The sun beat down, glaring off the plastic sheet that protected the paper map. “You’re going to need it, because I intend to blow past the two-drink limit tonight.” He pulled out a map and spread it on a rock between him and Cal. “This is not how I pictured spending my day off,” he added. Adler as a favor to the XO had turned into a full-blown combat mission. Separating was far from ideal, but since when was combat ever ideal? And sure as shit checking out the tip about Dr. Adler, but you’re buying tonight at Barely North.” Pax was no slouch at sniping down snipers, but Cal was an ace. I can hide and wait.”Īs much as Pax liked that plan, there was no way in hell they’d follow it. Adler snorted, then glanced up and down the narrow, dry-as-bone riverbed. “I’m a better shot at distance, and this is likely to be a long one.” Cal’s gaze slid to the archaeologist. Pax snickered and was tempted to demand a hundred, but he’d rather go after the sniper. “I’ll forget the fifty you owe me if you take babysitting duty,” he said. This wasn’t the sort of op in which a civilian could tag along.Ĭal could read his thoughts. We can sneak up on the prick and take him out.” His gaze turned to Dr. “The sniper could be above the wadi a half klick northeast. “If the sniper is west of Charlie, between the wadi and the base, we’re behind the asshole.” Radio chatter increased as the marines on Charlie estimated the sniper’s position. But his gut said she was just a shortsighted fool. It was true that China was working awfully hard to gain a toehold in East Africa, but a direct attack on a US military base seemed far-fetched, even for them. “I’ll rephrase: who has the means to organize an assault like this? Both the timing and the money?” He grimaced at the truth in Cal’s statement. “We can narrow it down to pretty much everyone in East Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula.” “Who else is gunning for Camp Citron?”Ĭal snorted. What the hell did that mean? “What if Desta isn’t the one behind this three-pronged assault?” he said. “Desta’s never had the organization or firepower to launch an attack like this before,” Cal said. They were dealing with a coordinated assault orchestrated by Desta. The second convoy, the one that had taken the Charlie route, was pinned by sniper fire. Once they found a safe position, Cal radioed their commander. Adler, they’d go directly to the base, but the woman was more than a hindrance, she was an unknown.Ī spy with the perfect cover, or an innocent targeted for death by Etefu Desta? They’d find a protected, viperless position to hole up in and await orders. For Pax, protecting her is no longer a matter of following orders, and he’ll risk everything to bring her back alive.Ĭal took the lead with Pax walking backward, covering their six with his M4 at the ready. When Morgan uncovers a mystery surrounding Djibouti’s most scarce and vital resource, the danger to her reaches the flashpoint. For the Green Beret, involvement with the woman he must protect is a threat to his career, while for the archaeologist, the soldier is everything she never wanted but somehow can’t resist. Morgan and Pax are forced to work together in the Djiboutian desert heat, but it is the fire that ignites between them that threatens to combust them both. After a harrowing afternoon he safely delivers her to his commanders, only to find his responsibilities toward protecting the obstinate archaeologist have only just begun. Master Sergeant Pax Blanchard has orders to intercept Dr. Adler before she reaches the base, and in so doing saves her life. The discovery brings her to the attention of a warlord eager to claim both Morgan and the fossils, forcing her to make a desperate dash to the nearby US military base to beg for protection. In the volatile tinderbox of the Horn of Africa, Morgan Adler has made the paleoanthropological find of a lifetime.
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