Ice (Elite Forces #1)(19)

We move fast through the cloud of smoke, heading toward the light shining from a room on the left. Screaming women, who I don’t trust one damn bit, submerge from their huddles. Harris stands over them with two pistols in his hands, while Roberts and I battle it out with three guards who barrel at us with a knife in one hand and guns in the other. Fucking war. I take one out while he takes out another. The last one is quick, his shot barely missing Roberts.

“Time to die, motherf*cker.” I snap his hand behind his back until I hear it crack, allowing the gun to fall to the floor.

“Ask him where he is, Harris.” I spin the f*cker around, and Harris mumbles some bullshit jargon. The soldier dressed all in black spits in his direction. I shove him forward and put a bullet straight through the back of his head.

“Roberts. Where the f*ck—” I turn around to face our enemy, my words cut off mid-sentence. The one whose life I’m about to take is standing before me. Roberts has the f*cker’s hands behind his back, his once white cloak now stained and dirty just like his heart.

“You Americans cannot come in here and do this. This is wrong.” He speaks in English. Of course he knows English. To hear my native tongue flowing out of his mouth has my hands itching to cut his tongue out.

“Wrong?” I question, my brows lifting. “This is right, bitch. Back away from him, Roberts.” The instant Roberts moves out of the way, I send the last four rounds from my mag straight the f*ck into his black soul.

“Snake down.” Our code that he’s dead echoes through our ears. This means the chopper is on its way back. It’ll be here in three minutes tops. The women are folding their hands together, rocking back and forth in the corner, screaming. They're obviously praying for the death of this so-called leader. I release the clip on my camera and shove my evidence deep inside my pocket.

We leave the exact same way we came in, but now the silence greets us in the half-lit street. We run along the sides of the buildings, never cowering, yet always keeping cover.

I list off every member of my team into my headpiece. They all answer back with their chosen code word assigned to them during training. When I hear her sweet voice answer with the word ‘hunger’, my lips tilt upwards. Our mission is over, and she has no idea just how hungry I am for her.





CHAPTER SIX


JADE


It’s a difficult task to try to get into the mind of a sniper, and it’s by far more strenuous to live as one. I’ve trained for this, studied usage in weapons, how to handle stressful situations and the ability to accept any challenge set in front of me, and I'm proud to say I've always succeeded in my missions.

Your mind has to be in the right place. Our emotions are demanding. Summing it up, you have to literally require your mind to not only do the work it needs to do on the inside to keep you alive, you also have to let it take over every aspect and every grueling detail on the outside.

It’s JJ and I up here. Each of us trained to do this with the privilege to see through our night vision gear as if it’s daylight. Our eyes have to be everywhere. My sights are zeroed in, and I’m ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

That’s why I stayed as far away from Kaleb as I could today. He’s a distraction out here I can’t afford. Not only for myself, but for every single one of my teammates, including him. One slipup, one miss, and we could jeopardize this entire mission. Or worse yet, lose a member of the team. As hard as it is to snub out another life and watch them die unexpectedly from your hand, there is no way in hell I will lose my focus and take a chance on losing one of the guys. To have to live the rest of my life knowing it was my fault would be worse than death to me.

I felt Kaleb’s eyes on me all day. The urge to run to him ran through my veins as fast as the blood coursing through them. I may be an American soldier, but I’m a woman. I have a need to be held every once in a while, and I'd love to have someone tell me they care.

I know he’s not that man. God, how I wish he were. He’s crawled under my skin during the past few days. Every waking moment, all I can think about is him. I’m a fool for believing him when he told me we would continue this once we arrive back home. I'm sure he’s a liar, a manipulator, and I let him take me without knowing a damn thing about him. It's easy to say one thing in the sweltering heat of the desert, then change it completely once you hit safe land. The desert makes you f*cking crazy.

Now, as I lie on top of this roof with my rifle in position and my finger on the trigger, ready to fire the instant I need to, I’ve made one decision. I hope I never see him again after this is over. My heart clenches at the thought of not having his hands on me again. He’s possessed me in a way I can’t describe. Deep down I know he only used me every time he f*cked me. I have to be done. I have to go back to the States with a clear head and try to return to some sense of normalcy. After tonight, he no longer has control of anything I do or say. During training, there was a hole drilled so deep into our heads that once a mission is over it is never spoken of again. Everything that happens is left here. And that has to include him.

I’m thankfully pulled away from the last thoughts I will allow myself to have of Kaleb the second several men barge out of a building, screaming. JJ and I are undetected up here, and that gives us a great advantage. The moment those f*ckers start shooting their guns in the air, we take them out. One right after the other, they drop to the ground. My intellect is not giving a shit that I’ve just snuffed out several human beings’ lives. These f*ckers deserve to die. Every damn one of them.