Page 6 of Viral Justice

He gave her a sour look. “You? I thought you swore never to leave your current position? Something about the rest of the army being too pansy ass for you.”

“What can I say?” she said with a toothy grin. “I like a challenge.”

“Lovely.” His tightly pressed lips told her he wasn’t happy with the situation at all. Would he argue against it?

“You need me, Max,” she said, dropping the smile to show she was serious. “Don’t fight me on this.”

“According to you, I can’t fight at all.”

Alicia ran one hand over her face. “We can change that.” If only she could do something about her own problems.

Max watched her with a frown on his face. “What am I missing? According to everyone, you love your job with the Special Forces. Why are you even considering this?”

He deserved the truth.

“I’ve gotten myself into some trouble in the past few months.” She was going to have to explain it.Fuck.

“What kind of trouble?” Max asked slowly.

“Butting heads with a couple of officers.” She sighed. “Complaints have been made.”

“Officialcomplaints?”

“Yes.”

“And your father is...”

“General Stone does not practice favoritism.”

“Bullshit.”

Alicia turned to stare at Max. He seldom swore. “He’s done as much as he can, but when I screw up, I really screw up. And now, today—”

“Today, you saved my life and Franz’s life.” Max’s voice was filled with righteous indignation.

“And I did it by disobeying an order from the British Army’s chief medical officer. It’s one more nail in my coffin.”

Max stared at her for a moment then muttered something under his breath. She only caught a couple of words,stubbornandidiots, but it was more than anyone else had said. He seemed to think about it for several moments, then looked at her and said, “I’ll make the request for your training skills. Try to stay out of trouble until the transfer comes through.”

“Yes, sir. Though trouble seems to have no problem finding me.”

* * *

Amonth later, Maxhunkered down in the dirt, tucked his rifle into the hollow of his shoulder and waited for his target to show himself. The conditions were good, visibility excellent and no wind. Max had only to wait.

The enemy popped up. Max released a breath, then squeezed out three quick shots.

“You missed,” a woman said from behind him. “All three shots.”

Max’s gut tightened at the sound of her voice. He looked over his shoulder at his personal peanut gallery. Sergeant Alicia Stone.

Finally.

“I expected you three weeks ago,” he said loud enough to be heard despite the hearing protection they were both wearing. “What took you so long?”

Her mouth tightened. “I was unexpectedly delayed, sir.”

That was word for word what General Stone said when Max had asked him why his daughter was going to be weeks late in joining Max’s team.

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