Page 6 of Lyon

“Gage,” she said, “please tell your friend that I’m done talking to him, and I don’t want him talking to me.”

Gage smirked. “Lyon, can you please stop talking to Nick? She’s tired of hearing your voice. And, for the record, I agree with her.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re supposed to sayhe, notshe.”

I barely got the words out before I started laughing.

Niki turned toward me, crossing her arms. “Are you making fun of me again?”

I just grinned wider.

“No, I’m not making fun of you. I was never making fun of you,” I said, keeping my tone calm. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I’ll try harder not to annoy you.”

“Liar,” she muttered.

The rest of the ride was quiet.

As soon as we crossed into Afghanistan, we all stayed alert. I didn’t bring Brutus I would risk his life again. We knew there were still a lot of Americans trapped in this country. Our plan was simple—check in with our contacts and see if they had heard anything about any Americans who were still alive.

If they had, we wouldn’t waste a second getting them out.

And I prayed to God that River’s brother and Niki’s brother were among them.

We had driven about twenty miles when we spotted a massive cloud of dust in the distance.

“What do you think is going on over there?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. The cloud was getting bigger, fast. My gut twisted. “Shit. We better take cover. I think we’re about to get hit by a dust storm.”

We scanned the area, looking for shelter. There wasnothing—just endless stretches of dry land.

Then, we spotted an old shack.

It wasn’t much, and I doubted it would hold up against the storm, but it was our only option. We parked the truck so it would take the brunt of the dust, then sprinted toward the shack.

Inside, I positioned Niki in front of me and wrapped my arms around her.

“When the dust hits, it’s going to come hard,” I murmured against her ear. “You need to cover your face completely—don’t inhale any of it.”

She didn’t argue.

Instead, she pressed closer to me, burying her face against my chest. I was shocked. I had expected her to fight me on this, to insist she could handle it on her own.

But she wasn’t stupid.

The moment the storm hit, we were completely engulfed.

I had been through these dust storms before. I hated them then, and I hated them even more now. At least back then, we had buildings to take shelter in. Here, all we had was this flimsy shack, and the wind was slamming into us like it wanted to tear us apart.

I tightened my hold on Niki, shielding her with my body.

It lasted over an hour before it finally started to die down.

When the air settled, I slowly uncovered my head. Sand was everywhere. We were buried in it.

“Don’t rub your face or touch your eyes,” I warned her in a low voice. She nodded, listening.

I stood and helped her to her feet before pulling the men’s robe over her head. I took it outside and shook it out. The others were doing the same.

“If you want to shake your clothes out, now’s a good time,” I told her when I stepped back inside.

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