Page 81 of Lethal Game

Con took a step toward River and let some of the rage he’d been hiding the last year peer out of his eyes. “If you show her your ass,I’mgoing to give you the shots.”

River lost the grin and became very still. “Well, that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.”

“I guarantee it.”

Smoke stood there with all the responsiveness of a piece of granite.

“What about you?” Con asked him, ready to pound anyone who might hurt Sophia in any way.

“She’s too young.”

Con didn’t bother pretending he didn’t know that Smoke was commenting on her age relative to Con’s. “She’s twenty-four.”

Smoke shrugged and went into the room. River followed, leaving Con to calm himself down, but calm didn’t come easy anymore. Con listened to Sophia explain about the shots, and let her no-nonsense professional tone wash away some of the anger. The problem was, there was always more building, like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

He’d always been the joker, the easygoing guy on his team, the one who deflected the bullshit. But now, he kept seeing his buddies’ faces right before the explosion, relaxed and happy, then after, what was left of them. The ringing in his ears was as loud and insistent as the sobs of Wayne’s wife when Con called her from the hospital to say her sexy love letters wouldn’t be among Wayne’s effects because he’d always kept them in his pockets.

Now, only the anger was easy.

After giving them the shots, Sophia came out with the two soldiers behind her.

“What are you bringing for weapons?” he asked her.

“Weapons?”

When she looked at him blankly, he added, “A sidearm, a steak knife, anything?”

“I’ve got my Beretta.”

The woman was wicked literal. “We’ll keep practicing if we get a chance.”

“Only if it doesn’t interfere with my work.”

Right then, he decided to add extra ammunition and a second back-up weapon, another Beretta, holstered in the small of his back. It was a custom add-on to his body armor from a buddy of his who would have fought him for the assignment of looking out for Sophia. Fred had an eye for the ladies, the more fragile the better. Sophia might be smart and direct, but she was also the most physically fragile person he’d ever met in an Army uniform.

She was the most physically fragile person he’d ever met period.

How the hell was he going to keep her safe in an incredibly unsafe location?

Usually he could trust his partner to do his part to get the job done in as safe and logical a way as possible, but Sophia didn’t follow anyone’s rules, including those put in place for her security.

Fuck, he was going to need eyes in the back of his head to keep track of her and everything around them.

***

The helicopter wasso full of emergency food and medical supplies there wasn’t much room left over for its living passengers. Sophia tried to find a comfortable way to sit, but she was squished by the men seated on either side of her. Con on one side, Smoke on the other and River across from her. Their Marines, Henry, Macler, Stalls, and Norton, were sitting behind her, though she couldn’t see much of them with all their supplies, packs, and weapons between them.

Colonel Maximillian assigned these particular Marines because they’d all had at least one rotation in Afghanistan and all had expressed an interest in becoming Special Forces soldiers.

He’d given them one order—keep her alive.

The Marines stared at her like she was some kind of cockroach. They didn’t ask any questions or offer any introductions.No thanks.She’d had enough people stare at her blankly with no idea what to do with her when she’d been a kid.

She’d been ready to tell them all to get lost, but Con ordered them to help him with the supplies.

She could have kissed him for getting their hired muscle out of her way.

Thing was, next time she saw those Marines, as they were all getting on the helicopter, their attitude had changed. They nodded at her like they did to Smoke and River, treating her like she was part of the team.

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