Page 31 of Only for Love

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Present Day…

Grayson

“Go, go, go! Get your asses moving.” Orders bark in my earpiece from a man who can’t see the shit-storm around Maddox and me.

Mortar fire screams from every direction. Smoke clouds the night air, and my lungs burn. Sulfur burns in my nostrils, and I’m choking on adrenaline. Fight. Survive. Those are my goals. I push against the crumbling wall, breathing hard, wishing like hell there is a break in the insurgent attack we never saw coming.

“Go!”

Shit, man. If we have some place to go, our asseswouldbe moving as ordered. Fuck me. But we are blind, trapped in a dilapidated hut on the outskirts of a town that didn’t want us here to begin with.

A bullet hits the wall above me. Another one strikes closer, lower, just a few feet off. I’m not getting shot and left to die in this sandbox. I look over at Maddox, the only other man standing. The ground shakes as a mortar lands outside. Our unit has been decimated. We’ve got nothing, no ammo, no backup, no support except the asshole in our ears telling us to go.

“Go where?” Maddox shouts. His voice breaks. He’s scared.God, man, I’m scared. We’re done. No way we see tomorrow. It just can’t happen.

“Air support’s there in two minutes. Make it ’til then, boys. You goddamn make it until that bird shows up.”

An explosion rocks the hut’s roof. It’s caving in around us. Dust bites into my eyes. Chunks of plaster rain down. I grab Maddox, pulling him with me, and we run with no idea where to go. We blast through what’s left of the door, and cool air smacks me.

I drop, dragging Maddox. All our brothers-in-war died around us, coughing up blood, screaming out in pain. Maddox is in shock. I’d be in the same state of mind, except I long ago lost mine.

“C’mon.” I’ve got him by his shoulder, pushing him to keep my grueling pace. Don’t know where we’re going, but we gotta get there. Gotta live. I have a plan, have had it for three years. The only thing I need to do is stay alive, fulfill my Army contract, and find my way home—to a place almost scarier than war, where memories and mistakes are just as real as bullets and IEDs.

Blasts explode and light the sky. It’s yards away andnotfiring at us. Air support. Fuck me, thank God. Relief floods my mind. I can do this, totally survive this night. Maddox will, too.

“Ford, you there?”

I nod, panting from exertion. “Affirmative, sir.”

“Extraction helo coming in hot. Head east, two hundred yards. Remain for pick up.”

“Roger that.” I signal Maddox; he signals back. There’s a wall ahead. We’ll be in the open for fifty yards, but we will get to that wall. We’ll have partial concealment on the way to our pickup. That’s our cover. That’s where we can hunker down and breathe. “Ready?”

Maddox gives a thumbs up. He’s back, at least enough to run.

“Let’s go.”

We run. My pulse races as we close in on the wall, and—thump—I turn around. The world slows.

“Gray!” Maddox reaches for me. Even in the dark night, I see his face twist. He’s been hit. Mid-run, he’s falling down. Blood coats his face, and just that fast, his expression is gone.

“Maddox!” I dive next to his body. “Don’t do this, man. We’re almost out. C’mon. C’mon!”

His eyes are wide, his mouth open. But he’s gone. Dead. I scream into the night. “No! Damn it!”

“Jesus, fuck,” comes in my ear. “Ford. Go.”

My eyes pinch.Emma. She’s the only thing that will get me out of here. I drop and roll, then zigzag toward the pickup location.

A new voice breaks into my earpiece. “Alpha, bravo, one-one, extraction team here. Arriving in one minute, boys.”

My throat stings. “Just me. Last man standing.”

There’s a pause, and for a second, I wonder if they’re assessing the risk of picking me up. One man. They’ve already lost the team. Why risk the helo, the men, all to save one guy? Doom wrecks my hope.

Garbled noise pops in my headset. White noise and static. The earpiece crackles again.

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