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"Whatever" Bo’s fingers continued to stretch, crook, stretch, crook until the strain lines erased from around the corners of his mouth The old Bo slid back into place as srown--"
"Watch it, sir," JT growled "That’sabout"
Bo sed his laugh "Daeants kno to uess we’re even for the old comment"
"Guess so"
Tension eased fro, pay hter"
"You can relax Just yanking your chain Jesus, h not to push ’eh I want to keep ot the daive e baths…" His baby blues twinkled with devilish intent "Well, eventually I gotta act, and two casts can get in the way"
"Just so you’re not acting with hter She’s still a kid in a lot of ways I want her to have the chance to stay that way a while longer"
"Life has a way of throwing curves fast enough"
JT sure as hell agreed, but hadn’t expected a heavy comment from the carefree lieutenant Bo Rokowsky had a rep around the squadron Never serious Edgy Great set of flying hands, but reckless
As rieved to see that free spirit sto man Only four or five years older than Nikki in years, but so damn much more in experience now All the more reason for the copilot to keep his distance "It’s nothing personal I just don’t want any crewdogs sniffing after irl? God willing, healthy
"Message received about Nikki I really was just razzing you Lighten up I’ht attendant"
"This week"
Bo thumped his chest with a fist "But with htness reestablished Coet your sorry ass out of ripped the steering wheel, fingers poking froood hand
He was sleamed white in the afternoon sun A rehter h theho aside the seat-belt harnesses strapping hih the windscreen, desert, scrubs, jagged peaks, dunes sprawled ahead, offeringin potentially hostile territory
But no sign of rebels or troops yet, either
Tearing off his headset, he looked to the copilot, Bo, for the prepared evasion plan Different stages of the encies to escape until pickup by rescue forces Forces hopefully already en route
Bo cinched his survival vest tighter "We’ll run to the right, north, toward the outcropping Haul ass until we drop Put distance between us and the plane"
Then they would set up a rescue signal And pray "Roger" The affirmation echoed in triplicate from the other crew members
Scorch, the aircraft commander, cleared his seat and headed out first, followed by Spike--the faux-loadent and personal time bomb
JT tucked into the narrow stairwell behind Spike, down into the belly of the craft, popped the side hatch Critical seconds ticked away His heartbeat ticked faster, louder His boots pounded down the n of anybody
One after the other, four pairs of boots landed on hard-packed desert, already sprinting, eachonly what he carried in the survival vest A knife A pistol Piss-poor protection against the eleh hi steps Only an idiot wouldn’t be scared And only a bigger idiot would let it immobilize him
Sun baked his back, his head, his brain Rays reflected off sand, even February hot as hell during the day here If they could only buy enough ti in training, he reviewed the facts on his ISOPREP card--isolated personnel report on file The ISOPREP gave answers to questions a rescue creould ask over the radio to positively ID the led into a trap
Questions
The street from his childhood home
His mother’s maiden name
Rena’s first car A sleek silver blue BMW, where they’d made out Made a baby
Damn it He spit curses out with sand He couldn’t think about her About being with her
Run Harder Focus on the three most important elements of survival
Maintain life
Maintain honor
Return
His feet drummed a steady beat across the desert floor in tirit-filled curses Each man’s favorite cussword chanted, powered feet faster His own favorite of the moment spilled free--just like when baby Chris had parroted it back at hih chair, Rena behind their son, her hand clahter
Her face, her smile, even her voice so incredible, exotic, different frorown up in
Eyes sparkling, she’d brought ht of hers to their tiny apartment filled with babies and plants She’d subdued her smile then into a parental reprih chair to tell their son, "Truck Your daddy said tr-uck"