Page 18 of Dagger

Tex’s grip on Baxter shifted as he adjusted the weight. Baxter grunted, arms swinging limply. “I don’t think I have a choice, Lieutenant,” he said wryly, as if he was having the time of his life.

The hospital doors exploded outward, the team spilling into the humid night, a deep rhythmicthump-thump-thump. Music to a team’s ears. Men burst from everywhere, the true ambush. The Blackhawk came in low and fast, a sleek, black angel cutting through the mist, blades whipping up a furious storm of dirt and shredded leaves. The chopper’s nose gun erupted, gunfire roaring through the night, tracer rounds cutting through the darkness like fireflies from hell, dropping bodies in its wake.

Brawler took point with Beast, clearing the open ground between them and the exfil. The final resistance came hard, panicked fighters desperate to stop them.

They moved through like a hammer, firing as they sprinted, the Black Hawk descending, a bastion in the malevolent green. Twister and Ndhlovu emerged from cover, their medic helping the injured Shadowguard toward the waiting helo in a stumbling sprint.

Gunfire chased them, rounds punching into the dirt. Brawler reached the chopper, lifting Beast in one powerful motion, the dog scrambling up into the cabin. He turned and gave cover fire as one by one Easy, Shark, and Bondo jumped inside. Tex handed off Baxter to Bondo, the big man easily hauling the kid in with minimal effort.

Dagger was next, then Flash, refusing to give up his charge. He grabbed the side of the door, muscles burning and flexing as he one-handed them through into the open bay, sliding to his knees, holding her warm, compact body tightly against him, his back a shield to the imminent threat.

Tex banged the side of the fuselage. “Go, go, go!”

The bird of war lifted, rotors carving through the night, their black angel beating the air like great wings, rising from the battle.

The jungle below turned to black. Flash exhaled hard, his heart pounding for reasons he couldn’t explain. They had her. They had them all. The chopper accelerated, banking right and heading for those city lights.

The mission was over.

So why the hell didn’t it feel over?

Her. That’s why.

Flash leaned into the Black Hawk’s cold frame, the vibrations deep in his bones, her warmth now tucked between his legs. His jaw was still tight, his arms not ready to let her go. “How are you doing?” he asked, understanding her trauma more than she could know. He’d lived it over and over again. She looked up at him, her golden eyes softer than before, not assessing, not hunting, but truly seeing him. Something quiet, something unspoken passed between them like an arc of electricity.

“Thank you,” she murmured, voice steady but low. “For the respect you have shown me… and for the not exactly comfortable ride. You not only set me free but protected me along the way.” Her fingers flicked at the bandoliers crisscrossing his chest, a wry tilt to her lips, but there was something else there, too, not just teasing, not just deflecting, but something warmer, something more. He felt it, deep in his ribs, like an aftershock waiting to hit.

Then she delivered a mad, off-the-scale earthquake. “Don’t despair, my águila estrellada. Valiente Caballero Blanco.”

Flash’s breath caught. Her star-spangled eagle? Her brave white knight?

That punch to his gut had some concrete in it, hitting harder than it should have. He wasn’t a hero. Hell, knights were nothing but tin cans on horses with long poles. But hearing it from her?

It didn’t feel like a compliment. It felt like a claim. She handed him his sidearm, her fingers brushing his, deliberate. Her touch, her humor in the face of her recent trauma, her words, were gifts he wasn’t sure he deserved.

Dagger snorted, and Flash shot him a narrowed look. His eyes said,yeah, she’s got your ticket, brother, while Lechuza continued. “My body will heal, but my mind cannot be breached unless I choose it to be so. From one warrior to another, they may try to take all that we are, destroy us from the outside, but they can never take our spirit. That will always remain with us…free, unfettered, and ours.”

Every single teammate in the chopper was riveted to her. His brothers nodded, Shark mouthingSEAL babeagain, and Flash fell under this fierce woman’s spell just a little bit more.

“That’s my strong little owl,” Ndhlovu said, his voice weak but filled with affection.

The moment Lechuza saw him, she cried out, raw, broken, relieved, and scrambled out of Flash’s arms.

Flash barely had time to react before she stumbled forward, hobbling on unsteady legs, pushing through the pain like it didn’t exist.

“O-voo.” Her voice was wrecked, barely a whisper against the thundering rotors, but it was enough.

Ndhlovu’s face, so damn controlled, so disciplined, cracked wide open.

Then she threw herself into his arms.

Ndhlovu caught her, pulled her in tight, his hands cradling the back of her head, whispering something low and urgent against her tangled hair that sounded likeas oneat the tail end. She clung to him, her fingers gripping him like a lifeline, shoulders shaking.

Flash turned away, giving them the moment they deserved. Exhaling, he ran a hand down his face before muttering to no one in particular, “We should’ve gotten here sooner.”

Dagger looked at Baxter. “You good?”

Baxter wheezed out a chuckle. “Oh yeah. Fucking fantastic.”

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