Page 70 of Fury

She pushed her gaze to the screen. It was just a green-cast view of a chain-link fence, sand, and some desert plants. Nothing in frame moved. “They’re going to be okay, right?”

His steady expression didn’t waiver. “They know what they’re doing.”

No false promises. She appreciated that . . . at least, she thought she did. The way her palms were sweating told her maybe she would’ve liked to hear a white lie just this once. She needed to know Davis was going to be okay. They couldn’t have been brought back into each other’s lives just for her to have him ripped away again.

Along with everything else, she didn’t know if she could handle that.

Hale studied her. “How long have you known Ledger?” His knee bounced just like Davis’s did when he was thinking. Must be a guy thing.

“Uh, we met when we were ten.” She grabbed one of the pencils on the table. Rolled it back and forth under her hand.

He shot her a look of appreciation. Nodded. “Ten. Long time.”

“Sometimes it feels like a lifetime.”

“Feels like a lifetime for most of us,” he joked. “Nice to meet the famous Hollyn, though.”

Wait, what? She fidgeted in her chair. “Famous?”

“Oh yeah. Ledger talked about you all the time when we were deployed.”

“He did?” Why was her heart racing all of a sudden?

“For a while there, I thought the two of you were married.”

The laugh that shot from her mouth sounded equal parts crazed lunatic and dying cat. Could this get any more embarrassing?

Hollyn turned, shaking her head. “No, no. Definitely not married. No, he . . . we . . . never.”

“Yeah.” Hale chuckled. “Picked up on that.”

So many questions were going through her mind. At the forefront: If he had talked about her to the point his friends had thought there was something between them, why had Davis shut her out of his life so completely the day he left for Basic? And what was going to happen when this mission was over and he left her again?

14

UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, ABU DHABI, UAE

Crack!Pop-pop-pop!

“He’s in the building!” Davis barked into his mic as he and Fury bolted across the sand toward a door Germaine had just disappeared behind.

So much for covert.

Fury had tracked the guy for over two hours before the team had all but walked into an ambush outside an industrial building near the Ba Al Ghaiylam area. It nagged at Davis that the tangos had been prepared for this. How had Germaine communicated his approach? They’d searched him thoroughly for any kind of communication device before his interrogation.

Zip. Ping!Davis ducked, the firefight raging around him, unyielding. Damocles continued to lay down suppressive fire. Gripping his M4, he steadied his breathing. Dug his boots into the loose ground. Locked his gaze on his partner. The air was thick with salt this close to the shore. Made everything sticky, including the door handle he yanked back on. Nazari right behind them, they slid inside. Fury shot forward and they followed, clearing the area as they ran.

Don’t lose him.

Footsteps peppered the floor somewhere ahead. Retreating, not advancing. Germaine? Fury was getting dangerously close to slipping out of sight. Davis growled. Freaking—the RMWD was fast.

Movement above caught his eye a second before bullets sparked off the floor. He snapped his weapon upward and responded. Neutralized the threat and doubled down on his pursuit of Fury.

“Augh!” The masculine scream down a hall echoed in the air.

Davis slid to a stop at the corner. Did a quick check. Saw Fury with the arm of an assailant in his mouth. He pulled and tugged with deep growls.

Weapon up, Davis advanced.

---