Page 94 of Explosive Vengeance

Tears pricked her eyes. She willed them away, focusing on him. “I would so do you right now if I wasn’t concussed,” she complained.

His eyes lit with silent laughter. “Or have gunshot wounds and blast injuries?”

“Or those.” The timing sucked.

“Hey, I wanted to give you something to remember me by while I’m gone. Something you can look at to remind you that I’m coming back for you.” He half-rolled away from her, drew something out of a pocket and turned back to her.

Chloe blinked at the knife. A custom KA-BAR with two little green feet on the blade, along with the mottoThat Others May Live. She took it from him, unable to help the goofy smile on her face.

“I’ve carried it with me since my first tour,” he told her. “You can think of me whenever you throw it.”

The sweet, ridiculous gesture made her laugh softly, even as her heart squeezed hard enough to make her eyes sting. She couldn’t believe she’d found him, only to be parted from him so soon. She was going to miss him so much. Three months? It was going to feel like a damn decade. “You sure know the way to a girl’s heart, Barrett,” she said, setting the knife aside.

“Yeah, well, I was fresh out of Symtex,” he said dryly.

“My romantic Boy Scout.” She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss, sealing their pledge. “I’ll wait for you.” As long as it took. “And when you’re done, you know where to find me. Because you’re mine.”

“I am.” He kissed her again, whispered against her lips. “And I’d find you again no matter where you were.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Damascus

Nine weeks later

Where the hell was she?

Heath frowned in frustration as he checked his phone one last time on the way to the shower. He’d just come back from yet another bodyguard stint that had taken him to three of the most dangerous cities in Syria. Once he’d arrived back here at the compound, he’d finally been able to check his messages—only to find he didn’t have any.

It had taken him all of four days to decide he hated it over here and never wanted to come back. This would be his last contracting job. He missed his family and was homesick, but not for Connecticut. Because his home was wherever Chloe was. Being apart from her for so long had made this stint way harder than any he’d done.

He’d called and texted Chloe half a dozen times over the past few days, but he hadn’t heard anything back. He’d even resorted to reaching out to Ty, to see if his buddy or Megan knew where she was. The answer hadn’t been comforting.

The team had gotten a potential lead on Eden last Monday night, and Chloe had flown to Russia with Trinity to follow up on it. That had been four days ago. No one had heard anything from them since, and it was making him crazy.

What if something had happened to her? What if she was in trouble? What if she hadn’t gone looking for a Valkyrie at all, but something even more dangerous, like one of the people suspected of hunting them from within the Valkyrie Program?

It had been more than two months since he’d last seen her at Laidlaw Hall. It felt like a year. They’d spent the holidays and Christmas apart. They’d sent each other gifts, and one of his had been wrapped with a card bearing the warning:Do Not Open ‘Til Christmas. I Mean It.

The entire crew had been back at Laidlaw Hall for Christmas, including the three Valkyries currently based in the States, who’d flown in to spend the holiday with their new sisters and significant others gathered at their base. They’d included Heath in their Christmas dinner via video chat, and he’d finally been able to open his gift from Chloe. It included a whole bunch of junk food, including energy drinks, a taco kit, and a paper Christmas cracker.

The cracker had given him pause.

Is it safe for me to pull this thing apart?he’d asked Chloe, only half-joking.

Everyone had laughed, and he’d been relieved when nothing had exploded when he’d opened it and dutifully put the paper crown on his head while he ate his lukewarm meatloaf and instant mashed potatoes while the others enjoyed their home-cooked British turkey dinner around the huge antique table in the formal dining room. They’d even had Yorkshire puddings without him, damn them.

Up until this past week he and Chloe had talked pretty much every day on the phone or via video chat. God, he missed her. Missing her was a physical ache in the center of his chest that never went away. He was dying to hear from her, couldn’t wait until this contract was up in another month so he could go be with her.

He loved her. She was it for him. He wanted to finish this damn job and start a new chapter with her, make a life together going forward. Be with her through whatever crazy shit she got herself into.

That made this radio silence from her even tougher. Trouble didn’t find Chloe, she went looking for it with a single-minded determination that put him in a cold sweat whenever he thought about it. He should be with her right now, making sure he was there to guard her while she was off doing…whatever it was she was doing.

He hadn’t seen her coming. She’d blown his world apart, turned everything upside down, and it wouldn’t be right again until they were together.

One of his fellow security contractors called out to him from down the hall of their barracks. “Barrett. Package arrived for you. I put it on your bunk.”

“Thanks, man.” He ran the towel over his damp hair and turned right down the corridor that would take him to his room. At least at this facility the chow was decent, and everyone got their own room.

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