Looking through the left chin bubble below her feet, Devon gently guided the Black Hawk onto the tarmac.
The aircraft hovered over its landing spot for a moment before the fixed wheels beneath the fuselage touched the ground.
She and Will powered everything down, and the on-board medic jumped out to brief the medical team standing by.
Watching them unload her two passengers, Devon fought to suppress her emotions.
The mission had gone well enough, but she was glad to have the flight behind her.
The stretchers held a six-year-old girl and her ten-year-old brother who’d wandered into an uncleared mine field and suffered severe damage to their legs.
Someone helped the children’s grandfather down from the open bay door.
He instinctively crouched beneath the spinning rotors, one gnarled hand clutching his wool cap on his head as he followed the two stretchers into the hospital.
“You okay?”
She looked over at Will.
His eyes held sadness and understanding.
“Yeah.
You?” He had two girls back home.
“Let’s just say this is one mission I’ll never forget.
It was a great flight, though.
One of the smoothest I’ve ever been on.”
She flushed at the praise.
The medic and crew chief had stabilized the boy during the flight, but his sister was critical.
She’d heard them talking with the flight surgeon over the radio during the flight back.
The girl’s chances were slim.
“What about some coffee?”
She frowned, unsure her stomach was up for that yet, but she could use the distraction of some company.
“Sure.
I’ll meet you over at the Exchange once I file the log.” As Will climbed out, she pulled off her helmet and glanced in the back.
Her breath stuck in her throat.
Amidst the blood stains and soiled bandages, a doll lay face-up near the open bay door.
Devon’s fingers shook as she picked it up.
Its cloth face was smudged with dirt and the brown wool hair was ragged.
The well-worn appearance told her how precious it was to its owner, and now it was tragically spattered with blood.
The metallic scent of it rose around Devon, warm and thick in the air.
Her stomach rolled as she exited the bird and stepped out into the bright late afternoon sunlight.
Minutes counted for the wounded children.
Had she done everything she could to get to them as quickly as possible?
Had she taken the fastest, most direct route?
You know you did.
She took a few deep, bracing breaths of clean air before trusting her feet to carry her into the Tactical Operations Center to fill out the required paperwork.
After that she stopped by the hospital to return the doll to its owner in the hopes it would help pull the little girl through her surgery and recovery.
On her way over to the Exchange to meet Will, she thought of Cam.
Had he responded to calls involving children before?
Probably.
He must have dealt with kids at some point when he’d volunteered at the hospital.
She bet he’d be great with them.
Calm and kind and reassuring.
His warmth would register even with the most frightened child.
What she wouldn’t have given to feel some of it right now.
You could have felt it last night if you hadn’t been so damned scared.
You’re the one that shut him down.
She sighed, but it didn’t ease the pressure in her chest.
She’d barely slept at all last night, and had purposely not worn earplugs so she could hear the outbound and incoming aircraft.
Each time she’d heard a Chinook taking off she’d wondered it was him going out.
She didn’t think she could handle it if anything happened to Cam.
Damn, why
was
she fighting her attraction to him so hard?
She hated to think it was because she was afraid of what people would say if they got together.
And it was stupid to stay away because she was scared he might die out there.
She had no control over any of that.
Why couldn’t she live for the moment, wring every ounce of happiness she could out of life?
God, the way he held her…like he was fighting every instinct he had not to lay her out on the nearest bed and get inside her as fast as he could.
Cut it out.
Forcing Cam from her mind, she entered the Exchange.
She found Will in a lounge area watching a sports show on a plasma flat screen TV mounted on the wall.
“Hey,” he said.
“Got you a cup, but it’s cold now.
Better go get a fresh one.”
“Yeah, sorry.
Paperwork took longer than usual.” Thanks in part to her unsteady hands.
“You checked on the kids, huh.”
She gave him a sardonic smile.
“Yup.
Didn’t find out anything, though.”
He patted the seat next to him.
“Come on.
Watch the highlights with me.”
She did, letting her brain idle.
Liam joined them, sighing as he sank into the cushions of the easy chair beside her.
“Long night?” she asked.
“Hell yeah.
I’m beat.
You?”
“Just got in, but I’m not that tired.”
“Yet,” he mumbled.
“You guys see any trouble out there?”
She exchanged a frown with Will, then looked back at Liam.
“No, why?”
His green eyes grew serious.
“Group of SEALs I just talked to heard Nasrallah and his al Qaeda buddies might target the base again.”
Devon frowned at the mention of the local warlord’s name.
One of the most dangerous men in all of Afghanistan.
“I didn’t see anything out there.” She glanced at Will for confirmation, but he shook his head.
Obviously what the SEALs had heard wasn’t classified, or they wouldn’t have said anything to Liam.
“Where’d they hear that?” she pressed.
No one had mentioned any specific threats against them during the pre-mission briefing.
“Didn’t say,” Liam answered.
“Just keep your eyes open for enemy movement when you’re out there.
His men love to take pot-shots at our aircraft with RPGs.
But don’t worry—there hasn’t been a rocket attack here on the base in weeks.”
Gee, she felt so much better now.
Liam stayed and ate dinner with them in the chow hall, but she didn’t spot any of her roommates in the crowd.
Or Cam, for that matter.
She didn’t want to ask if anyone had seen him because that would make her look pathetic and create suspicion that there was something going on between them.
But damn, with every passing minute she regretted turning him away.
Cam glanced up from the dinner he was eating for breakfast when Ryan slid into the seat across from him at the mess hall table.
“You just getting up now?
Lazy bugger.”
Ryan scowled and pursed his lips.
“Up yours.” He sat and pulled his metal tray closer to him.
“How come roast beef doesn’t taste as good when it’s your breakfast?” he asked before popping his fork into his mouth.
“Grub’s not as bad as I remember,” he said between bites.
“It’s hot, and it beats the hell out of MREs.”
“That it does.” He stabbed another piece of roast beef and shoveled it into his mouth, frowning as he chewed.
“Hear you guys haven’t had much action lately.”
Cam shrugged and reached for his bottled water.
“I keep busy enough.” He loved what he did, but this time he was glad he hadn’t been embedded with a SEAL or A-Team yet, because that would mean living in the field for days on end until they completed their mission.
He didn’t want to be away from Devon that long.
“I’ve been volunteering at the hospital when I’ve got time.”
“In other words, you’re restless as shit.”
He grinned.
“Pretty much.” They were all varying degrees of adrenaline junkies.
He liked to be active, and hanging around waiting to be called out usually drove him nuts.
Being mostly segregated from the rest of the base was harder this time, too, because it meant he had few opportunities to see Devon.
“Who knows—maybe I’ll be going out with you one of these days.”
“Love to have you, man.” Ryan chugged some of his water.
“I hear Dev flew her first mission this afternoon.”
He set his fork down.
“She did?
How’d it go?”
“Fine.
Evacuated some kids that got too close to a land mine.”
His hand tightened around the plastic bottle until it dented with a crinkling sound.
“Have you seen her?”
“No.
Just woke up.
Heard it from another pilot on the way over.”
Cam took his last bite of mashed potato, wondering how Devon had reacted.
She’d been worried about her first mission back, but to transport critically injured kids would have been even harder for her.
“So,” Ryan said, watching him with interest.
“You two official yet?”
“No.” He didn’t mind Ryan asking.
“Don’t know when it’s going to happen.” Or if.
The rules and regulations made it damn near impossible to make it happen on base.
Hard to hide a relationship in a place like Bagram.
“Why not?”
“She’s not ready.” Not her conscience, anyway.
“Bullshit.”
Cam cracked a grin.
“All right, I haven’t figured out how to get around the fraternization with an enlisted rule yet.”
“What’s to figure out?”
Cam swallowed a chuckle.
For a moment he’d forgotten he was talking to the king of rule breaking.
“You know you’re going to land up at a court-martial someday, right?”
Ryan’s lips turned up in a cocky smile.
“Probably.
But think of all the fun I’ll have before then.
Some rules were made to be broken, buddy.
Maybe you should learn to bend them more often.”
Yeah, right.
If he gave Devon the full court press right now, she’d never face him again.
Not an option.
With her he had to be more subtle, and find a way around the rules.
Build the trust and anticipation until she couldn’t handle staying away from him.
To do that, he had to prove she could trust him, and that he wouldn’t bully her into making a decision she wasn’t willing to face.
Ryan wasn’t through giving advice, though.
“Seriously, man.
You have to step up and take charge.
I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”
That was exactly the problem.
On top of guilt over Ty, her deep-seated fear of everyone finding out about them and what it would do to her career was a major stumbling block.
Cam sighed and shook his head.
“I have no idea what’s really going on in her head.”
Ryan snorted and set down his water.
“No shit, buddy, she’s a woman.
Better not even go there.
We’re not meant to understand how they think.”
“I can totally see why women are crawling all over you,” Cam said dryly.
His friend shrugged his broad shoulders.
“It’s the truth, man.
And the ladies love me because I’m straight up with them.
What you see is what you get.” He turned his head as Jackson sat down next to him.
“What about you, Thatcher?
You figured out how a woman’s mind works?”
“Sure I have.”
Ryan’s nonplussed expression was almost comical.
“No shit?”
Jackson frowned.
“What’s to figure out?
All you have to do is listen to them, read their body language.
Every woman’s different, but it’s just a matter of hearing what she’s telling you.”
Ryan’s brows hiked upward and Cam smirked in amusement.
Jackson didn’t say much, but when he did it was always worth paying attention to.
“What makes you such an expert?” Ryan demanded.
“I was raised by three older sisters and a single mother.
What can I say?
I just get women.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal.
“That would make you the first man that’s ever happened to,” Ryan muttered, taking another swig of water.
“And you’re full of shit,” he added, thrusting a finger at him.
“I’ve seen that security forces hottie you’ve been watching.
She throws poison darts at you with her eyes, man.
I think you’re grossly overestimating your secret powers.”