Page 6 of Bewitched

Will sat back on his haunches and laughed. “Damn, kid. Had no idea.” He gave her a solid fist bump and then tilted her head back as he lifted the gauze off her scalp. “Head wounds are a bitch because they bleed so much. I’ll give this one a couple more minutes and then I’ll use the fancy new gel to close it up.”

“Thanks, Will.”

Blake sat next to Paige and checked her pulse; it was steady, but she hadn’t regained consciousness yet. Sliding his hand across her cheek, he felt her smooth skin and wondered if there was anything softer or more enticing than this woman. Probably not. Definitely not.

Why was he having these thoughts in the middle of a mission? God damn, he was losing his shit. Lifting his hand away, he rubbed it on his pant leg, and hoped like hell whatever was happening to him would stop.

Clearing his throat, he checked his tablet and waited for the updated satellite images he requested. There hadn’t been any significant movement from the borders a couple of hours ago and, God willing, that hadn’t changed.

Frisco stood on point and swept the surrounding area. “Clear,” he said quietly.

After a few minutes, images started to pop up on Blake’s tablet. There were six large vehicles traveling on the highway from the Syrian border. Tapping a message, he asked for additional intel from HQ. They were only sixty miles away from Daraa, so if the terrorists missed a check-in, it wouldn’t take long for backup to show. Intel hadn’t been made available to the team regarding the who and what of the snatch, so they had no idea how big this thing could get. “Are you getting any movement, Bryce?”

“Negative, sir. The drone hasn’t made it to the road yet, though.”

Checking his watch, Blake calculated how long they had until their ride would arrive. They were right on target for the twelve o’clock pickup. That gave them a little over an hour to make it up the mountain. They had around five miles to cover, so they shouldn’t have a problem.

Will came over to Paige and checked her neck, head, and shoulders. “She’s got a goose egg the size of a golf ball on the back of her head. That’s going to give her a hell of a headache.” Running his hands down her torso, he shook his head. “Don’t like this.”

Blake watched him lift her shirt away from her body, and they both saw a jagged piece of wood embedded in her abdomen. “Shit, I didn’t feel that when I initially checked her,” Blake said.

“It probably got moved around when you guys hiked over,” Will said. He flicked on his mini-mag and handed it to Blake. “Hold it up and let me take a closer look. I don’t want to take it out if I don’t have to.”

Blake held up the light and watched Will inspect the wound. The area where her skin had been punctured was dark red and inflamed. “What do you think?” Blake asked.

“If I take it out, then she could start leaking profusely. We’re an hour away from our ride showing, and I don’t want to risk blood loss like that if I don’t have to.”

“Let’s grab the car and drive back to Amman. If the roads are clear, we can make it back in forty-five minutes,” Frisco said. “They probably have some local doctors and maybe even a clinic nearby,” he added.

“Don’t want to be stuck in this valley like a sitting duck,” Blake said. “I’m guessing some locals gave the terrorists intel. They didn’t just happen to be in the area when Paige and Amy showed up.”

“Roger that,” Frisco said.

“Three SUVs coming into the valley,” Bryce said as he watched his monitor.

“Land that thing and let’s get our asses up the hill,” Blake said. “I’ll request an exfil ASAP. I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Let me bandage the wound. I don’t want that thing moving any more than it has to,” Will said as he pulled supplies out of his bag. “Amy, how are you doing?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Like shit on a shingle,” Amy replied. “But I’m alive and in one piece, so I’m grateful that you all had the time to save us. I know we’re low-value targets, so thank you for putting us on your to-do list.”

“Any time, kid,” Will replied. He applied foam around Paige’s wound and then covered the area in gauze. “That will have to do for now.”

Bryce packed up his equipment and Will did the same as Frisco kept a watch on the area. “Let’s get out of here,” Blake said as he slowly lifted Paige into his arms. Once he held her, Will checked the wound and nodded.

The team moved in the direction of the grove of trees where the SUV was stashed. Frisco took point with Bryce covering their six. Blake did his best not to jostle Paige as they moved along the trail and realized that Frisco had been right earlier. The woman smelled amazing and her soft curves fit against him perfectly. Totally inappropriate to be noticing, but what could he do? There was something about this woman that got to him, and he didn’t feel like pretending otherwise.

***

They moved silently along the path that led up the hill. He heard confirmation in his coms that the helo was thirty minutes out. Even if the Tangos had backup coming in, they wouldn’t know where to start looking, and his team would be in the air before anything could be done.

As they hiked up the trail, he held Paige firmly and tried to ignore how amazing she felt in his arms. He’d done this a hundred times over the course of his career, and he’d never felt this way about anyone he’d pulled out of harm’s way. Hell, he hadn’t felt this way about a woman in longer than he could remember.

Maybe it was a sign that he needed to do something about his social life when he got home. Definitely needed to find some female company if he was getting hot and bothered over a woman he’d never had a conversation with. Clearly, he’d been downrange for too long…what other explanation could there be?

“Sitrep,” Blake said into his coms.

“HQ has identified vehicles coming from Daraa as hostiles. No confirmation on vehicles in the valley. Helo is twenty-five minutes out,” Will reported.

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