Page 4 of No Regrets

“Do you know where she was taken?” Dex fought to keep his voice calm. He knew procedure had to be followed, but Joe had been his CO for five years now and was aware of how close he and Kelly were. She might be trained and could handle herself, but not against an army of terrorists who didn’t follow the rules of war.

“Not yet. Everyone is working on it as fast as they can. This is not your operation. The team will be there within ten hours.”

“With all due respect, sir, Daram is a four-hour flight from here. We are the closest team.” Sixteen hours was too long. Kelly could be dead by then.

“Your team is not mission-ready, and you know it. Stand down, Dawson, I mean it. The decision has been made by those way above your pay grade and mine. Trust me when I say everything is being done to get Lieutenant Kimber back safely, and that includes sending a mission-ready team.”

Dex went to argue but stopped himself. He couldn’t stand down. This was his girl that had been captured, but there was no point arguing with his CO. He wouldn’t win, and it would only land him in trouble.

“Yes, sir. Understood.”

“Dawson, I know you. Do not interfere in this operation. You’ve crossed the line before and have been written up for it. Don’t make me have to bust your ass again, or worse. Interfering could jeopardize the mission and Lieutenant Kimber’s safety.”

Dex glanced at his team watching him expectantly. Yeah, he had crossed a few lines on previous ops, but for the right reasons, and each time the outcome had been worth it. He respected the Navy and the procedures in place because it kept them safe, kept them alive. Sometimes when you’re in the field, a situation arises, and a call has to be made. Occasionally he made a call he knew would never be approved, but when you only have seconds to decide, he went with his gut. Always. He owned his decisions and accepted the consequences.

“Copy that, sir.”

“Alright. Go get some sleep. As a courtesy I will keep you informed as best I can on the rescue.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Dex ended the call and turned around to see his team glaring at him.

“Seriously? You’re really going to leave this to some black ops or DEVGRU team we don’t know?” Ryan arched his eyebrows.

Dex gripped the back of a chair, bracing himself. His stomach tied up in knots. Kelly was in the hands of some extremists and his imagination was running overtime, conjuring up what she could be going through.

“No fucking way.”

CHAPTER TWO

Kelly wrapped her arms around her stomach, hugging herself. She was fairly sure she had a couple of cracked ribs. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises and her left eye was swollen, but here in the dark cell she couldn’t see clearly to examine just how bad anything was. Today the stomach cramps were crippling. Not surprising after yesterday. Did that actually happen, or had she imagined it? Sometimes she would wake from a nightmare, sure it was real. Other times, like now, she wanted to believe what she saw yesterday had just been in her imagination. But she knew it had been real because she had the dog tags in her hand.

Leaning her head back against the wall she closed her eyes. Yesterday Lazir had taken her outside to what looked like the smoldering remains of a bonfire. As they got closer a sickening smell had filled her nostrils.

“I thought you might like to send some time with your teammates.” Lazir sneered.

The realization that the smell was the burning flesh of Bravo team had been too much and she had collapsed on the ground, sobbing. Lazir chained her to a post, dropped the dog tags in her lap and left her there, next to her dead team for what felt like several hours. At first, she couldn’t look, the smell had been overwhelming. She threw up what little food and water she had in her stomach. Then she dry-heaved until her throat was raw and her stomach a hard, tense knot.

After a while she forced herself to look. Lazir hadn’t kept the fire going, so although the bodies were badly burned, she could make out how many there were. Six bodies. Lazir hadn’t lied. The whole team was dead. But what about the ground support? She’d seen her own CO, Dave Senata, shot dead before her eyes and bullets had been flying before she’d been grabbed and hooded. With only six bodies here, they must have left Senata and the others. Maybe there were survivors. The thought gave her the tiniest ray of hope. Someone would have put out a distress signal. A QRF would have been launched. They would come back for her. She had to hang on.

Would Dex know she was missing by now? He had been off the grid when her team left, and she had no idea when he was due back. Would he be looking for her? It had been over two weeks since she’d spoken to him.

“You still owe me dinner,” she teased.

“I offered to cook. You distracted me.”

“You didn’t exactly object.”

“Babe, I’ll never object to that.” Dex smiled that smile that pierced her heart every time.

They had been on a video call and didn’t have much time. Kelly was due at an intel brief for the Khalini op. Now she wished they’d spent longer talking.

“When you get back, I expect a home cooked meal,” she said.

“And what do I get?”

“Dessert.”

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