Page 34 of Just One Night Together

Haley smiled. “Do you?”

Joe grinned as he stopped at her building. “And you wouldn’t want to know where he lives, either, would you?”

Haley leaned forward to pay the fare. “You’re a tease.”

“I’ve seen a lot of life, Haley.” Joe shook a finger at her. “Two lonely people sometimes need a little help to get things right.”

Haley chose not to argue about being lonely. “So, you’re a guardian angel now?”

“Can’t hurt. Leave the world a better place than how you found it.”

“That sounds like a Boy Scout motto.”

Joe chuckled. “Maybe.” He took a pad of Post-It notes from the console, wrote an address, and peeled off the top sheet to give it to her. “I’m going to guess that’s his mom’s house, and that he’s living there alone seeing as she’s in the hospital.”

“You don’t know.” Haley eyed the address, her heart leaping with an excitement that was completely undeserved. She wasn’t going to become Damon’s stalker.

“No. But I’m a good guesser.” Joe shrugged. “It fills the time.”

“Well, I’ll let you know if you’re right.”

“Better yet, invite me to the wedding.”

“Joe!”

The older man laughed. “I knew that would get a rise out of you.”

“Thank you, Joe,” Haley said as she got out of the cab. “I think.”

“But you let me know if I’m right,” he called after her. “You offered and I like to keep score.”

* * *

The three ofthem were progressing steadily, shoulder to shoulder. Perez was on the right. Foster in the middle. Buchanan on the left. It was the way they’d done it a thousand times, but it was never routine.

Not a single thing was routine in Afghanistan.

They rounded a corner and froze as one at the sight of a little boy playing in the dusty street. Dressed in rags, dirty, too thin. Perez never got used to seeing these kids, growing up in a war zone and thinking that was normal. It was normal for them, and that was the saddest part of all.

The kid looked up, his gaze dancing over the pair of them, then smiled knowingly. He dropped the toy, turned and ran.

He was going to tell someone they were close.

Foster lifted his weapon to aim.

Perez growled a reminder. “R.O.E.”

Rules of engagement.

The boy was a civilian. He was unarmed. He couldn’t be injured, even if he was going to bring the wrath of hell upon them. The village ahead was suddenly quiet, deserted, ominous. But they had a mission to infiltrate a certain house and capture a known threat. They exchanged a nod and continued.

He heard Buchanan exhale in frustration, but nothing more was said. Perez was the one who followed the rules to the letter. It was the only way to be, as far as he was concerned, and he wasn’t going to argue about it again.

They continued, three in a line, sweeping the street with their gazes. They took four more steps before the grenade landed in the road and rolled toward them. There were houses on either side, undoubtedly filled with civilians.

There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

Damon awakenedwith a scream caught in his throat and his mind filled with the memory of his comrade’s last cry. He was sweating, his heart galloping, the smell of those Afghan streets so vivid that he could have been there again.

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