Breaking Away

by Elle James

“That’s right,” Mac murmured to himself. “Focus on them, not me. They’re bringing a whole lot of whoop ass on your heads.”

  At least he hoped that was why they were there and not on their way to another engagement.

  One moment he could see the choppers in the sky, the next they’d disappeared.

  His hope for a rescue drained.

  If he wanted to live, he had to save his own ass.

  Chapter 11

  Kylie followed Mac until he disappeared, praying that wouldn’t be the last time she saw him alive.

  Then she turned to guard her side of the boulder. She didn’t have a knife or the same kind of strength to subdue a man without creating a whole lot of noise. Yes, she knew Krav Maga, but those techniques were defensive. She would have to go into offensive mode to protect Musa and Blade.

  As she waited for whatever diversion Mac had in mind, she spotted the blink of a flashlight headed toward her side of the boulder.

  Kylie tensed and prepared to shoot rather than be shot. Pulling the trigger had been what got her into this mess in the first place. But, like the first time, it was kill or be killed. Blade and Musa relied on her to protect them.

  Raising her rifle, she aimed at the figure heading her way, holding her fire until absolutely certain it was the only alternative.

  As the man inched forward, Kylie drew in a deep breath an held it, sighting her weapon on her target, her finger moving from the trigger guard to the trigger, resting lightly on the cool metal.

  Then a loud crash was followed by a burst of flame lighting the sky.

  The man in front of her spun toward the commotion. Moments later, he ran back the way he’d come, heading for the fire and away from Kylie, Blade and Musa.

  Kylie released the breath she’d been holding and removed her finger from the trigger, slumping over the rifle.

  What had Mac managed to explode in his successful diversion? And had he managed to get out of the way in time?

  “Come on, now’s our time to get away.” Blade bent to loop Musa’s arm over his shoulder. “The Taliban area headed toward the explosion.”

  “What about Mac?” Kylie asked. Now that they could leave, she didn’t want to.

  “He’ll find his way back,” Blade said. “He’s a cat with a lot of lives left to live.” He started up the hill. “Cover me until we get over that ridge.”

  Because she couldn’t abandon Blade and Musa, Kylie followed, backing up the hill, aiming her rifle downward in case some of the Taliban soldiers had chosen to continue their search instead of investigating the explosion.

  No one stopped them. They were all headed toward Mac and the fire blazing high into the sky.

  Kylie’s heart contracted as they slipped over the top of the ridge and out of sight of the crash scene below. She should have felt relief but didn’t. How could she when the man she loved was down there somewhere, possibly surrounded by Taliban.

  A thumping sound filled the air.

  “Hallelujah,” Blade exclaimed. “Black Hawks! Hopefully they’re coming for us.”

  Hope surged in Kylie’s chest. “If they are, we don’t have to leave Mac. We need to go back and cover for him until help arrives.”

  Blade frowned in the starlight. “If I know Mac, he’d rather know you were safe and out of harm’s way.”

  “I can’t go,” Kylie said. “You two go on without me. I’m heading back to help Mac.”

  “You don’t have to go it alone. Looks like the choppers are landing in that depression ahead.” Blade tipped his head toward the helicopters, dropping low into the hills, choosing a flat spot to set down. As soon as they landed, men streamed out of the sides.

  “Stay here with Musa,” Blade commanded as he eased Musa to the ground. “I’ll make the connection and lead them back this way.”

  Before Kylie could protest, Blade took off across the rugged terrain. He met up with the soldiers coming off the helicopters. In seconds, they were headed back to Kylie and Musa’s position.

  Blade stopped long enough to let Kylie know what was happening. “It’s our Delta Force team,” he said with a grin. “They’re going in to bring Mac back. I’m taking a couple of them with me to relieve Josh of Ahktar. You’ll need to come with me.”

  “I want to go with the others to help Mac,” Kylie said.

  Blade shook his head. “You’ll only slow them down. If you want to help Mac, stay with me.”

  Kylie watched as the team ran across the terrain, fresh for the fight, unlike her. They would get there much faster than if she went with them.

  “If you go with them, they’re focus will be on protecting you, not on getting to Mac,” Blade argued.

  Kylie squeezed her eyes shut for a second, then opened them and squared her shoulders. “Okay. I want them to get to Mac as quickly as possible. Lead the way to Josh. I’ll follow.”

  Between Blade and his buddy Dash, they half-carried Musa down the hill and back up the other side. Just when Kylie thought they’d never get to Josh and Ahktar, they rounded a boulder near a gravel road and came upon an SUV.

  A voice called out, “Halt! Who goes there?”

  “Josh, it’s me, Blade and we have Kylie.”

  Josh stepped out of the shadows, leveling the rifle on Blade. Then he pointed the weapon toward the ground. “I thought you’d never make it back. And when I heard that explosion…” He shook his head as smile cross his lips as he spied Kylie. “Thank God.”

  Kylie ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. “I was so worried about you.”

  “Same here. I’m glad they found you.” He looked up from her face and frowned at Dash and Musa. “You’re not Mac. Where’s Mac?”

  Kylie’s eyes filled with tears. “The Deltas are going in to bring him out.”

  “He’s not…dead?” Josh asked.

  Kylie shook her head. “No. He can’t be.”

  “We don’t know. The team will get him out. In the meantime, how’s our prisoner?”

  “He tried to get out of his bindings, but they held. And I didn’t take the gag out of his mouth.” Josh’s lips twisted. “I didn’t get to shoot him.”

  Kylie laughed. “You sound disappointed.”

  “The bastard would have killed you,” Josh said, a frown forming a V with his eyebrows.

  “I’m alive.” She turned back the way she’d come and stared into the darkness. “Now all we need is Mac to come back alive.”

  For the next twenty minutes, she wrung her hands, pacing back and forth in front of the SUV, her attention on the hills she’d passed through to get where she now waited.

  When she heard the sound of rotor blades beating the air, her heart leaped into her throat and she turned to Dash.

  Dash laid a hand over his ear, a smile spreading across his face. “They have Mac.” His grin broadened. “He’s alive and asking about you.”

  The rush of relief that wash over Kylie was so powerful, it sent her to her knees. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.

  “Hey,” Blade slipped an arm around her waist and drew her to her feet. “He’s alive, not dead.”

  “I know,” she said. “I’m just so happy.”

  Blade laughed. “That’s a funny way of showing it.”

  Dash frowned. “We need to drive down the mountain into the open so the choppers can pick us up.”

  Kylie didn’t have to be told twice. They piled into the SUV and raced back out of the hills in the opposite direction from the fire and the Taliban. When they came out into the flat lands, one of the helicopters had landed. The other hovered nearby.

  Josh drove the SUV to within a few yards of the helicopter. Kylie leaped out of her seat and ran for the bird.

  Mac climbed out and held his arms open for her.

  She ran into them and hugged him so tightly, she didn’t think she would ever let go.

  Finally, he kissed the top of her head and said, “We need to get in, or they’ll leave us.”

  Blade and Dash hel
ped Musa into the chopper. Rucker and Bull got Ahktar in and buckled him into a harness.

  Soon they were flying through the air, away from the Taliban.

  Kylie sat beside Mac, holding his hand, thanking God for saving the only man she’d ever loved.

  * * *

  Within forty minutes, they were landing at Bagram Airfield where they disembarked from the helicopters onto the tarmac.

  Glad to see the safety of the base, Kylie was sad to know she’d be separated from Mac all too soon.

  Rucker met them at the edge of the landing zone where a couple of SUVs were waiting. “We called ahead. They have a plane leaving in a less than an hour. We can get Kylie and Josh on it, if we hustle.”

  The Military Police took charge of Ahktar and loaded him into one of the SUVs.

  “They’d take him to the intelligence guys,” Rucker said. “The main thing is that he’s out of commission and no longer torturing our people.”

  “What about Musa?” Kylie asked.

  Rucker smiled. “We’re working on that. I’ve put him in touch with the state department. We’re trying to get him asylum to the US. In the meantime, they’ll keep him safe. Right now, you need to get to the terminal and get processed through.”

  They hurried to the air transportation office to fill out the necessary paperwork to get them booked onto the next flight, leaving in less than an hour.

  The Deltas stayed with Kylie and Josh. Rucker worked on getting transportation back to their forward operations base, while Mac helped Josh and Kylie wade through the documents they had to fill out and sign.

  When Kylie had all the documentation completed, she waited for the loadmaster to wave her and Josh through. She waited with Mac, struggling to find the words that would make them right with each other. She couldn’t think of anything but the truth.

  “I want to see you again,” she blurted out.

  “Can I see you again?” Mac asked at the same time.

  Kylie laughed and stepped into his arms. “Is it crazy to think we could have a second chance at this?”

  “Define this,” he said.

  “Us.”

  He nodded and brushed a strand of her hair back from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. “That would be a yes from me. What are you feeling?”

  “One hundred percent relieved,” she said with a breathy laugh.

  His brow wrinkled. “Not exactly the words I was looking for.”

  “Relieved that you think we have a chance. Because I want it so badly.”

  “Not half as bad as I do,” he said and nuzzled her neck. “I’ve dreamed of holding you just like this for so long, I think I might still be dreaming.”

  “Same here,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’re at Fort Hood, right?”

  He nodded.

  “Any idea when you’ll be back?” she asked.

  “Whenever they’re done with us here,” he said. “How long that will be, I have no idea.”

  “Is it possible for two people with careers like ours to make a relationship work?” she whispered. Please, say yes.

  “If both parties are equally committed, I think so.” He tipped her chin up. “I’m that committed.”

  “Miss Adams, Mr. Bolton, it’s time to board the plane,” a voice called out.

  Kylie had so much more she wanted to say, but they were out of time. “I’m that committed, too,” she said, holding his gaze.

  “Miss Adams, Mr. Bolton?” the voice called out again.

  Josh started toward the exit, stopped and turned back. “Kylie, they’re waiting on us.”

  “I have to go.” Kylie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  Mac crushed her to him and held her tight.

  She wished she could stay, but the time had come to leave. Kylie slipped her backpack over one of her shoulders and hurried away, her eyes blinded by the tears falling freely.

  She was almost to the door when a hand on her arm stopped her.

  “You’ll need this,” Mac’s voice said in her ear.

  She glanced up through her tears.

  He pressed a napkin into her hand, closed her fingers around it and sent her on her way.

  It wasn’t until she was seated on the airplane that she opened her hand and stared down at the napkin. Inside, written in Mac’s bold handwriting were the words I Love You. Beneath it was his phone number.

  She laughed and cried all at once. Mac never said anything he didn’t mean.

  He loved her.

  And she loved him. She smiled as she held the napkin to her chest. It wasn’t as good as holding Mac, but it would have to do until she could get back to the States and make a few changes.

  The first being her place of residence. She was moving from Dallas to Killeen, the town outside of Fort Hood. Hopefully, she could make that happen before Mac returned from Afghanistan. If not, it would be soon after.

  She couldn’t wait to start her new life with the only man she’d ever loved. What that life would be like was a huge question but one she was willing to find the answer to.

  Chapter 12

  “You gonna look up your girl, now that you’re back?” Dash asked Mac.

  Mac grabbed his duffel bag and turned on his phone for the first time in days, glad to be off the plane and back in Texas.

  “She didn’t give me her phone number,” he said.

  “What? All that face sucking, and she doesn’t want to see you again?”

  Mac had worried for the past week, wondering if he’d been stupid. Why hadn’t he asked her for her phone number?

  He’d given her his. If it was meant to be, he’d hear from her. “It was her move,” he said.

  “Uh, I think it’s your move, now,” Dash said.

  Turning with his duffel bag in his hand, Mac was confronted with a huge poster decorated with bright green glitter and the words, I LOVE YOU, MAC, written in large, bold letters.

  He couldn’t see who was holding it, only the sexy, bare legs beneath the poster board.

  His heart slammed hard against his ribs and beat so fast he could barely breathe.

  He strode to the poster board, dropped his duffel on the ground and lowered the board to see the face that had been on his mind since he’d watched her walk out to the plane at Bagram Airfield.

  “Kylie,” he said on a sigh and gathered her to him. “How did you know I’d be here?”

  “I have my contacts.” She laced her hands behind his neck and pulled him down to her. “Did you like my sign?”

  He nodded and kissed the tip of her nose. “The sweetest words I’ve ever seen in green glitter.”

  “I wanted to make sure you saw it,” she said, tears pooling in her eyes. “I love you, Mac. And if you’ll have me, I want to be with you always. Well, at least when I’m in the country and you are, too.”

  “I want that more than you can possibly know,” he said.

  Her brow furrowed. “There’s something I wanted to ask you.” She stepped back until his hands had to fall to his sides.

  Then she dropped to one bare knee, the hem of her sun dress brushing the floor. “Sean McDaniel, I love you, which we’ve already established, and I want to be with you always. Sean ‘Mac’ McDaniel, will you marry me?” She lifted the poster board and turned it around. In shiny pink glitter were the big, bold words, PLEASE SAY YES.

  Mac laughed, took the poster from her hands, tossed it to the side and then answered with all of his heart.

  “A thousand times, yes!”

  Rucker, Dash, Blade, Tank, Bull, Dawg and Lance let out a hearty cheer and pounded him on the back.

  “Congratulations, Mac,” Rucker said. “She’s a keeper. She’ll have your back, no matter the situation.”

  “Yeah, man,” Dash said. “And if you screw this up, I’ll be there to help her pick up the pieces.”

  Mac glared at Dash. “I’m not going to screw it up. You can’t have Kylie.”

  Dash held up his hands. “It doesn�
�t hurt to throw my hat in the ring. Just saying.”

  “A woman after my own heart,” Dawg said. “Never met a woman who scored three kills.” He shook Mac’s hand and hugged Kylie.

  “You’re a lucky bastard,” Tank said. “Be nice to her. She’s amazing.”

  “I know.”

  “Better marry her before she comes to her senses,” Bull warned.

  “I will,” Mac said. “How’s next week sound?” he asked Kylie.

  “I’m all in,” she said. “The sooner we start our lives together, the happier I’ll be.”

  Mac crushed her to him and kissed her until they both ran out of breath. “I love you, Kylie, and I’m not letting you get away this time.”

  “I promise. I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “You’re the one who completes me.”

  He chuckled, happier than he’d ever been. “And you’re the only woman for me.”

  THE END

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  ELLE JAMES

  Chapter 1

  Reed Tucker, Tuck to his buddies, tugged at the tie on his U.S. Navy service dress blue uniform, and his gut knotted as he entered the rehabilitation center of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

  He'd never run from anything, not a machine gun pinning his unit to a position, a fight where he was outnumbered, or an argument he truly believed in. But the sights, smells, and sounds inside the walls of the rehabilitation center made him want to get the hell out of the facility faster than a cat with its tail on fire.

  But he couldn't leave. Not yet. This was graduation day for Reaper, aka Cory Nipton, his best friend and former teammate on SEAL Team 10. Reaper was being released from the rehabilitation center after enduring something even tougher than BUD/s training, the twenty-four week Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training designed to weed out the true SEALs from the wannabes.