Page 108 of Fire for Effect

I spit blood in his face, and smirked when he flinched away, the red liquid splashing over his features.

His nose wrinkled, like it tickled, as his lips curled up in a snarl. The slap wasn’t totally unexpected.

The part that was unexpected was the laughter that came through me.

“You wash out!” How did I not see how weak he truly was? How had I let myself think he hung the moon when he couldn’t even hang a picture? “You’re still so fucking tender dicked about the fact that you didn’t make it through Ranger School, but your wife did. Grow a pair of balls, jackass.”

I would never have done that five years ago. Hell, I’m not sure I’d have done that two years ago, when I decided to get out of the Army, and to make my own way, alone.

Maybe I wouldn’t have laughed as recently as a few days ago, before Kai made me talk about it. Before Kai held me by the face and declared that he was the guy. My guy. The one that I was supposed to end my story with.

When his boot came up to my chin, I almost regretted my smart mouth.

Almost…

Chapter 29

Attack at First Light

Griff

The world is filled with people who aren’t early risers. They miss out on the brilliant hues that happen in the gap between night and first light. We call that moment “Stand-To”.

The night was cold. Colder than usual, probably because of my blood loss.

I took a skin stapler to my stomach, and closed up the bullet holes. One in the front, and another in my back. It was a clean exit wound. But I wasn’t immune to the pain. I just didn’t have time to care. Not while Taz was waiting for me.

I’m a morning person. I always had been. Years of military training, and my own sense of discipline made me an early riser, at my most alert just before the sun came out.

The body armor weighed heavy on my back, as I lay on the cold ground in Army-like fatigues, the ammo pouches on my stomach barely keeping me a few inches from the frozen dirt. We blended into the dying tall grass, looking at the old factory building that housed the Prodigal Sons.

Sierra was several feet to my right, exactly where I had gotten used to her being. I looked through the binoculars, hoping to see my woman somewhere inside the building, in one of the many lit windows.

The ring grew heavy in my breast pocket. The one I had made as a death gift to her. But now, it was more than that. It was an engagement ring. One I wanted to put on her finger sooner, rather than later. Or hell, we could not get married at all. I just needed it on her.

The fact that I had been married before was an affront to her. The world had once associated me with someone that wasn’t Taz Guerro, and it was wrong. It was wrong that she wasn’t my wife. That she wasn’t more than my wife… that the world didn’t see her as my other half. A part of my body, like my own fucking arm.

A car slowly drove by, passing the building and heading to the distance.

I knew it was Veder and Top. They’d be getting into position, approaching from the eastern side to our left. On my right, I knew that Goose and Charlotte were already in position, waiting like the rest of us.

Comms in our ear let us talk quietly to one another, but we used it sparingly. At least, until the team got in place. Then shit got… annoyingly chatty.

I had only given them a building description and talked over the basic infill plan. Once inside, I hoped our training would take over and we’d clear the building and get Taz out.

One didn’t forget their Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training without a serious lobotomy. That shit was drilled into us so often, especially before we went into Iraq, that I’d long forget my own name before I forgot how to clear a room.

“Team Charlie is set.” It was Veder, with Top.

“Team Bravo is set.” Charlotte said, for her and Goose.

“Hey, question, bro,” Veder again.

He used to never talk when I was around. That all seemed to change when he got super chatty with Taz in the barn. I preferred him silent and sulking.

“How’d you know where Taz was after they took her?”

I could feel Sierra turning her head towards me. She knew. I knew. Now everyone would fucking know and I was in for a dogpile of epic proportions.

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