Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“How are you feeling?”
Another breath gusted out of him, his dark skin beading with sweat. “Honestly? I wanna be done.”
I felt my forehead crease. “Done, how? You’re one of our most promising recruits.”
He’d flown under our radar the first couple of months, with average scores and blending in a little too well. Which, ironically, had caught our attention eventually. He did what he was supposed to, nothing more, nothing less, and that was exactly what we wanted.
“I appreciate you sayin’ that, but I’m so tired, man. I feel burned out,” he admitted. “I don’t understand how we’re supposed to finish in time. These past two days exhausted me.”
I understood him. “It’s exhausting work.” There was no getting around that. “But to be fair, we never really finish. Operators complete these drills every year.”
He frowned. “Really?”
“Of course. We gotta stay on top of things. Senior operators, for instance, go through our own version of Hell Week every year.” Mine was coming up in May. “When I was gone for three days in January, it was because I had seminars on drone warfare to go to.”
He nodded slowly and dropped his gaze to his lap. “What if my heart’s not in it anymore?”
I suppressed a sigh. “That’s a problem,” I conceded. “Is that how you feel?”
“If things are only getting rougher from here, then yeah.” He swallowed hard. “It fuckin’ kills me to admit it, but I think I was better off in the Air Force. My job wasn’t the most exciting, but I had stability and routines.”
Then there wasn’t much left for me to say. As much as it sucked to lose him, I couldn’t lie to him and say a life with us would give him stability.
“I want you to take twenty-four hours away from here and think shit over,” I requested. “Are you extra close to anyone here? Maybe talk to them too.”
“Shawn,” he muttered. “We talked some nights when we couldn’t sleep. We were gonna take down warlords in Africa.”
I smiled sympathetically. “You haven’t left us yet. I mean it—think things over.”
“Yessir.”
May 14th, 2025
“Do you need help, buddy? Want me to get you crutches at Nurse Tina’s office?”
“Fuck off,” I grumbled and limped inside the familiar lobby.
Finally back at Hillcroft.
Hell Week had been… Fuck it, it’d been okay. Hellish, for sure, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Well, until tragedy had struck.
I winced and shifted my duffel bag from right shoulder to left, and I aimed for the elevators.
Hyatt laughed all the way to the cafeteria. His clothes were as muddy as mine, but he was evidently in the mood to piss off the staff with his appearance. I wanted a shower before I ate. Not to mention a fuck-ton of sympathy from Leighton.
He’d spent the week here instead of in our apartment, and he’d texted me what unit he was in. Evidently, he’d gotten too bored after hours when Alex wasn’t around, and I could admit that was reassuring. I bet he’d come with me when I picked her up at Ma’s tomorrow.
I made my way to our room, only to be met by a fucking note. No hug or kiss? Bullshit.
I dropped my duffel on the floor and read what he’d written in his chicken scratch.
Welcome home, beast. You’ve been missed.
Take a shower and dress comfortably.
Barbecue on the roof.
When you see me, kiss me hard.
—L
I guessed I could do that.
Fuck me, my foot really hurt.
I dragged my ass through the top floor, past all the empty offices that belonged to staff that worked nine-to-five, and ran a hand through my hair. Maybe I should’ve dried it a bit more.
He’d said dress comfortably, so he better not give me shit for showing up in sweats and a hoodie. I was fucking drained—and famished.
When I got closer to the terrace, I could hear voices. Leighton wasn’t alone, though I’d expected that. I just hoped it wasn’t a grand shindig. Neither of us liked those. He’d specifically told me not to go big for his birthday a couple months ago, and it’d made me fall even deeper in love with the little shit. Instead, we’d had a nice steakhouse dinner, and I’d given him more gift cards, this time so he could buy everything he’d need for a two-week trek in the rainforest in Ecuador.
It was hard to think final selection was upon us. Just one month to go before we flew to South America for our last three weeks of recruit training. One week of testing and drills, two weeks of monitoring screens as the recruits took on a brutal orienteering trek by themselves.
I pushed open the door to the terrace, immediately doing a head count. Not too bad. Coach, Riggs, Leighton—and I saw Crew was still here with his hubby, Adrien. Both had assisted Coach in the last week of RTI training and the introduction of infiltration tactics, with the latter being Adrien’s specialty. I’d met him for the first time last fall, and he had an impressive résumé after years working undercover for the Feds. Jones had recruited him since then.