Page 69 of The Story of Danny Rose

“Who’re you with?” Danny asked.

“Split special recon detachment from the Army,” River answered. “Quinlan’s there too. He set it up.”

No surprise. He’d built up an impressive network from his time in the forces, and Terrance was lucky to have him full time now. Danny and I were currently under TJ’s command, but when we hadn’t been informed of who was picking us up tonight, I’d suspected he and Quinlan were joining forces.

“Does anyone else have ‘Fortunate Son’ on repeat in their head?” Reese hollered.

“I’d rather you fucking focus on getting us back on the ground,” I barked out.

Three hellions laughed.

I was getting old.

Thankfully, we survived the ride, and we touched down on a lower plateau in the mountains. The hideout consisted of two twelve-person tents that housed our operations, and we had two soldiers in full gear meeting us as Danny and I essentially hit the ground running.

We descended the mountainside, and Danny communicated with one of the soldiers, presumably in an attempt to find out what they were here for. Given their field, it was undoubtedly similar to our task. Finding intel, clearing the way for advancement of troops, which…obviously explained Danny’s urgency. This was his past. He used to be part of one of these detachments. They were his Special Forces comrades. They spoke the same language.

When we reached the tents, I took charge again, spotting Quin in the tent reserved for working. He stood by a large table with lanterns in each corner of a massive map, and he was glad to see us, that much was clear.

“We lost comms an hour ago, so I can’t get through to TJ,” he said. “I’m relieved to see you survived and that the twins didn’t crash the bird.”

“That would suck on our part,” one of the soldiers said gruffly. I assumed the helicopter was their ride in and out of here.

I handed over the memory card to Quinlan and let him know I’d taken an estimated hundred photos too.

“Great, thank you. We’ll get that to DC ASAP,” he replied. He peered around me as the twins entered the tent. “Get some rest, boys. You’re off to Kandahar tomorrow. Paul needs an escort.”

“Copy that,” Reese confirmed.

Quin bent over the table to jot something down on a note. “Give this to your ride. You’re all on the same plane going to Kabul, and then you’ll split up. You’ll be on foot tomorrow morning. These are the coordinates to the airfield. The Marines control it.”

“Mathis?” I heard Danny ask incredulously.

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing another soldier enter the tent with a surprised look on his face.

“Fuckin’ Danny Rose?” the soldier laughed. He was younger than Danny, but not by much. “You wentprivate?”

“Uh, yeah. A few years ago.” My boy grinned and shook the guy’s hand. “Good to see you, fucker. You lost the baby face.”

“I see you’re still a dick,” was Mathis’s response.

“Question is if you’re still hard for demolition,” Danny answered. “You know, we could use you at our agency.”

I felt my mouth twitch. Every operator at Hillcroft was in recruitment mode to handle the pressures of wartime.

Danny reached for my arm. “This is my man—Emerson. Em, Mathis and I were at Fort Campbell together.”

I nodded once and shook hands with Mathis.

He furrowed his brow. “Wait—as in, EmersonPayne?”

“Aw, you have a reputation, hon.” Danny grinned.

I smirked wryly.

September 10th, 2002

“One beer,” I warned Danny. “And no whining.”

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