Page 3 of Call Sign: King
A new round of bullets flew as the men pushed to their feet and broke out in a run. A loud grunt next to him was Ryder’s only indication that MacGyver had been hit, since the warrior stayed on his feet, never missing a step.
Only once the three men were on board did the out-of-breath specialist inform them. “Took one in my vest. Glad they haven’t upgraded to armor piercing rounds yet.”
“You and me both,” Ryder agreed, watching Hawkeye rushing to his team member. As their lead field medic, Jacob was the perfect person to check his friend for additional injuries.
“Arrow in place. Time to go, Reaper,” Abigail said to her team leader, looking through the scope of her high-powered rifle, ready to shoot.
“Headed your way. Fire up the engine, Thunder. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Roger that,” Thunder said from the flight deck just as the first sounds of the expensive Huey came to life.
Bullets hit the fuselage and Arrow started shooting.
“Nice one!” Tank said, praising his newest teammate. “I didn’t even see that bastard hiding back there.”
A few seconds later, Reaper dove through the open side of the helicopter just as he shouted. “Lift off!”
Thunder didn’t need to be told twice. “Hang on tight, boys and girls. I’m gonna take evasive action until we’re out of range.”
Ryder had ridden with the talented pilot several times since hiring him a few months ago. Zach had been another excellent addition to Black Sky Ops, and watching him thread the flying tin can through the Mexican jungle reminded Ryder that while he may not be on the ground with them most days, his most important contribution to the team was finding and training the best of the best.
Thankfully, he was fucking fantastic at that.
The members of the squad all caught their breath during the first few minutes of the flight, no doubt taking a moment to be thankful they’d all be returning to The Ranch unscathed.
“Check in, Torch,” Reaper finally said, breaking the radio silence. “East team make it out in one piece?”
“Roger, that, Reaper. Steel got nicked in the arm, but BooBoo is patching him up.”
Ryder couldn’t hold in his chuckle at the ridiculous call sign the men had given their other field medic. Still, despite their rivalry, the team leaders were checking in with each other.
Hawkeye asked the question Ryder was thinking. “Do we need Gopher to prep the OR back at The Ranch?”
“Naw,” Torch answered. “BooBoo says it was just a graze. At most, he may need a stitch or two.”
Ryder was relieved to hear it.
“For the last fucking time, I refuse to accept the call sign BooBoo,” Cody groused. “The men on the boat just called me Doc.”
Ryder broke into the exchange. “But we already have a Doc, and she was here first. You need a different call sign.”
“Fine. Anything but BooBoo.”
“How about Owie?” someone teased bringing a fresh round of laughter.
“How about you shut the fuck up,” Cody shot back.
“I’ve got it,” someone else said. “How about Quack?”
Hawkeye came to the aide of his counterpart on the other team. “You all give him shit now, but when you get your ass injured, you’ll be glad he’s no quack.”
“How about we call him BJ to go with your Hawkeye from MAS*H?” Someone suggested.
“I am not taking Blow Job as my call sign,” Cody shouted.
“I think he should be Scalpel. He’s done surgeries, right?” It was Arrow who piped up with the decent suggestion.
The silence at the other end of the line told Ryder Cody liked Arrow’s suggestion better than BooBoo or Quack.
