Page 76 of Bound By Valor

A shadow passed through his face and his eyes became unfocused. He shook his head and slid three M5 magazines in my vest, along with two knives and five M18 magazines.

“How are you feeling? Light?” He asked.

I did a boxer’s skip and shadow boxed. Then I grabbed the M5 rifle from the table and did ten squats.

I nodded, “Feels okay. I think I can manage with more magz. Or even the 21-round magazine for my baby.”

“Now, now. Calling your gun a baby makes you exactly like me,” Logan laughed as he replaced my previous M18 magazines with the 21-rounds.

“I don’t mind being like you, Lo. You may be inappropriate sometimes,” he made a face as I continued, “And maybe even outrageously stubborn. But you’re loyal, powerful, and a damn good brother to Zarek and Dylan.”

He stepped closer to me and rested his hands on my shoulders. His expression, one of deep agony.

“I’m not…it’s not just Zarek and Dylan that I’m a brother to. It’s you too, Leo. Remember that.”

“You think I’ll die on this mission, don’t you?” I whispered and dropped my head to my chest.

“You’re strong, capable, and hell of a fighter. I don’t doubt you’ll protect yourself. But things can go wrong, very wrong, and you may not be ready.”

I met his gaze, my eyes brimming with unshed tears. As they began to blur my vision, I quicklylooked away. But then he pulled me into a hug.

“Just stay away from the firefight. If there’s backup needed, then let Amelia handle it. I can’t lose you. We can’t lose you, okay?”

I could no longer control the sudden urge to sob. Tears flowed down my cheeks and Logan leaned back to wipe them away. Suddenly the door opened and Zarek strode in.

He jerked to a stop, his eyes widening, “You made her cry?”

“I…no…I was just,” Logan fumbled and Zarek grabbed my elbow and consumed me in a tight embrace.

“What did you do?” Zarek snarled.

“Nothing. I just said that I can’t lose her.”

I sniffed and added, “He also said that I’m like a sister to him. That blew the damn flood gates.”

I heard Zarek chuckle and hold on to me a little tighter.

“You said I’m next?” Zarek asked.

“Yep,” Logan’s voice cracked slightly and he cleared his throat, “Leo, you’re ready with the best arrangement. I’ll work with Zarek next.”

I nodded, got out of Zarek’s arms, and started taking my gear and uniform off. Once done, I kissed Zarek hard and fast.

“Bye, Lolo,” I smiled at Logan and he made an annoyed sound as I left the armory.

???

Days passed by in a blur of training, mock missions on the VR locomotive, and intense planning and reiterations. We had multiple contingencies inplace.

Out of the twenty-eight mock missions we did, I was only needed for two for Icarus extraction. Logan was playing point on extraction with Dylan as his backup and cover. I was the backup of the backup. Logan and Zarek were slightly pleased that they might not need me after all, which only made me groan.

T minus twelve hours to Operation Icarus

“There it is,” Zane pointed at the projection on the wall showing live satellite feed of the warehouse, “Sixteen trucks rolling in and dropping off the shipment.”

“Most of them contain armored vehicles, I presume. Do we have a number?” Sebastian asked.

Zane shook his head, “We can expect at least ten of them to contain the vehicles. Assuming there are two in each, that gives us twenty armored vehicles. But that’s just an estimate.”

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