Page 29 of More Than A Feeling

She didn't say anything; just stepped away from me. "I'll see you…ah…when I see you."

I left her house feeling weighed down by the distance between us, yet buoyant at the prospect of shedding Sabine and her parents—people I had once considered family. They had treated Fleur so poorly, and unless they made amends as I intended to, they wouldn't be in my life.

Chapter 13

Fleur

Iwas glad to be out of the country after my volatile conversation with Callum, especially since I knew what would follow. He'd talk to Sabine and my parents—and they'd somehow blame me. I didn't need that drama. I had plenty of my own to deal with.

Orion and I were in the ass-end of nowhere with a two-person protective SEAL team in tow. Our mission was to quietly calibrate the missile system without drawing any unwanted attention.

I scanned the area, recalling the footage from a previous deployment. I knew this was a volatile region, but experiencing it firsthand was entirely different from seeing it on a screen.

Orion and I had set up a temporary command post in an abandoned building, shielded from the elements and, hopefully, from enemy eyes. The war-torn city of Aleppo sprawled before us.

One of the SEALs was with us, while the other was positioned at a vantage point, scanning with a sniper rifle. These were the risks we faced in our line of work. Geeks and nerds in a war zone might not be an ideal match, but knowing that what we did saved the lives of American soldiers and civilians was its own reward. I knew everyone on the team felt the same way. We could opt for less dangerous work, but this was where our expertise mattered most—this was what we brought to the table. I couldn't shoot at nine paces or whatever the hell these guys did, but I could write and fix code to give us the edge over the enemy.

"The system's coming online," I said, watching the holographic interface display the status of our security system. I felt a surge of pride seeing our work in action, a mix of cutting-edge AI and advanced robotics designed to defend critical infrastructure autonomously.

"Let's hope it handles live fire better than last time," Orion muttered, his eyes scanning the perimeter through the cracked window of the building we were hiding in to access the system. "So, have you heard from sister dearest?"

I grunted. Orion's military instincts were on high alert, a trait I'd come to trust—but that didn't mean he was above the usual chitter-chatter and gossip.

"Yeah, Wraith, how's that hanging?" Rune asked over my headphones. I'd told them about Malone and how the whole thing had finally unraveled.

Viper and Rune were monitoring from their home bases. If something went wrong, they were our backups. We'd set it up this way. Both Viper and Rune had kids; Orion and I were single.

"I have no idea."

"Did you ball him?" Viper wanted to know.

"Can we get the fuck back to work?" I quipped, my nerves beginning to fray.

"She didn't have sex," Orion said confidently. "'Cause if she'd gotten laid, she'd be in a better mood."

I initiated a diagnostic scan, watching as the various components of the system checked out. The drones hummed to life, their cameras feeding real-time data back to our consoles.

"He told me he loved me," I exploded. "I mean, what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?"

"He said the words?" Viper's disbelief matched my own.

Suddenly, an alert flashed on the screen—unidentified movement, southeast quadrant.

"Got something." My fingers flew over the keyboard to zoom in on the target area. The grainy footage revealed figures moving stealthily through the rubble.

"Alpha One, do you copy?" Orion asked the Navy SEAL, who was using a sniper lens. Silence trickled through.

"Iron Veil Team, we suspect hostiles, but they could be civilians," Alpha One finally spoke.

"Sending a drone for closer recon," I replied.

The drone zipped towards the figures, and that's when all hell broke loose. Gunfire erupted, the sharp cracks echoing through the lonely streets. The drone's feed turned to static.

"Shit, we're compromised!" I yelled, ducking as bullets shattered the window. Orion pulled me down behind a makeshift barricade.

"They must've been watching us. We need to get out of here," he said, his voice calm despite the chaos.

"Stay put, Iron Veil Team," Alpha One said. "Alpha Two is down."

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