Page 30 of D-Day

Rage flowed through D-Day’s veins, and he wanted to kill the men who’d dared to threaten Helen.

“What? You can’t be serious. That was a direct order.”

His rage boiled over into white-hot violence. “I don’t give a goddamned fuck. I’m not leaving here without Helen.”

Buck, looking as rigid as ice, his jaw clenching, said, “We have two days to get to her. If we don’t go back, we might not get the chance to be part of her rescue.” Anger crept into his voice; the anguish in his gaze was vivid and real.

He couldn’t leave, not without her. That thought, mingled with the realization of just how precarious her situation was right now and his deep-seated feelings for her, increased the gut-twisting turmoil within him. His entire body was strung so tight, he felt as though he was going to snap. “Again. I don’t give agoddamnedfuck. I’mnotleaving here without Helen.” His words rang with a firm warning for Buck to back off. There was no response for a moment, then Buck raised his head and looked at him, a hard, cold expression on his face, his jaw set. He said nothing.

Joker’s growled demand for them to answer played through his comm. D-Day swore under his breath, drawing on every ounce of control he had so that he didn’t come unglued right then and there.

Buck was an intractable bastard. This was a waste of time. He’d made his intentions completely clear. He turned and started to move toward the broken path in front of him. Someone grabbed his shoulder. “You can’t possibly be ignoring a direct order!” Buck growled.

D-Day exploded. Violently shrugging Buck off and whirling, he set his hands flat against Buck’s chest as he slammed into him pushing him hard until he stumbled and almost lost his balance. “She’s your fucking sister! I can’t believe you want to leave her out here to die!”

“That’s right. She’smysister.” The air sizzled with tension. “What issheto you?”

The question hit him like a brick to the head and a knife to the heart. “Everything!” he said fiercely, a desperate feeling unfolding in him. “Everyfuckingthing! Ifuckinglove her. I’ve been sleeping with her since we met!Goddammit. I broke every vow because I couldn’t stop myself. I made myself sick trying to stay away from her, for you, for my integrity, and my honor. For all of you because the team also means everything to me. But none of it seems to matter when she’s in the picture.”

Buck’s jaw clenched and he lunged forward, grabbing his arms. “You stupid son of a bitch,” he said, incensed and furious. A horrible feeling started to unfold in D-Day, his ribcage expanding and contracting with uncalculated pain. A taut silence hung between them, and the feeling engulfed him, torpedoing his anger and leaving him emotionally suspended. In that moment, D-Day thought he had lost them all and it was like dropping into a bleak, dark hole. The hurt was deep and fast, and D-Day stared at him, the hurt spreading.

He took a hard, uneven breath, knowing that what Buck thought about him changed nothing. D-Day bent his head and dragged his hand across his eyes, then inhaled raggedly. “Don’t make me leave without her, Buck. I’d rather be court-martialed…die a thousand deaths.” D-Day’s voice cracked with raw emotion, and he cleared his throat before continuing. “I can’t live with her death on my conscience. I can’t. If this means losing everything, then so be it.” He looked away, the muscles in his throat convulsing, and he nearly lost it before he got the words out. “You two do what you have to do, but I’m going after her. End of discussion.”

“It’s about time you told me what the fuck was going on. I’ve told you before. Helen is her own woman, and her decisions carry water with me. It takes some getting used to having a team member in love with my sister, but I’d rather have the honesty ofyour feelings for her, than for you to make yourself sick over her. And just for the record, making her miserable in turn.”

“So, that’s why he’s a stupid son of a bitch,” Zorro quipped. Both he and Buck glared at him, and he held his hands up in supplication. “So, I guess where you guys are going, you’ll need a medic. It’s your lucky day, boys.” Then he grinned.

10

She plantedher feet and the whole line behind her stopped moving, panic and adrenaline rushing through her. “You can’t leave him back there. He needs our help!” Helen insisted for the tenth time, her heart hammering so hard she could barely breathe. Each time she’d protested, Lando had just propelled her forward without one look of compromise.

This time he rounded on her, grabbing her hair in a painful grip. “He is of no use to me wounded,” he said, viciously shaking her. “You will have to do what it takes to save my brother.”

She gritted her teeth against the pain and wanted to shout that he was out of his mind. Even if the situation wasn’t futile, she couldn’t operate. She wasn’t a surgeon. She was an assistant. She knew all there was to know about vital signs, medical equipment, and how to set up an operating room. She could do minor things like sutures and administering medicine. That was all. Her experiences in the remote places she had gone had pushed her medical knowledge just that much farther. She knew the signs of the desperate and Lando was displaying many of them. Denial, rationalization, and numbness.

But she couldn’t admit that the whole situation was hopeless because that would put her in immediate jeopardy. If Lando knew his brother was going to die no matter what she did, he would kill her outright. Helen took a hard breath, trying to process, trying to think, but all she could do was shut down. She was wasting her breath. Her protests and pleas were falling on deaf ears. There was nothing she could do for Greg, and that killed her inside. She went into this profession to make a difference, as she had all over the world. Leaving a man bleeding and alone went against everything she stood for.

It was clear that he and Taer were close, and it was common knowledge that twins shared a primary attachment that was irreplaceable and formed an unbreakable bond. It was going to be even worse for him when his brother died, and his unpredictable nature fed into her fear that he was going to lash out at the only person he considered at fault. Her. If she didn’t get out of here before Taer died, she was going to follow him into death at Lando’s hands.

But her immediate concern was for the man they had left bleeding and alone behind them. Trying to reason with Lando was obviously not going to work, and her heart squeezed for Greg as she choked on her compassion, fear, and helplessness.

Her survival instincts kicked in and took precedence over her conscience and the deep urge to give aid. Suddenly blinded by tears, Helen stumbled on the uneven ground as Lando once again started her moving.

Helen wasn’t sure how she kept going. It was as if her legs weren’t even there, and she was shivering so badly that she had to clench her teeth to keep them from chattering. But it was a different kind of cold. It was as though she was experiencing a delayed reaction to all the stress that had accumulated over the past six months, and the agony over Greg was the last straw. And she just couldn’t hold it all in any longer. She was only awareof planting one foot in front of the other, and the rain sluicing down her skin, adding to the effects of the shock she was trying to handle.

Through the darkness and the rain, Helen could see a long structure just ahead of them. They moved along, the gunfire now far behind them. But so was Greg. She experienced another rolling wave of anguish and helplessness.

Guards stiffened as they came into the compound, relaxing when they saw it was their leaders. One of the men ran ahead and opened the door. Lando entered, and Helen followed along with the men who were carrying Taer. The place was dry, but damp as the humidity of the jungle encroached. Fans spun in windows, but the cool air only made her shiver more violently.

They carried the litter to one of the rooms beyond the main area that was set up with couches and electronic equipment.

“Go and clean him up and put dry clothes on him. Make him comfortable.”

She opened her mouth one final time. But Lando’s expression turned to ice, and he shook his head, his jaw set. Resigned, she headed for what turned out to be a bedroom complete with a bed, dresser, and a nightstand.

One of the men had turned on the light beside the bed. “Get his clothes off him and get me a towel.”

One of the men went into a makeshift bathroom and came out with several towels. He tossed one to her as two of the men stripped Taer down to his skin, and the other two dried off his lower body.

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