Chapter 9

9

Every text, every call was special for Striker. He wanted to be with Shannon, but she had responsibilities in Charleston, and he had work here. There were some days he putzed around with nothing to do, and those were the days that seemed pointless. When he had a task to keep him busy, life wasn’t too bad. He marked off the weeks on a paper calendar he kept in his storage locker. Every day that ticked by was one day closer to holding her in his arms again.

When she was close to graduation, he learned his unit would be traveling to the hot zone to rescue a group of captive American diplomats. They weren’t in immediate danger since the state department was negotiating for their release, but it was looking like negations could fall apart. He didn’t want to leave, but he didn’t have a choice.

He called Shannon, praying she picked up. Disappointment hit when her phone rolled to voicemail. He pocketed his phone and was about ready to head out to grab a drink with his buddies when his pocket vibrated. Then the upbeat jingle of Shannon’s ringtone sounded. He pulled his phone out and answered, pleasure filling him.

“Hey, Shannon, you called back.”

“I’m sorry I missed your first call. I was in the middle of washing dishes.”

“I miss you.” He hadn’t wanted to lead with that. He’d wanted to tell her how great his week had been, which might have been a little white lie, but he didn’t want to sound completely pathetic.

She sighed, and the click of a door or something like that sounded over the phone. “I miss you too. I can’t wait until I’m done.”

The door to his room flew open and Lance, his suitemate, stuck his head in. “Hurry up, Striker. We’re ready.”

“Oh, are you headed out?” Shannon asked.

Lance lifted his eyebrows and motioned with his hand for Striker to hurry. Striker waved him off .

“Sorry, just my suitemate wanting to go.”

Shannon groaned, and for a second, he believed she was complaining about his need to go.

“Sorry, my dad is calling for me. It looks like we both have people who want us to hang up. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Yeah, I miss you,” Striker said.

“And I miss you too.”

He hung up and stared down at his phone for a moment before glancing up and meeting Lance’s gaze. His buddy winked and then nodded to the hall.

“Come on. I know you miss her. She’ll be done with school soon, and you’ll have her here. I’ll miss having you as a roommate.”

“Nah, you won’t. You’ll celebrate with naked time in the main room.”

“Probably. I like naked time.”

Striker rolled his eyes and shook his head as he followed Lance out. His guys were meeting for one drink, and Lance had been invited though he wasn’t going on the mission. Drinks at the bar with his buddies was a sort of celebration before a huge mission. Maybe the State Department would pull a rabbit out of the hat and get the diplomats out safely, but he doubted it.

Traveling overseas to step in and work with another unit was always interesting. Their mission was to rescue fifteen diplomats being held in a resort in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was a stupid move on the embassy’s part to have the diplomats travel away from the embassy, but stupid people did stupid stuff. That’s why there were Rangers to step in when the world went crazy.

The flight over the Atlantic was long, and he had time to think about Shannon. He missed her. Just a few more weeks and they could be together. He hoped nothing went wrong. This mission had him nervous though. The situation was messed up. Thoughts of other embassy rescues filtered through his mind. He shouldn’t think about mistakes other teams made, but he couldn’t shake the weird feeling.

He’d just met Shannon and didn’t want this mission to go to hell. He had to keep it together out here or risk everything. This mission meant more than just rescuing people. He had to survive because more than his bed and truck waited for him at home. His future was with Shannon and he didn’t want to miss it for anything.