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"Us, too, probably Fuck God, this is crazy"

Thankfully it wasn’t Dana’s first firefight, so the rapid change of circumstances and incredible noise wasn’t new to her There was no co to raise that air support and relying on their knowledge of how to stay down until he decided how to forht now, this was likely the best they could do

Snatching up the weapon, Dana exagle up the side of the ditch Bullets cut through the ground at the edge But setting her teeth, she went to her knees, lifted her helmeted head and took aiet As she’d anticipated, it went higher than she’d intended, but not too high It hit the ridge a couple feet below the edge

Dirt and rock exploded, sending an avalanche of debris and flailing bodies down

"O’Neill," Leslie screaotten briefly pinned down at the vehicles, providing additional cover fire for the drivers When he ents who’d come out from the hidden curve ahead He dropped like a stone

The toe of the ditch shoulder to shoulder "Get hiroup of targets along with the others who caet him onto his feet, but O’Neill was six feet of muscle Another soldier went to help Dana backpedaled in front of the up dirt Thank God, the insurgents were probably jacked up on adrenaline shots or Khat, not shooting worth shit, but it was close enough Any second she expected one to punch through her Noise and AK-47 fire, hell on earth

She had been in active engage this intense She’d trained for it, though, and kept training for it, even ot field experience far ive a da US soldiers, and this situationhours of practice worth it, even if her heart was pounding up in her ears

Think about the targets, and a gorgeous captain ill be so pissed if you don’t come home and take that cross-country trip with hiether He’d probably chase you to the Pearly Gates with those alligators just to beat your ass

She stu, saw a Pepsi bottle roll aildly A second later, the world exploded in bright light and pain

Five

ONE YEAR LATER

Peter got out of the taxi and breathed deep of the bayou that backed up to his Baton Rouge hoularly while Peter was on tour so it didn’t get an e to it While that meant he’d probably burned some weird incense or had one of his tranquil and oh-so-centered bedmates chant over the front door, that was okay

Whatever he did, Peter had no doubt it would feel as co to feel better than it ever had Not only because it was hoo after Dana

Fourteenfor her as they had that night Worse, even It was the da, but why should he be surprised? Matt and Lucas had known the minute they met Savannah and Cass, respectively He’d seen it happen, but hadn’t realized it felt like this

He couldn’t believe he’d agreed to her ter himself with a one-way stream of letters until the end of their tour As he’d told her, sohts in that vacuuain, every detail of their short tiether Particularly how she’d seen him in the airport and run to hiht at The Zone, and not merely her flesh When she kissed hiot stateside, he’d called Jon, asking him to find out where she was and have Matt’s ade His tour was done He was going to have a shower and a nap, but twenty-four hours weren’t going to pass before he was on his way to her Thank God for the Taliban and dangerouscrazy this past year

S in his living rooether in Jon’s car out front

Peter stopped They would have ht for beers and celebrated his return, but they wouldn’t have come like this Not unless