Page 58 of The Soldier

He nods. “He’s fine.”

It’s his turn to lie. I don’t know why I asked. Cole has no idea. None of them can or will tell me anything.

I climb into the Uber and the door shuts. The silence in the cab is odd and I feel like I’m in a tunnel.

“You ready to admit you like him now?” Briar hugs my arm as the car pulls away.

“No,” I whisper.

“Didn’t think so.”

I can hear the gentle smile in her voice, and when I look over at Alice, she reaches and squeezes my hand. “We all want him home safe.”

Goddamn that toy soldier. I was never meant to fucking care.

How can one stupid kiss mean so much?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MARSHALL

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Pop.

We got him. Al-Kharafi is dead. Better still, I got him. So at least I can say I completed my last mission if I end up six feet under.

Apparently, bleeding out makes me dramatic.

I collapse to the ground and let the Delta operators take over.

After three hours of chasing them, it’s over.

Mickelson drove into the side of their SUV, almost taking us all over a cliff. Fortunately, both vehicles slid to a stop with the enemy’s tilting and eventually flipping onto its side.

Thank god, they couldn’t get away.

I was drained from the blood loss and my sight was blurring, but the moment I saw Al-Kharafi climb out sunroof and start running, I ripped Rodrigues’s gun out of the palm of his hand and pointed.

Then shot.

Al-Kharafi dropped to the ground. I opened my door and walked as I kept shooting. Then another as I stood over him, right in the center of his forehead.

“Photo,” I called out.

“Right beside you,” Forte said and handed me his phone. “Took a couple.”

I collapsed to the ground.

Then, sitting in the dust of the desert, I synced our phones, grabbed the file and then sent them to Josh with the words:mission complete.

Then, and only then, I let myself pass out.

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THE FLIGHT HOME to the United States was long and, despite the army medic stitching me up, the first place I’m taken is the hospital.

There was no shower before being airlifted just a few miles from where we took down Al-Kharafi, so I can still feel the sand all over me. Even the change of clothes didn’t help.

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