Page 55 of I Promise You
“I just want to tell you that I’m proud of you. I’ve noticed the way you’ve begun to change. I may not love your job, but I love that you try to save everyone you can. And I want to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being the only man in my life that hasn’t left me.”
“I’m sorry this job takes so much out of me. I’m doing my best not to let it consume everything and anything left of my humanity, but you have everything to do with that. I’m a better man because of you. So, thank you.”
“Where are you going? When are you coming back?”
He’s silent. That’s an answer all on its own. He either can’t tell me, or he doesn’t know.
Then he smiles. It’s a smile that tries to disguise what he’s feeling. He feels guilty. Something I wasn’t used to seeing. This is the first time I’ve seen him feel bad about leaving me. That’s…new.
He drops his bag in the doorway. I stroll toward him, and he closes the distance before I get to the door. He takes two steps forward and grabs me.
He cups both sides of my face and kisses me slowly. Fire fuels every vein that pumps to and from my heart when he touches me. I’m weak when he kisses me.I’m weak when he looks at me.
“I’ll see you soon.” He smiles against my lips before planting another soft kiss on them, and butterflies flutter. My hands find his and I gently squeeze.
I smile, finally opening my eyes to see his light blue ones.
“See you soon.”
17
DANNY
What a ballsy decision these terrorists have made. It’s even more insane to think they can bring this war to us. But oh, how I love their enthusiasm to take me out. I love how they think they can kill me. It’s just making this that much more fun.
I get to reap souls.
The thrill of seeing life drain from evil people, sending their souls to my good old friend, Death, is what I thrive on.
And I always win.
Still, I’m upset they ruined my little angel’s birthday. I’ll be gone for a while because of their need to kill me. This was supposed to be Ari's day, and they took that from me and her.
I will enjoy every moment I get my hands on them and make them regret starting this bounty they have for my head.
I. Can’t. Fucking. Wait.
It’s the middle of the night and we’re about to breach a little house in the middle of nowhere in Georgia. They’re just hours away from where I live. They found us fast; our primary mission tonight is to discover how they could get this information quickly.
They’re sloppy already and have revealed how evil they can be. They came out on military intelligence’s radar when theycaused quite a stir at a local bar in town when a couple of women reported being assaulted and raped to the police.
They’re dead men.
“Creature, you comfortable up there?”
Operator Creature.
Admiral Ravenmore wasn’t lying about him.
Daegan Hannibal, age thirty-five, has dark hair, and tall, built, gray eyes and wears a black mask like the rest of us, except he never takes his off after being captured. No one knows what hides beneath the right side of his face, but rumors say he’s scarred horrifically. He’s partially blind in his right eye, yet he never misses a shot. He refused to talk about it when he was a prisoner of war. No one knows how he got his injuries, and he doesn’t talk about it, nor am I too intrigued to ask. As long as he carries his weight and executes a job well done; I don’t give a fuck about his personal life.
The man refused to take a leave of absence when he returned home and was assigned to my team immediately.
He might be more insane than I am.
