Rex sat next to Avery as she ate.
“I’ve missed this,” she said between bites, looking into the distance.
“What?”
“This. The sunrise. It’s so beautiful in the desert. I think being in the dark for so long was harder than the beatings. There’s just something about the sun rising in the morning sky that makes me think of new beginnings and hope.”
Rex couldn’t say he’d ever thought of it like that. Usually the sun rising meant working out with his teammates or, if they were on a mission, having to be extra careful since the light meant their enemies could spot them easier. But he liked seeing the morning through her eyes.
She finished eating with more than half the meal left, but he didn’t try to convince her to eat more. She was an adult, and a nurse, and knew what her body could and couldn’t do. He finished off the meal in four huge bites and got up to stash the empty container in his bag.
“What’s the plan?” Avery asked from behind him.
“First, I’m going to take a look at your feet. Then we’re going to head up that mountain.” He gestured to the tall peak to their right. “Then a helicopter is going to come pick us up and bring us to the base, where we’ll regroup with the rest of the team and head home.”
She stared at him for a beat, then asked, “So, I’ll see you when I get back to California, whenever they send me home, right?”
Rex shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. When I say we’ll regroup and head home, I meant all of us. Together.”
Her brow furrowed. “I know that I’ll be sent back stateside even though my deployment isn’t up, that’s procedure for any POW. I thought I’d misheard Phantom earlier when he said I’d be going home with your team.”
“You didn’t mishear,” Rex told her.
“Can… How is that possible?”
Rex moved slowly so as not to startle her again and put a hand on her shoulder. “The how isn’t important, just know that it’ll happen. You need to get home fast, and we’ll take care of it. Being in this country isn’t safe for you, obviously.”
Rex saw understanding in Avery’s face. “Right. I need to identify the man I saw in the village,” she said. “He wanted me killed on the spot and he could easily hire someone else to make sure that happens if I’m here long enough.”
“Exactly,” Phantom agreed.
“Thank you,” Avery said. Then she glanced at Rex. “I can take care of my feet if you have other things to do to get ready to leave.”
Rex shook his head. “I got ready while you were still sleeping this morning. It’ll just take five minutes or so.”
She grinned at him. “Okay, but you should know that I’ll totally be judging you the whole time. I mean, I am a nurse.”
He smiled back. “I’d expect nothing less, Lieutenant.”
He liked the easy banter between them. Liked more that she seemed to get along just fine with Phantom. He wasn’t the easiest man in the world to connect with. And while they’d all been very busy the last twenty-four hours, and Phantom hadn’t had much time to sit and chat—and offend her—he hadn’t exactly been Mr. Congeniality either. But Avery didn’t seem to have noticed.
She thanked Phantom once again for the coffee then sat by the boulder they’d slept next to. Rex followed with the bandages and another pair of clean socks and deftly cleaned and re-bandaged her feet. They looked swollen and sore today, but unfortunately they didn’t have the luxury of waiting an extra day and letting her rest. Since they’d backtracked near to the cave where she’d been held, and where the weapons had been distributed to insurgent sympathizers, they were very definitely in danger.
The helicopter extraction was just as risky today as it would’ve been yesterday, but hopefully they’d have a little more time to get into the chopper than they would’ve the day before. For one, there were only three of them and not all seven. And secondly, there wouldn’t be a group of insurgents baring down on them, as there was yesterday, when the helicopter showed up.
If they were lucky.
Until they were safe behind the walls of the American base, Rex wouldn’t rest easy…and probably not even then. The reality was, if what Avery had seen was correct, the sergeant major was right—there was definitely a traitor in their midst. An American who had no problem arming the very people they were there to fight against. It was possible he’d single-handedly pushed back their progress a couple of years. The army and navy had worked hard to protect the locals and prevent the insurgents from getting their hands on the kinds of weapons they now had access to. And if whoever it was who’d sold out the convoy and ordered Avery murdered was at the base, she definitely wouldn’t be safe.
Rex tied the laces of her boots, but before she could get up, he put a hand on her shin to stop her. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly.
She stared at him for a long moment before saying, “No. But I will be.”
His respect for her rose tenfold for being honest, and that was saying something, because he already respected her a hell of a lot. “You’re allowed to be human, you know,” he told her.
Her lips quirked up into a semblance of a smile. “So says the Navy SEAL who could probably live on dirt and air for months if he had to.”
Rex smirked. “Years,” he quipped. Then got serious. “Honestly, you’ve held up much better than I would’ve expected.”
“For a woman?” she asked somewhat archly.
But Rex didn’t rise to her bait. “No, for someone who was kidnapped, beaten, tortured, and who hasn’t eaten in two weeks. You saved my life yesterday, and I don’t take that lightly. You ran without complaint even though I know your feet and body had to be sore as hell. You jumped into that river without a second thought and when things went FUBAR, you did what had to be done. You’re a credit to the navy, Lieutenant.”
She took a deep breath, then said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Any questions about today?”
“No. You lead and I’ll follow. I don’t need to know all the details.”
Rex nodded. She was right. He would’ve been willing to tell her everything he knew, but they didn’t have time and when push came to shove, they both knew he, Phantom, and the rest of their team were the experts here.
“Cole?”
“Yeah?”
“I’d like to get in touch with my family as soon as possible. They have to be worried sick. Do you think that can be arranged when we get back to the base?”
“Of course,” Rex said immediately.
“Thanks. My sister lives in Florida and my parents are in Texas. They were all nervous about me being deployed, and while I’m not looking forward to them telling me ‘I told you so’ because I blew off their concerns about it being dangerous over here, I really need to hear their voices.”
“I’ll make sure you connect with them before we head out,” Rex reassured her.
“Thanks. Do you have family?”
“Yeah. My parents are divorced. Mom lives in Northern California and is remarried, and my dad is out in New York, happily single.”