Page 17 of Lethal Game

“Good.” General Stone bared his teeth and pointed a finger at him. “Don’t fuck this up.”

Max and the general left the office.

The general’s warning had levels of shit to it she’d never smelled before.

Wait. Teaching her martial arts, even Tai Chi, was going to put him into close physical contact with her. He might see more of her than she wanted him to. See the big, ugly bruises that often appeared on her body even when she hadn’t walked into something. See the scars on her arms where the doctors had to cut into her to search for veins damaged from IVs.

She wanted him to treat her like any other soldier, but working with him that closely might prove to him that she was anything but ordinary.

Chapter Four

“What the hell was thatall about?” Sophia asked.

“A test,” Connor replied. “I think.”

He’d been close, so close to failing that test. The general knew exactly what he was asking of him when he asked if Con would take responsibility for Sophia.

Con alone had survived the IED that blew up the vehicle half of his team had been in. Five men who’d been his brothers in every way but blood. Five men who died, leaving him behind to pick up the pieces of their lives and his own. He wanted another mission that would put him in a position to deal a little payback, and if he got killed doing it, it was a price he was willing to pay.

He’d tried to get assigned to another team, but his temper, so well controlled before the blast, hadn’t lasted past the first battle simulation. He’d beat the crap out of an “enemy” soldier before recalling that it was just a simulation.

Stone was testing him all right, testing to see if what Con needed to pull himself out of shit creek was a protection mission for a woman who needed it more than anyone he’d met in a long time.

He’d be stuck like glue to her for months.

“They were both very adversarial,” Sophia said staring at the door. “Almost as if they were trying to make us mad.”

“No almost about it. That’s exactly what they were trying to do.” Connor looked at Sophia, reined in his anger, and asked, “Bruise easily?”

She blew out a breath. “I had a childhood leukemia. The chemo and radiation therapy resulted in below normal bone density. I also have idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.”

He was going to have to add a new language to his list: Medicine. “In English, please?”

She sighed like it was the fiftieth time she’d had to explain it. “My bones aren’t as strong as they should be. And my body doesn’t make enough of one of the cells in my blood that’s responsible for clotting.”

He couldn’t keep his eyebrows from rising. “Okay, now I understand why Max was so uptight about you learning hand-to-hand. We’re going to start with Tai Chi and a few escape maneuvers that aren’t fancy, but are effective, and with a minimum of contact between you and an attacker.”

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