He stood now, his clothes covered with blood from nearly twenty-four hours of assisting Rick with emergency medical aid. The SEALs had only left their improvised hospital when word came down that a Corporate Nation Medical Team was on its way, due to arrive within the hour. That meant there’d be CN mediators tagging along, which meant there’d be a full company of contractor-run security forces as well.
And neither Salantino nor Shane wanted to be anywhere in the vicinity when they made the scene.
Magic, Owen, Rick, and the senior had to hump it back over the border, on foot, for their story to line up.
Only Shane could wait here for the helo extraction.
But Magic in particular was loathe to leave him there alone.
“Time,” the senior said.
“Last chance,” Magic told Shane.
Shane held out his hand, well aware that this was the last opportunity he’d have to talk to his friend without others listening in and monitoring every word. At best, for a good long time. At worst, for the rest of his soon-to-be worthless life. “Good luck in OTS, Dean.”
Magic clasped Shane’s hand. It was more than a handshake. It was a promise. A vow. A pledge.
“You know I’d follow you anywhere, sir.” It was the most respectful sir Shane had ever heard fall from Magic’s irreverent lips. “If you ever need anything. Anything …”
“That means a lot to me,” Shane said quietly as he released his friend’s hand. “Thank you.”
Of course Magic couldn’t leave it like that. “I fucking hate you, douchebag,” he said. “And—fair warning—I just might take you up on that whole marrying-Ashley thing.”
Shane laughed as Magic walked away. “Good luck with that, too. And by the way …? She loves me. None of this is over until it’s over.”
Magic nodded, but when he glanced back at Shane, it was clear in his eyes, and written all over his face. The fat lady had sung, and the curtain was coming down.
And a half hour later, as Shane heard the extraction helo thrumming overhead, as he injected himself—this time for real—with that dose of the heavy-duty painkiller that Rick had given him, he knew it wouldn’t be long now before the hammer came down, too.
As the drug dulled his senses and surrounded him with a cushion of warmth and odd indifference, he was pulled aboard the gunship, where the medics immediately went to work on his ankle. And Shane knew they were going above and beyond to keep it from becoming a career-ending injury.
But Magic was right. His superiors up the chain of command were going to crucify him.
It was over.
He was over.
And in the last few moments before Shane succumbed to unconsciousness, he wondered what would become of him, where he would go, what he would do.
As hard as it was going to be to lose Ashley, her impending, inevitable defection would sadden but not crush him.
But losing his command? Being dishonorably discharged?
Being a SEAL was everything to him. It had defined him since he was barely even ten years old. He’d worked, his entire life, to be the best of the best.
Still Shane knew with a certainty that warmed him even more deeply than the drug, that he’d made the right choice, he’d done the right thing. Tomasin was safe. His team was safe.
He might be over.
But he was far from done.
Teaser TK
Headed for Trouble Page 30
