Page 2 of Renegade Queen

Turning back to the ranger, I asked, “How long since they crossed over?”

“Eleven days.” It was the hopeful look on his face that turned my stomach. Dumb shit.

“And how long since you lost contact with them?” I asked.

“Nine days,” he admitted, his face falling immediately.

“I’m sorry,” I told him, and I genuinely was. “If he’s been gone that long, your brother is already dead.”

I’d give him his due; this guy was a true soldier. He just shook his head. He didn’t break down, and he didn’t say another word. Instead, he resumed his position and lifted his rifle to point it back at me.

“So,” I said, turning back to the General. “Now that you’ve gotten me to crush this man’s hope, we should really get this party going.”

This was always the fun part. With a wave of my hand, all the rifles flew out of their grips and across the room. The looks on their faces were just comical, or maybe that was the tequila talking. Before they could react, I pulled a knife out of my waistband and threw it. It landed with a satisfying thump into the General’s shoulder. The way he screamed in pain made me giggle. Yeah, I’d definitely had too much tequila. The ranger who had yet to say anything, launched himself at me and pinned me down on the ground.

“Now, this is a position I could get used to,” I purred at him. He had my hands pinned above my head as he straddled my waist. Even as he glared down at me, I couldn’t help but smile. “You can’t be mad at me for stabbing him. He did leave me to die in Siberia.”

“How did you do that?” he growled at me. The other rangers had gone over to the General, who was now sitting against the bar, whimpering like a baby.

“Well, you look at what you want to hit so that when you throw…”

“You know what I mean!” he shouted, pushing down harder on my hands, bringing his chest against mine so close that our lips nearly brushed together.

It gave me a chance to really look him in the eyes. Despite the anger brewing there, he had so many emotions rolling around in his gaze.

“You know them,” I whispered. It wasn’t a question; the truth was written all over his face.

He cleared his throat and nodded once in confirmation.

“I’m sorry.” He looked so sad. His grip slackened on my hands, but he was still straddling me. Placing one hand on his cheek, I tilted my head to rest my forehead against his. “I’m so sorry about your friends.”

For a brief moment, he leaned into my hand, closing his eyes as he soaked in the contact, before he reluctantly climbed to his feet. Then, reaching a hand down, he pulled me back to my feet before guiding me over to a bar stool.

“Sit! And no more stabbing people,” he barked at me before walking over to where the others were trying to patch up the General.

“Oh please, he got off easy. I promised to kill him. He’s lucky I decided to just stab him for now,” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

The General milked the attention; it wasn’t like I’d hit him anywhere vital. It only went into the muscle. He was fine. Smiler and Blue Eyes were already treating him with a field kit. But no one had radioed in for help or requested a medic or transport for the General.

I squinted at them in suspicion.

“Why are you patching him up here?” I asked them.

The rangers didn’t say a word. Blue Eyes pulled a bandage from the field kit, but the General waved it away. He turned his eyes to me.

“We don’t exactly have permission to run this operation.” He gritted his teeth and pulled himself up on the bar. “We’re here strictly off the books.”

“And the first mission, where you lost your entire team and this poor guy’s brother; how on the books was that one?” I asked, hitching a thumb at blue eyes.

“It was approved,” he answered evasively.

Except the General forgot that I knew him, and I knew what his evasiveness meant. It was, after all, what had gotten me stuck in the middle of Siberia—alone.

“Oh no, let me guess, I’m good at this game. You were approved to go in and scout, but you gave the team a different set of orders. If I know you well—and I do, by the way—it was to retrieve something for you.”

The General looked around guiltily while the three rangers kept quiet like the good little guard dogs they were.

“In all this time, you haven’t changed a bit. Have you even told him what you risked his brother’s life for?” I sneered at him. “What was it this time, Philip? Still looking for immortality, or have you lowered your expectations a bit since Siberia?”

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