“Plane’s going, Gabe!”
Nic stopped pacing.
Lily froze.
“Jump free. I gotcha.”
A huge grunt preceded a yelp. “Ow, crap,” followed by the sound of scraping metal.
“Lookout below!” Cruz yelled. Then silence. Silence that stretched out unbearably.
Finally, Cruz’s voice again. “Plane’s gone, Gabe’s okay...”
“I think I broke my freakin’ knee.”
“Correction, Gabe’s a wuss.”
A click on the radio. Julie looked to Nic.
“He turned off his mic.”
No one was privy to Gabe’s answer to Cruz.
“Team Two, status?”
“We’re okay, Base. Plane missed us. It is now resting in the trees, making for interesting evac of the pilot. I assume he’s still in there.”
Lily took a deep breath, let it out slowly.
“Team Two okay. Team One, status?”
“We’ll be heading back the way we came. Lily, touch base with the FCC and update them. Break. Team Two, let’s wait on that evac until the suits give us the okay. You guys head back, too. Nothing is going anywhere tonight.”
“Okay, will do. Base, you copy, we’ll be headed back to the vehicles?”
“Base copies.”
“Team One, Leroy Zero Eight. If you guys can get to a decent LZ in the next fifteen, we’ll come by and pluck you out of there.”
“We’d appreciate that greatly, Mac.”
The rest of the mission was uneventful. The helo returned to pick up Cruz and Gabe, along with the body bag off the ledge. Then they stopped long enough to lift Team One off the mountain.
“Thank you, Colonel,” Lily said when the helo reported the pick-up.
Nic pulled out his cell phone and called Will. He and Julie would pick him up at the hospital. Then they’d meet the rest of the team at the bar.
Nic, Julie, and Will were the first to arrive at the Oasis. They captured a huge table, pulled another one up and sat at one end, dwarfed by the empty space.
“Drinks?” Will asked.
“Just get a pitcher. What do you want, babe?”
Nic felt a nudge inside his chest as he asked. Julie had been so quiet today but even so, it was nice to have her here. If the mission today had gone to hell, he could rely on her to catch him if he fell.
“Um, beer is fine.”
She was definitely distracted. Nic tugged her to him, her hair smooth against his face. “You okay?”
“Sure,” she said, but she pulled back a bit.
Within a few minutes, Cruz and Gabe joined them. Gabe limped as he approached.
“How’s the knee?”
“I’ll live,” he replied, with no hint of a smile.
“Got a bit sporty up there?”
“For a minute, it did.” Now Gabe grinned and laughed the whole thing off. “Just a good damn thing the pilot was already dead.”
Nic waved over the SAR group when they came through the door. Daniel, a guy named Sam and two Nic didn’t know. Lily had even joined them. Cool.
“Everyone, this is Julie Galloway…” He paused, not quite knowing how to explain her. “…dance with me?” he finished.
She said yes way too fast and nearly jumped out of her seat.
When he pulled her into his arms, Julie softened to the slow and languorous music. Their bodies molded to each other. God, she smelled good. And felt good. And looked good. When had he lost his soul to this girl? Who knew? But right here, right now, nothing could compare to the way he felt with her so close.
The song ended, and a faster one began. Julie turned away and headed for the table. On their way, they crossed paths with Lily and one of the unknown SAR guys heading to the dance floor. She slowed as she met Julie and gave her a brief hug, telling her she was glad to see her again. As they got to the table, Julie’s brown eyes glittered with tears.
“Do you want to leave?” Nic squeezed Julie’s shoulder and leaned down, waiting for an answer.
All he got was a quick shake of her head no.
“Let me know if you change your mind.”
Just a nod, so he slid into the seat beside her.
The guys were replaying the day’s events. Even more SAR guys had joined the table while they’d been dancing. Nic pointed out those he knew and briefed Julie on which team they’d been on earlier.
“Thanks for lowering that plane to us, Air Force,” one of the guys from Team Two said, lifting his glass to Gabe.
“You’re quite welcome, though it almost cost me my life to do it.”
Cruz snorted.
Another guy spoke up. “Of course, we’ll have to climb a freakin’ tree to get the poor bastard out of there.”
Nic felt Julie stiffen ever so slightly. Apparently, Daniel noticed from across the table because he sat forward and shot the offender a killer look. To no avail.
“I scoped him from below,” the idiot continued. “He had one hell of a skull fracture.”
“Drop it,” Daniel said. “Not everyone is as twisted as you are, Bob.”
“Oh, come on, Professor, lighten up. You know you love an impressive injury as well as the next guy.” At the look Daniel gave him, he blanched and looked around. “Oh, sorry,” he said to Julie, who even now was pushing away from the table, her face devoid of color.
“Excuse me,” she said fleeing toward the door.
“Good job, Bob.” Nic followed.
When he got to her in the parking lot, Julie leaned hard against the car, taking in huge gulps of cold air. He apologized even as he reached her.
“We’re a warped group. I’m so sorry, sweetie.”
The look she gave him scared the hell out of him. It was the look of panic she’d had in the beginning. “Let me guess,” her voice pitched hysterically, “if they’d been at the house that night, they’d have compared which of my family members had more impressive headshots?”
He locked her in an embrace, partly out of self-defense, partly because she sounded like she was breaking apart. He crushed her to him as if doing so would prevent her from disintegrating.
“Oh, baby. Shh, baby.”
She shoved hard against his chest, freeing herself.
“Don’t shush me, Nic. Don’t baby me, either. My entire family is dead, waiting at the morgue, not even buried yet.” Every word came out more frenzied than the last. “No funerals have been planned, no God-damned graves dug.”
Tears now escaped and coursed down her face. “And what have I been doing? I’ve been playing house with you.”
She stopped speaking abruptly, seemingly frozen in place. When Nic reached for her, she allowed herself to be held, though she was stiff.
“I... have... to go... home.” The words came out on choked sobs. And then the floodgates opened.
Nic held her as she shook, her own anguish a stab in his heart. When he finally got her home, she said nothing, went to Joey’s room and closed the door for the night.
Chapter Twenty Three