Page 33 of Cross & Crown

softening, his eyebrows rising, his motion halting. “When?

What happened? Were they attacked?”

Kelly sat up, scowling. He hoped this was work and not

another distress call from one of their friends. The men of

their former Recon team, Sidewinder, seemed to have a knack

for getting into trouble. And no matter which one of them

needed help or what kind of help they needed, Nick was

always the first oneanyof them called.

“I’ll be right there,” Nick spat, then ended the call and

tossed the phone aside. He clambered out of the bed and to

the closet, talking over his shoulder as he pulled a shirt on. “I have to go. Come with me?”

“Of course.” Kelly scrambled to put more clothes on, but

he took his cues from Nick, who didn’t even take the time to

put real pants on. He just stayed in his sweatpants and slid his bare feet into a pair of plastic flip-flops as he headed for the steps. Kelly was still struggling to get a shirt on as he followed.

Nick broke a record number of traffic laws on the way to

wherever they were going, but the smal , portable flashing

light on his dash seemed to make it okay. Was that legit? He’d

been in a car with Nick a thousand times, though, and he

wasn’t even compelled to hold on to the handle when they

weaved through traffic or took a sharp turn. Nick was possibly

the best driver Kelly had ever known. Sometimes it seemed

33

ill-advised, but Kelly trusted him implicitly. In the driver’s

seat, that was. The one time Nick had flown a helicopter was

a different story. Their buddy Owen still refused to get into a helicopter after that trip.

When they arrived at a nondescript hotel, there wasn’t

any hustle or bustle like Kelly had expected. No uniformed

cops on the streets, no flashing lights, no panicking guests in the almost empty lobby. Nothing but a single man in uniform

as they stepped off the elevator. Nick held up the badge on a

chain around his neck as he walked by.

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