as if resigned to his fate.
And why wouldn’t he be? Geo saw guys like this as more hopeless than cowardly, more sad than evil, all of which made them that much more dangerous. It was one thing to fight an enemy; something else completely to fight a hopeless one.
What must it be like, to be so devoid of hope that shooting down helicopters or blowing themselves up seemed to be the only way young men like this could find honor? What sort of leadership asked that of them?
Geo looked away. One who preyed on the hopeless.
Suddenly, with a scream of powerful jet engines, a huge A-10 roared overhead.
“They’re cleared hot,” Jaxon called over the troop net. “Keep your heads down!”
Before Geo buried his face in the dirt, he saw a blinking object falling from the sky. A split second later, the huge fireball that erupted sent rocks, dirt and pieces of white-hot metal raining down all around them.
Geo was practically lying on top of his dog, and he dug his fingers into the warm fur along his sides, feeling his ribs rising and falling with his reassuring breaths. Secondary explosions cracked through the air as the horrors of the compound were obliterated.
Cleansed by the fire.
Chapter One
One year later
“Smile, honey. It can’t be that bad.”
Behind the bar, Lani Abuel grit her teeth. This dude was on her last nerve, and tip or no, she was about to go off on him. “Hey, you really don’t know what someone else might be going through, so—”
“You’re too beautiful to frown like that,” he persisted without missing a beat. “C’mon, baby, gimme a smile.”
She’d had enough. She planted her palms on the bar top and stared the guy right in the eye. “I don’t owe you a smile,” she said evenly. “In fact, I don’t owe you anything, unless you want to order another drink. What’ll it be?”
Spinning around on his stool, the guy stalked off, muttering “Bitch” under his breath. Lani grabbed his empty glass and threw it in the dishwashing basket, where it made a most satisfying clatter.
With a few vicious swipes of her towel, she got rid of the condensation rings he’d left behind. Then she tossed the damp towel away and dusted her hands together, the guy effectively erased from existence. Her existence, anyway.
“Is it safe to sit down?”
She glanced to the side, where a different man now stood with his hands stuffed in his pockets, eyebrows raised in inquiry. Shrugging, she waved at the empty barstool. “Be my guest. Smiles not included in the service tonight, gotta warn you.”
“Good thing all I want is a Jack and Coke, then. Actually, make it two.”
She mixed both drinks with brisk, efficient motions and placed the glasses in front of him. “Sorry. Not up for small talk right now.”
“Works for me. Just came to drink and people watch.”
“Great. You wanna run a tab?”
With a nod, the dude fished his wallet out of his back pocket and passed her his credit card. “Please. Just keep ’em coming.”
“You got it.” Lani turned to her register and set up the tab, swiping his card and taking a peek at the name before handing it back to him. “Thanks, George.”
“I go by Geo.” The man put his wallet away. “But I guess it doesn’t matter since we won’t be talking, though, right?”
“Right.”
True to his word, the man—Geo—didn’t try to speak to her, and luckily, the rest of the upstairs bar was relatively quiet on this Wednesday night. Lani kept busy filling the cocktail servers’ drink orders and making sure