Deadly Descent (27 page)

Alone in her hospital room, Devon was ready to scream.
No one would tell her anything.
Once they’d loaded her off the Chinook, a couple of nurses had stuck her in this room and left her there before rushing out to help with the other more seriously wounded.
Ryan had rushed past her with one of the wounded Marines, and she hadn’t seen him since.
He might have already left the hospital to go to the ops center for a debriefing.
Or he might have even loaded up and headed back to get Cam and the others.

Please God let Cam be flying back to base right now.

The raw emotion on his face when he’d told her he loved her was burning a hole in her gut.
She clenched handfuls of the blanket the nurses had tucked around her and craned her neck to look out her door whenever she heard footsteps running down the hallway.
But she didn’t see anyone she recognized, and no one came into her room.

She debated whether to climb out of the bed and hop down to the nurses’ station to get some answers when Erin walked in.
“Hey.”

Devon grabbed her roommate’s hands.
“Where’s Cam?
Have you heard anything?
He didn’t get on the bird with us—he jumped out because we were overweight.
Do you know if he’s all right?”

Erin shook her head.
“I’m sorry, hon, but I don’t know anything.
I just thought I’d come and check on you while I had a free minute.
They’re probably going to need me in the OR soon.” Her green eyes were full of concern.
“Are you all right?”

What was a ruined knee compared to the pain she was in now?
The ache in her throat was so bad she couldn’t speak for a moment.
When she did, her voice was hoarse.
“He went back out there to make sure I got to base.
He promised he’d get me back, no matter what—” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Erin leaned over the bed and wrapped her arms around her.
“He’s going to be okay, Dev.
They’re going to send someone in for the rest of them.
Don’t forget he’s trained for this.
Well trained.
The best in the Air Force prepared him for this.
You have to believe everything’s going to be okay.”

Dev shook her head.
Erin didn’t get it.
“You don’t know what it was like out there,” she cried.
The fear kept welling up, making her heart race even faster.
Increasing the pressure beneath her ribs until it felt like an elephant was sitting on her sternum.
“Oh God, I can’t lose him!
I
love
him.”

Erin stroked her hair.
“I know you do.
But he’ll be back.
Don’t give up.
He needs you to hang on and be strong for him.”

Erin’s words slowly penetrated her frightened brain.
She was right.
Cam would want that from her.
Expect that from her.
Sitting up, she hitched in a breath and wiped at her wet face.
“I’m fine.
Promise me you’ll tell me if you hear anything.”

“I promise.” Erin edged off the bed.
“Is there anything I can get you?
The doctor will come as soon as he can to take a look at that leg.”

“No, there’s nothing.” Nothing would help unless she got word Cam was all right.
She’d already refused pain meds.
She wanted to keep a clear head in case—

Just in case.

Left alone in the silent, sterile room Devon covered her eyes with her hands.
She prayed as hard as she could while the tears tracked down beneath her shaking fingers.

In an office off the debriefing room, Candace rolled her head around to ease the tension in her neck and shoulders.
It didn’t help.
Today had been the longest day of her military career, and it wasn’t even over yet.

She’d given her verbal report along with her pilot commander.
But when it was over she’d still had no idea if the ground team had made it out once they left to refuel.
No one had called them back in, but she didn’t know if that was a good thing or a very bad sign.

She couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d seen.
Those enemy fighters had literally covered those two hills when they’d opened fire.
The Hellfire missile had dispatched most of them to hell, but her aircraft’s heat seeking radar had still picked up on numerous targets.
Whether they were alive or dead remained a giant question mark in her mind.

Sighing, she took the pen on the desk to fill out her After Action Report.
The office door opened.
That annoying combat controller walked in.
Ryan whatever his last name was.
Yet her heart leaped with joy before she could control it.
If he was there, then the ground team must have made it back safely.
But when his warm brown eyes locked on hers like a laser guided missile, she froze.

His hard expression made her uneasy.
He was tall, over six feet, and broad through the chest and shoulders.
In full combat gear with his face streaked with grime and camouflage paint above where the thick stubble ended, he looked dangerous.
And somehow too gorgeous for words.

“Hi,” she managed when he kept staring.
Her voice sounded very small, so she lifted her chin.
The last thing she wanted was to appear nervous in front of him.

“Hey.” He crossed the room toward her, and she had to resist the urge to retreat a step or two.
Something besides his appearance unnerved her.
He made her feel threatened on several levels.
Not that she was afraid he’d hurt her or anything.
It was the power and sexual intensity coming off him that made her balk.
He had danger signs all over him, despite how worn he looked.

Swallowing, she found her voice.
“You all right?” He looked okay.

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

He knew she’d been up there.
A flush spread across her face and neck.
A compliment from a man like him was the last thing she’d expected.
She reached up to rub the back of her neck to cover her awkwardness, but it was damn hard meeting the full power of his stare.
If there was such a thing as an A type personality, he was an A plus, topped off with more alpha than she knew how to handle.
“How’s Dev?
All I heard was that she was injured in the crash.”

“Dunno.
Haven’t seen her since we got back, but she’s probably having tests done right now.”

“Why, what happened to her?”

“Screwed up her left knee during impact.
Might have broken her leg too.”

God, poor Devon.
She couldn’t imagine going through a crash, let alone trying to outrun and then hold off the enemy with a broken leg.
She needed to see her, ASAP, and throw her arms around her best friend.
“I’m heading to the hospital as soon as I’m done.”

He studied her carefully.
“What you did out there took guts.”

She looked away.
“I just did my job.”

“While under small arms and RPG fire.”

“It was the pilot commander’s decision to stay.”

He shocked her by putting a hard finger beneath her chin and tipping her head up until she met his eyes.
“If it’d been you in the left hand seat, you would have stayed too.”

How did he know that about her?

“You saved our asses today.
All of us.”

She didn’t know what to say.
She was just glad she’d been able to help protect them and clear off some of the enemy so the Chinooks could come in.
“Wish we’d gotten there sooner.”

“Your timing was perfect, believe me.” A slight grin softened his features.
The shadows lifted from his eyes.
“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she mumbled automatically and firmly pulled her head away from his hand.
Retreating a step brought her up against the metal desk, but she didn’t care as long as it meant having some space between them.
Her fingers closed convulsively around the edges of it.

“I don’t bite you know.” His eyes gleamed with amusement.
And—was that respect?

She scowled despite the inner glow of pride that look in his eyes created.
“I know.”
Back off buddy
.

“I might nip a little if you let me, though.” His voice dropped to a sensual murmur.
“But real softly so I wouldn’t mark your tender skin.”

For a moment she couldn’t get her breath.
He didn’t take a step toward her, but she felt caged nonetheless by his masculine presence.
It alarmed her.
He held her motionless with nothing but his stare.

She straightened her spine and shot him a warning glare.
“You know what?
You just reminded me why I don’t like you.”

He grinned like he got a giant kick out of needling her.
Or maybe it was her response that he found funny.
“Well I like you.”

“That’s because I’m not rude and obnoxious.”

“Well there is that.
But I think it’s mostly to do with the fact that I’m standing here breathing because of you.”

“Ah.
So gratitude makes you rude?
I’ll have to remember that if I’m in the area next time you get in a tight spot.”

His expression instantly became contrite.
Then remote.
Like he’d flipped a switch.
“I was just teasing you.
I didn’t mean any offense.”

Part of her softened at the sincerity in his expression and tone, but she hardened her heart.
He might come in a pretty package, but underneath that dreamy wrapping laid the heart of a warrior and a sexual appetite to match.
She knew his type.
No doubt he went through women faster than she went through her fashion magazines.
Well she wasn’t interested in being one of his play things.
She straightened and started to walk past him.
“I’m going to see Devon.
Is Cam with her?”

He paused before answering.
“No.”

She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder.
“Is he in a briefing?”

“No.”

Her heart stuttered when his somber expression registered.
The shadows were back.
Swirling in his eyes.
“Then where is he?”

Ryan hesitated, wiping a hand over his face.
He didn’t look at her.
“He’s still out there.”

She put a hand to her stomach.
“What?” That couldn’t be right.
It would kill Devon if he didn’t come back alive.
“As in MIA?”

“Not quite.
He and Jackson jumped out because we were too overweight to take off.”

She couldn’t believe what he was telling her.
“But they won’t just leave him—”

“More crews are headed out there right now.” The unguarded flash of pain in his eyes ate at her.
“We wanted to go back for him, but the fire was too heavy.
The escorts were ordered out with us to provide protection.” He dragged a hand through his mussed hair and shifted his weight.
He seemed to struggle with himself for a minute.
She didn’t dare say anything, waiting for him to speak.

He let out a rough sigh.
“I should have been the one to jump off, but I was crammed too far forward.
He was out the door before I knew what was going on.
He should be standing here right now.
And I should still be out there to call in air support.”

“PJs and SEALs can do that on their own.”

“Yeah, but we could’ve used Cam’s medical skill on the return flight.” He shook his head.
“It should be me out there, not him.”

She studied his drawn expression.
God, he’d already lost one of his best friends over here.
Having to leave another one behind must be killing him.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she crossed the room and stood directly in front of him.
“He’ll be all right.” Her voice rang with a conviction she didn’t feel.
“They’ll find him.” She prayed he’d still be alive when they did.
He had to be, for Devon’s sake.
And for Ryan’s as well.

His smile was weary and sad.
Full of guilt and regret.
“Yeah.”

Not knowing what else to say, she turned around to go.
She was almost to the door when he spoke again.