Page 2 of Delta Mission
“We will,” Lyle answered for me.
“Search the shelters.” The deep voice boomed behind me, and my mind shunted back nine years.
I spun to the soldiers, searching for the source of the gruff voice. And there he was. The man who had ruined me.
Channing Fucking Winston.
I couldn’t believe it. How many Delta ops teams were there? And lucky me just happened to get the one asshole I’d been trying to forget for nine years.
His gaze shifted my way, and he froze. His steely expression confirmed that nearly a decade of time had not softened his hatred for me.
The feeling was mutual.
I hated that his presence still riled me so much.
Forget him, Makenna.
Just find this drug lab and prove to all these bastards that you know what you’re doing.
The village of Amir Momahhadakan comprised of a dozen shelters positioned along a dirt track that spanned hundreds of miles. During my aerial surveillance, I’d seen enough activity at the village to confirm that dozens of people frequented these huts, yet there was no obvious reason. The traffic along this dirt road was more than would be expected for such a remote location.
As Lyle and I waited at our Humvee, and Trent thankfully stayed in his vehicle, the soldiers divided into two groups of three and vanished into the buildings.
The silence was incredible. No people talking, birds chirping, engine noises, or electronics buzzing. Nothing. Not even the whistling wind.
Further down the road, the rusty old school bus that I’d seen hundreds of times on my monitor was still there. The wheels had long ago crumbled to nothing, rust covered just about every square inch of the vehicle, and the windows were either shattered or missing altogether. Not for the first time, I wondered how long that bus had been there, and if it had ever been used to take children to school. I doubted it. There wasn’t a school within two hundred miles of this place.
The stillness, too, was strange. A bad feeling seeped into my veins.
Channing and his group of soldiers came out of the first hut shaking their heads, and he leveled his gaze at me.
My heart thumped in my ears. Something wasn’t right. Where were the villagers? Why weren’t there any cars? Or mules? Or stray cats?
The soldiers disappeared into the next two buildings.
Despite the weather being slightly cooler than I’d expected, sweat dribbled down my temples and I swept it away.
The sun had dipped behind the snow-capped mountain in the distance, casting a massive dark shadow over the village like a demon. I’d never noticed that during my surveillance. Hopefully, that was the only thing I’d missed.
In the last six months, I’d spent more hours studying this tiny patch of earth than I had sleeping. I knew the layout like I knew the contents of my pack. Yet the village was bigger than it had appeared on my computer monitor, making me second guess how many people could live here.
Channing marched out of the furthest shelter clutching his weapon as he dodged around the decrepit bus.
He’d changed since I’d last seen him. He was more rugged. More manly. He was Hollywood-worthy tall, dark, and handsome. But when he clenched his jaw, it took his stunning looks to another level.
I yanked my gaze away, pissed off that I noticed.
I was also pissed off that we were getting nowhere. Our mission was slated to take three days. Two of them were the travel time needed to journey the rugged dirt tracks to reach this remote village. We were running out of time and if we didn’t find something soon, my name was going to hit the shit-list on so many levels.
“Anyone find anything?” Channing snapped his neck side to side in a brutal movement that I’d suggested he stop doing nine years ago.
“I got nothing, Wolf,” Burke said to Channing.
Wolf? Must be Channing’s codename. Was that because of his eyes? Or because he’s a sneaky bastard?
“The buildings are empty. The fucking village is deserted.”
Deserted? But that can’t be.
