Read Operation Zulu Redemption: Hazardous Duty - Part 3 for Free Online Page B

rising against the torment.
    Though she worked to calm her body, resist the bile, it surged. Annie threw herself to the side and retched.
    Swiping her mouth with the back of her bloodied hand, Annie whimpered.
God, I have nothing left. Please, I need. . .
“Trace,” she whispered.
    The thought of him—powerful, confident him—filled her mind. Nine years her senior, he’d had this magnetism that had drawn her right out of boot camp. She’d seen him at Bagram over the months he worked with Special Forces Command. She’d watched him as he hung out at the USO with his buddies. Laughing. But when he wasn’t, he was intense. Handsome.
    Reminded Annie of her older brother, who’d paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country the year before she joined.
    But that was then. This was now. Trace. . .he’d cut her heart out and served it up with a fresh batch of loyalty to their country.
    She dug her fingers into the ground, forcing herself to muster the strength and courage to work around the pain and fatigue, to get on her feet and get moving, to prove to Trace she didn’t need him. She would seriously be talking to him about hazardous duty pay.
    Using the tree, she dragged herself up onto her feet, unable to put pressure on her right ankle. Testing it only threatened her waves of sickening bile.
    The resonant sound of an inbound chopper stilled her. Drew her gaze to the sky. She couldn’t see past the canopy, and she could only pray they couldn’t see her. She’d need to hide. Find shelter for the rest of the night.

Téya
Athens, Greece
2 June – 0255 Hours EEST
    Téya slipped into the hotel room, glancing around. A single lamp on a sofa table cast warm light over the space. Houston’s computers hummed quietly, spotlighted by a swing-arm lamp. Odd that he wasn’t sleeping near his systems the way he normally did.
    And that Trace and Boone weren’t around.
    “It’s too quiet,” Noodle whispered, exhaustion dripping through her words.
    Téya lifted her weapon and motioned Noodle toward the room they’d shared with Annie while she went to the men’s suite. The door stood ajar and the room dark, empty. Then light skidded out between the bottom of the door and the carpet.
    The door opened.
    Téya snapped the weapon up.
    Houston stepped out, straightening his shirt. When he looked up, he let out a strangled cry that sounded like someone wringing a cat’s neck.
    “Houston,” Téya breathed, lowering the gun. “Where is everyone?”
    He shook a finger at the weapon. “Those things kill people, you know.” Houston moved past her back to the main room. “And the others are trying to find Annie.”
    “Annie?” Stuffing the gun in the holster at the small of her back, Téya followed him. “What happened?”
    He grabbed a bag of M&M’s Salty and Sweet from the desk and dropped into his chair. “They took her right out from under Trace’s nose.”
    Téya’s irritation at his tone grated on her. “You really need to grow some respect for our commander.”
    “Sorry.” He popped some pieces into his mouth and chewed. “He’s my boss, not my commander. And he was seriously ticked. Of course, things went downhill when they brought the Navy SEAL here.” Houston shook his head, his springy curls catching the light. “I tried to tell them that was a bad idea, but do you think they listen to me?”
    Nuala joined them. “What SEAL?”
    “The SEAL, the one Annie hooked up with. You know—Sam Cal-something.”
    Téya widened her eyes, glancing at Noodle. Things had really turned upside down since they’d entered the slums.
    “And the commander wasn’t happy that you weren’t back.”
    “We weren’t happy,” Noodle said as she took a seat beside Houston and reached for his bag of Salty & Sweet mix.
    Houston paused, mid-chew, to watch her, and Téya couldn’t help but notice a bit of awe in his expression.
    “How long has Annie been missing?”
    Houston grinned as he took back his bag, dumped out a handful,