Page 59 of Stone
“I don’t like being without a few bills. Big ones.”
“I can see that. Like I said. Who the hell are you?”
His laugh kept my body quivering.
With the ice cream paid for, I carried both while he carried me toward one of the empty tables. We were yards away from the beach, the public air filled with activity. There was even a beach volleyball court set up, a game already in motion.
With a play area on one side, several walk-up restaurants and bars, and stores with bright awnings, the area was the perfect backdrop for a moment spent in paradise.
I dug into the ice cream and he watched me with the same look of amusement on his face while dragging his long tongue around the swirled ice cream.
“I can’t remember the last time I had this,” he admitted.
“Ice cream? You don’t take time to enjoy the things you used to?”
“I don’t know. I’m either working or surfing. Just a way of life, I guess. Maybe eating ice cream isn’t as much fun alone.”
“Mmm… And you spend time forgetting.”
He lifted a single eyebrow and turned his head toward the ocean. After licking for a few seconds, he pulled his hand away. “I meant what I said and I’m sorry I got angry with you. You don’t understand what it was like during the missions.”
I remained quiet, hoping he’d open up to me, but it was his choice whether he trusted me enough to do so.
“Not every mission was deadly or exciting, but the ones considered most dangerous put the lives of the entire team on the line. We were assigned to rescue a family of an Afghan man who’d been working with the government as a translator. His identity was supposed to be top secret, but somehow, his work with the government was exposed and he and his family were kidnapped. We were provided with intel about where he’d been taken.”
“Was it credible?”
He nodded. “Yes, very credible, but extracting them was still considered highly dangerous.”
His ice cream was already melting and the force of his fingers wrapped around his cone was creating cracks. “Were you able to save them?”
“We managed to get inside the warehouse, but it was too quiet. I knew something was wrong almost instantly, but we had our orders. We knew via heat sensors where the hostages were beingkept. We advanced cautiously toward the room. I was the one who walked inside first.”
While he wasn’t zoned out, I sensed he was falling into the same darkness I’d awakened him from that morning. I placed my hand on his arm, squeezing to provide comfort while concerned he’d have the same reaction as before. He’d obviously been reminded of the horrible night while rescuing me.
My touch seemed to pull him from the abyss, at least enough he offered a half smile. “I’m okay. The memories are terrible, but I can handle them when I’m awake.”
I hesitated to say anything, but it was obvious he sensed my question.
“No, I couldn’t save them, Dani. There was a trip wire and the wife and mother of several children was forced to wear a bomb.”
“What?”
He nodded. “There was nothing we could do except for kill the bastards who’d taken their lives. And trust me, I enjoyed every moment of taking their miserable, worthless lives and wished I’d been able to take more time before putting bullets in their brains. You asked me if you should be afraid of me this morning. The answer is yes. You should.”
“Why?”
“Because I was the soldier who tripped the wire.”
CHAPTER 17
Daniella
Ocean breezes.
Waves gently banking against a pearlescent beach.
The scent of flowers permeating my senses.
