Page 48 of What I Should Have Done

“You ass,” she mumbled but slipped her palm against mine. Warmth from her touch slithered up my arm, reminding me of the man below the belt who needed to stand the fuck down.

The tent flap slapped against the side of the canvas and Dom emerged. His gaze snapped to each of us, the steam from his frustration still spouting from his ears. “Let’s fucking go,” Dom stated, clenching his jaw.

Ford sighed. “Things didn’t go your way, I presume?” He placed a massive palm against the ground and rose with a groan.

Duncan took advantage of Bernie’s momentary distraction and slammed his hand against the ground. “Hell yeah! Take that, dumbass!” Duncan exclaimed and then snapped his teeth shut, turning slowly to look up at Dom.

Dom’s red hot glower met his gaze. “Sorry, sir,” Duncan muttered.

A slow grin morphed over Dom’s face, raising a mischievous glint in his eyes. He wiggled his brows, leaving all of us confused.

“What the hell is going on?” Bernie asked.

“You fuckers really think I didn’t get my way? Damn, ye of little faith,” Dom explained, the grin widening even more. “Mikey, let’s go grab the dune buggies.”

Shooting both fists into the air, I jumped up not realizing my fingers were still wrapped around Scottie’s hand. “Fuck yeah!” I shouted, unintentionally ripping her from the ground.

“Ow,” Scottie muttered, landing ungracefully on her feet while glaring at me. I released her hand.

“My bad, I kinda forgot,” I muttered sheepishly, grimacing. She rolled her eyes, flexing her fingers to shake out the lingering pressure, and balanced herself.

“Don’t ask for another thumb war,” she grumbled.

Well, fuck. There goes casual option number one to hold her hand.

“Anyway,” Dom said, refocusing our attention on him. “We’ll have two extra soldiers per buggy, and then the staff sergeant will follow with the final three soldiers in the JLTV. I’ll explain our op plan over comms as we go since we’ve lost time as is.”

Dust sprayed from his boots, the heels kicking against the ground, and he buckled his helmet beneath his chin. My veins roared hot with excitement as we gathered around him. Even Scottie seemed momentarily distracted from whatever flirtatious advances that shouldn’t be occurring between us.

His eyes darted around the team, checking to see if we were alone, and then he nodded away from the tent. In silence, apprehension and curiosity thick in the air, we moved as one, over to a slightly more secluded spot.

Dom lowered his voice as we gathered tightly around him. “What I say here is not repeated, not even the sergeant knows this, copy?”

“Copy,” we muttered simultaneously.

“Good. Our real purpose is to go in and extract the remaining operator from the terrorist organization. The colonel doesn’t know if they’ve been made or not, and we have intel saying he’s part of this transport.” Dom paused and pulled a small, folded picture from his pocket. “Memorize this face. We will be privy to his name after we extract him. If you see him, radio bogey but say nothing else and then make his ‘death’ look good.”

My eyes roamed down the picture taking in his thin face, dark, nearly black hair, and close-set beady brown eyes with a thick, full beard. Something was vaguely familiar about this man. Our paths had crossed at least once before, even if his name wasn’t coming to mind. The eyes…

“Questions?” Dom asked and shredded the picture to pieces.

I shook my head as resounding noes were whispered within the circle.

“Alright,” Dom said, nodding once. We spun around as a group and made our way back near the tent, as if we’d never left.

The moment the tent flap flipped, Dom spoke loudly, “Let’s roll, motherfuckers.” The staff sergeant emerged from the tent, and a group of seven additional soldiers rounded a corner, marching our way.

The immediate thrill for our upcoming mission twisted into calculated anger upon recognition of one of the soldiers joining. Reyes smirked the moment he caught my glare. Warmth brushed against the left side of my back and pride swirled within the rage. Scottie, for whatever reason, had stepped into my back as if subconsciously seeking me out for protection. This was going to be very interesting.

Twisting my fingers tighter around the steering column, blood drained from my knuckles, turning white. Scottie sat quietly beside me, and I fought with every instinct that begged me to place a hand onto her thigh. For comforting a teammate, right? Nothing more. Neither of us had spoken about the certain soldier joining us for this mission, but there was a silent understanding surrounding the situation with him.

Even Bernie, ever-oblivious Bernie, had seemingly picked up on some tension because he’d craftily steered Reyes into the tan JLTV roaring behind us—the farthest we could get him from her. Sand peppered my goggles, spitting up from Dom’s buggy in front of us. The mask around my mouth and nose filtered the stuffy desert heat as we cruised onward, hoping to regain some lost time.

“Alright, listen up,” Dom’s voice entered the radio, splitting through my piping hot thoughts of ways that I could quietly dispose of Reyes. “Intel says that there are four vehicles in the convoy we’re targeting. The first and last vehicles are dune buggies like these two we swiped, also fitted with gatling guns. Tank and Matrix, you’re in charge of taking those weapons out. Do you copy?”

“Copy that, Phoenix,” both Ford, who was riding behind me, and Duncan, who was riding with Dom, responded on the comms. As I turned the wheel, we careened around a corner and began climbing a dune. The wind rushing through the metal cage surrounding our buggy cooled the sweat pooling at my lower back from the sun’s rays.

“From what we know, the bomb will be in the second vehicle. I’ll get Bernie there. Viper, you and Crow are in charge of taking out the third vehicle, which is supposedly full of weapons they’re transporting. Crow, you can choose from where you set up to do so, how far or close you are from the center of shit. But the moment that Viper and you have that truck secured, your focus becomes eyes for the team as a whole. It’s estimated that there will be around five combatants in each vehicle. We’ll ambush them as they pass through a ravine so we can approach from the rear and front without fear of them escaping through the sides. Questions?”

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