Page 67 of Deadly Strain

Sharp stared at Grace’spale face and tight fists and couldn’t think of a damn thing to say.

The entire team had noted early on that Marshall liked playing the game offuck youwith anyone who came onto his base. But this...this took it into deadly territory. In his ten years in the service, Sharp had never seen anything like it.

There was always someone, usually an old-school officer, who pushed back when Special Forces came in to tell them how to handle their locals, how to train them, and have everyone get along.

That was the problem with regular army. They wanted things done their way. Period.

Green Berets went in a different direction. They often operated from the inside of another nation’s military, trained them to use their own skills, weapons, or hell, even their geography as a tool in their arsenal to keep the peace and uphold the law of the land.

Marshall had gone insane.

“Hey, boss.” Hernandez yelled it loud enough that everyone heard.

Sharp looked at him, then the other men in the bird. “I’m not the boss.” He jerked a thumb at Grace. “She is.”

“Understood, but Cutter’s dead and Leonard isn’t here. We need a team lead. That’s you.”

Sharp glanced at the other men. Smoke, Runnel, and Clark all had their thumbs up. So did March. Beside him, Grace too.

Fuck! One more thing he didn’t need today, but Hernandez was right. They needed someone to give the final word.

He threw his hands up in the air, surrendering to their unanimous vote.

“So, what’s up?” Hernandez said. “Whatever the doc said gave you the worst case of indigestion I’ve ever seen.”

“Things have gone from worse to completely fucked,” he yelled so everyone would hear. “The two soldiers who were guarding the doc at the base are dead. We’ve been accused of murdering them when we broke her out.”

“And people believe that shit?” Runnel asked.

“They’ve got two bodies and we’re not around to say different, so yeah, people believe it.”

“My CO is working on getting the truth out there,” Grace added, shouting. “But Marshall’s actions are above and beyond anything sane. We’re currently under an arrest-on-sight order.”

“You’re just telling us this now?” Sharp asked. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t mentioned it. What was she waiting for, the bullets to fly?

“Sorry, I just remembered.”

That’s when he saw it. The lines bracketing her eyes, the white line of lips pressed too tightly together and the paleness of her skin. She was holding it together, but only just.

He remembered seeing that expression on his mother’s face, right before she died. Stress was an illness for which the patient had to want the cure. His mom had been a nurse and the most generous and giving woman he’d ever met.

Her generosity led to her death of a stroke at forty.

High blood pressure had been blamed, but he knew the real cause. She’d worked herself to death. Wore herself out caring for other people, most of whom never thought about her again after they left the hospital.

Yeah, Grace was a doctor, was used to seeing the uglier side of life, but what she’d been through in the last few days was something else. This was combat, physical and psychological, and at least one of the perpetrators of the violence was someone she should have been able to trust with her safety.

They didn’t teach doctors how to deal with that in medical school. Nope, for that you needed to go through Special Forces Training.

“Well, we’re not dead yet and we’re still in the air, so...” He shrugged. “Next time tell me...us, sooner.”

“I should have told you immediately.” She punched her thigh with a shaking fist. “But I...I’m tired and if one more thing happens, I feel like I’m going to fall apart.” The half smile she showed him looked forced. “I probably shouldn’t tell you that, but you need to know.”

“Doc,” he said, nudging her with one shoulder. “Sometimes the only reason I remember my name is because Hernandez yells it at me so often.”

An angry furrow dug its way between her eyes. “Don’t pity me.”

He laughed. “Pity is the last thing I think of where you’re concerned. Geez, Doc, you survived a helicopter crash, shot a bunch of insurgents, and saved my life. You kept up with me when we went to ground, saved me again, and if that wasn’t enough, kept your shit together while being accused of God knows what by a tyrannical asshole. I’d say you’ve damn near earned your Green Beret.”

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