Page 195 of Enthrall Ecstasy

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“What do you see?”

“We’re on reconnaissance. Henry’s here. Sergeant Matt Dias.”

“What do you hear?”

I turned my head in the direction of the blades. “The helicopter is turning around.”

“Turning back?”

“It’s too dangerous for it to continue. We’re in a sandstorm.”

The chopper was flying south.

I squinted as though trying to look through the storm. “Hard to see…”

“Go on.”

“My goggles are blurry. Sand in my face. Mouth.” I wiped my face trying to remove the grit. “You know how it gets.”

I was there again.

I tasted dirt despite the scarf that covered my mouth.

“What’s Henry saying to you?” said a distant voice.

Looking that way. Looking right.

Trying to hear over the blades.

I blinked as though that might make it easier to see through my goggles, and then wiped grit from the lenses.

Henry was pointing his gun toward the ridge.

The signal to move.

I leaned into the storm, sweat snaking down my spine in the heat, my rucksack heavy. My M4A1 carbine was pointed at the ridge.

“What do you see, Shay?”

“I see…”

Squinting…I could see something staring back through the whirling sand.

A lion.

God, he was beautiful.

“Can I open my eyes?” This wasn’t working.

“Not yet.”

This was insanity.

It made no sense.

“What do you see, Shay?”

What do I see?

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