Tactical Strike Read Online Free PDF Page A

it’s your job to
defend me and be sympathetic to my plight.”
    Maya thumped her on the back. “You know I’ve got your six,
girl. I’ll defend you when you need it, but I’m not Devon. I happen to think it
would be good for you to face why he gets under your skin so easily, and then
find a way to, uh, work it out of your system.”
    Candace was so shocked she stopped walking and gawked at her.
This was Maya’s idea of backing her up? “I know you didn’t just imply I should
sleep with him.” She couldn’t disguise the horror in her tone.
    A soft laugh answered her. “Ace, I love you, even though you’re
way too uptight about regulations sometimes.”
    “Ha! You’re a Security Forces officer. You live and breathe
regulations.”
    Maya cut her a bland look. “And I would never tell you to sleep
with someone, let alone him . You’re a big girl. You
can make those kinds of decisions for yourself.”
    “Yeah, because theoretically, if I were interested, a court martial and a dishonorable discharge sounds
like a whole lot of fun to me.” She couldn’t think of anything worse for her
family, short of her dying. Actually, death might be preferable. “My family
would disown me.”
    “Oh, they would not. And you’d never let a scandal happen in
the first place because you’re smart enough to be discreet and not get caught.
Besides, when I said working out of your system I meant exercise, not sex. I was
going to offer my services as a running and workout partner. Jeez, talk about
having your mind in the gutter.”
    “Yeah, that’s me,” she said with a laugh.
    Maya hooked an arm over Candace’s shoulders, the gesture a bit
awkward because she was five inches shorter. “Come on. Let’s go back to our hut,
where you’ll be safe from all the wolves prowling around here.” She shrugged.
“He’ll be going out soon enough anyway, and then you won’t have to worry about
him embarrassing you anymore.”
    “Yeah.” Who knew when she’d see him again? Or if she ever
would?
    Rather than soothe her, the thought sent a thread of unease
through her. She’d seen him on the ground in combat once, from the cockpit. She
knew exactly what sort of dangers he faced when he went outside the wire. Just
because her crew had saved his ass the last time didn’t mean someone would be
there to save the day the next time he needed it. Inappropriate flirt or not,
she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
    Huddling deeper into her coat, Candace let her gaze stray out
to the snow-capped peaks of the Hindu Kush far in the distance and suppressed a
shiver, thinking of what had happened to Dev. The wolves on base didn’t worry
her half as much as the human predators waiting out there in the mountains.

Chapter Two
    Khalid finished his morning prayers quickly and sat
back on his heels to look around the freezing hovel, where he and the others had
stayed the night. It was difficult to concentrate on what needed to be done with
the incessant pain of the half-healed bullet wounds in his right arm and the
inner demons clawing at him. The anger and frustration he’d struggled with for
so long grew more each day. A deep, insidious hatred that ate at his soul.
    The sound of shuffling feet brought his head around. One of the
other survivors from the last campaign limped over, his head and shoulder
bandaged. His sunken posture made him look like a whipped dog. All the men felt
demoralized. Even him, as much as he hated to admit it. The humiliation at how
easily they’d been defeated—at the way they’d been wasted—still crawled through
his veins.
    The responsibility lay with Nasrallah. The arrogant ass had put
them up against impossible odds and left them exposed to be slaughtered like a
flock of sheep. Khalid was lucky to be alive. The American gunners firing from
the helicopters had hit him twice, and only by Allah’s grace had he managed to
find a hiding spot and wait out the rest of the battle. Most of the others
hadn’t