Page 3 of Duty Bound

"To Spade."

They sipped in silence until Blade murmured, "I can't shake it, Pat. It's like a shadow glued to my heels."

"What went down in Helmand... it's not on you. It was a snake pit. They all knew it." His voice was strong, his tone firm.

Blade's gaze was fixed on the amber liquid, his jaw clenched. "Should've seen it coming."

"You're not clairvoyant, son."

He just grunted.

"You keeping busy?" Pat changed tack.

"Riding, fishing…" Trying to stave off the boredom.

Pat leaned in, eyes glinting. "Good. Glad you're not otherwise engaged. I've got a job for you."

Blade perked up. This was it—the reason Pat was here, in the dead of night.

"You remember Joe's girlfriend, Lily?"

Blade frowned. "Lily? The computer geek?" The image of a waifish girl with a pixie cut and thick eyeglasses came to mind. She always seemed like a bit of an oddball to him, more at home among servers than soldiers.

Pat gave a nod, confirming. "She's a smart girl. Employed by the Agency now."

His eyes widened. "The CIA? For real?" He couldn't imagine her running around in the field playing spy games.

Another nod from Pat. "She's cyber. Was out in Afghanistan."

Blade's brows shot to his hairline. "Afghanistan? Spade never mentioned that."

"She went afterward. Guess it was her way of dealing with what happened."

That hit home. He was still clinging to the fringes of the base where he trained, where he lived the life before... Before everything went to hell and took Spade and the others with it.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Pat's gaze was hard as stone. "She's MIA, Blade. Snatched on her way out of Kabul, when everything went to shit."

Blade's gut twisted. "Kidnapped? You're kidding me?"

"Wish I was. We recently discovered she got caught in the mayhem at the airport. Thousands trying to get out and she got grabbed, along with a couple of reporters."

The news had been a constant drone in the background. Kabul falling. The world watching, helpless. And now Lily, a face in the crowd, taken.

"We?" Blade's voice was sharp. “I thought you’d hung up your boots?”

Pat's smile was thin. "Let's just say I'm consulting for Uncle Sam—unofficially, of course."

Blade arched his brows.

Pat shrugged. "It keeps me busy."

He wasn't judging, just surprised. "You could've told me."

Pat's face was unreadable. "I'm telling you now."

Blade understood that all too well. The pull of duty didn't just let go. It sunk in its claws then hung on tight.

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