Chapter 6

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R ed paused for a beat, her shaky hand reaching for the knob. Taking a deep breath, she yanked open the door, revealing that asshole standing on the other side. His mug was all twisted and grumpy, but he quickly tried to compose himself when he laid eyes on Red.

“Harper, I’m sorry,” the prick blurted out. “I didn’t mean for things to escalate like this. Can we please talk?”

Red took a step back, keeping her voice steady even though she was clearly holding it together by a thread.

“Dylan, I need a few minutes to change into my uniform. Meet me at our spot in ten minutes. We can talk then.”

She, freaking out completely, stumbled back as that fool moved in closer. He had the nerve to put his lips on her forehead, making her body tremble. A spark of recognition of her being scared by him might have crossed my mind for a split second, but it disappeared right away.

My priority was to get away from this camp, not to save Red. Her choices and decisions were her own, and, frankly, I didn’t give two shits about what happened to her.

You’ve made your bed, Red. Now fucking lie in it.

“Alright, baby,” he chuckled, like he actually thought everything was fine. “I’ll be waiting.”

“Thank you,” Red replied relieved. “And I’m sorry. I really am.”

“It’s okay, I get it,” the bastard said, his voice now entirely gentle. “But just don’t do this to me again, okay? I’m not always going to let you off the hook so easy.”

“I know,” Red exhaled deeply, forcing herself to play along.

“You better not keep me waiting too long,” he added in a commanding tone. “I don’t like it when you keep me waiting.”

She forced a smile, one of those fake ones that never reaches the eyes. “I’m aware. I’ll be right behind. See you soon.”

I watched as Red’s chest heaved with every breath, her breathing getting more and more frantic. I waited until his footsteps faded, and the prick was finally out of earshot. Then I stepped up behind Red, towering over her small, shaking frame.

“Move,” I ordered, my voice low and authoritative.

Her emerald eyes met mine, and I could see the fear reflected in them. She was scared shitless, and I didn’t blame her. But I didn’t care either.

“Relax,” I said in a quiet, serious whisper. “I won’t hurt you as long as you stick to the plan.”

She nodded, still scared, and started moving. I followed right behind, my eyes scanning every shadow, every corner. My steps were heavy, boots thudding against the floor, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that we weren’t alone. Someone was watching. Waiting.

We kept moving through the dimly lit corridors, and every step felt like it dragged us deeper into trouble. I stayed on high alert, keeping my distance but close enough to act if she tried anything. I wasn’t about to get caught because of some dumb mistake.

Then, out of nowhere, Red stopped dead in her tracks. My gut twisted—something was wrong. I glanced at her, expecting her to have seen something, to have spotted whatever had her freezing like that.

Then I heard it too—voices, getting louder. Shit.

I quickly looked around, searching for a place to hide, somewhere we could wait it out. But there was nothing. The hallway was too open, and we were sitting ducks. I needed a plan, fast.

Red turned to me, motioning for me to stay quiet, placing a finger against her lips. She leaned in closer, her voice barely above a whisper.

“That way,” she whispered hurriedly, pointing down a nearby corridor. “Down that hallway, to the end. The exit is on the right.”

I was dumbfounded by her sudden change of heart. I expected her to run for help, to save her own skin. But here she was, guiding me instead. Maybe she was just stupid. Or maybe she had some other motive. Either way, I didn’t have time to figure it out.

“Go!” she rushed me, her voice quieter now. “I will buy you some time.”

I gave her a quick nod, watching her turn and head toward the main corridor where the voices were getting louder. Just before she disappeared, she looked back at me, giving a final nod before slipping into the shadows.

I followed her directions, moving quickly but cautiously. As I stepped outside, the cold Afghan night hit me like a slap to the face, bringing with it the smell of dust and smoke. I scanned the area—just a shitty makeshift medical camp, barely lit by flickering lanterns and some weak moonlight.

There were two cars parked nearby, doors open and stuffed with medical gear. The moonlight bounced off the metal, casting a dim glow over everything.

Perfect. Time to get the hell out of here.

I crept my ass toward those cars, staying the fuck out of sight. Sure, the night gave me some cover, but I wasn’t about to get sloppy. I wasn’t a dumbass. Every sense was on edge, scanning for any sign of trouble.

My eyes narrowed when I spotted a black SUV—my ticket to get the hell out of this dump. I crept closer, my heart pounding when I saw the driver unloading some medical shit into a tent. The key dangled from the ignition, glimmering in the faint light, practically begging me to grab it.

This was my shot, and I wasn’t about to waste it. Every breath I took felt like knives digging into my ribs, and the dull, relentless throb in my abdomen reminded me I’d had a goddamn bullet pulled out of me not long ago. But pain didn’t mean shit when freedom was dangling right in front of me.

Moving fast but quiet, I opened the driver’s door and slid inside. I shut the door gently, barely making a sound, though my side ached like someone was drilling into my flesh. The engine roared to life as I twisted the key, and for a split second, I felt that surge of adrenaline. I was so damn close to freedom. But then—bam!—the passenger door flew open, jarring my ribs so bad I saw stars. It scared the living shit out of me, and the sharp twist to look nearly made me pass out.

I snapped my head to the side, my vision swimming for a second, and there was Red, glaring at me through the darkness.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I blurted, wincing as the words forced my ribs to expand.

She flinched at my sudden shout, but she didn’t seem afraid. Meanwhile, I was biting back a groan, trying not to let her see how fucked up I really was. “Drive!” she commanded in a hushed tone. “Now!”

My heart beat out of my chest as I tried to make sense of what the fuck was happening. Every pulse in my gut felt like someone was twisting the knife that wasn’t even there anymore.

I hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do next. Instinct kicked in quickly and I obliged, keeping my hands tightly gripped to the steering wheel and my eyes on the dark and empty road ahead. I pressed the gas pedal and drove away from the camp, following the dirt road deeper into the desert.

The car quickly gained speed, kicking up a cloud of dust as it rushed through the night. The jolts from the uneven terrain sent fresh spikes of pain through my side, but I didn’t let up. Freedom—or whatever the fuck this was—was worth every second of agony.

Red stared straight ahead, her face blank as a slate. She didn’t seem to give a flying fuck about explaining herself, which only pissed me off even more. My mind was racing with a million questions, and I needed some answers, fucking now.

“You have five seconds to explain yourself,” I snapped at her.

Red kept staring out the window, not even flinching at the harshness of my tone. She sat there silently, a stone-cold expression on her face. Was she even listening to me?

“Answer me!” I barked again, my anger growing with each passing second.

“I had to get away,” she responded, avoiding my gaze.

“From what?” I asked, already annoyed.

“My life,” she finally answered, still not looking at me.

“Your life?” I repeated mockingly.

I turned to look at her, but her gaze remained fixed on the dark landscape outside.

“What the hell kind of answer is that?” I snapped, my irritation growing.

“I was in trouble... with someone,” she said, more like a whisper. “I had to get away.”

I took my focus off the road for a moment and looked over at Red, trying to figure out what the hell she was saying. There was something different in her expression, something I hadn’t seen before. A drop of vulnerability, or maybe it was pain. In that moment, I sensed a kindred spirit in this chick, someone who understood the struggle against their own inner demons. I could relate to that shit.

Despite my attempts to keep up my usual indifference, I felt a brief pang of understanding as I caught a glimpse of myself in her. I recognized her fear and the way she was trying to escape from her problems. Perhaps we weren’t so different after all.

“Who hurt you?” I asked in a quiet and neutral murmur.

Red looked away, seemingly ashamed. “I can’t tell you,” she mumbled, “it’s complicated.”

I narrowed my eyes, annoyed at her refusal to speak. “You must like the pain if you’re unwilling to share the cause,” I challenged, keeping it casual but pushing.

She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, her voice hushed. “It’s not like that,” she protested, her words clipped. “But my pain is none of your concern.”

A dry chuckle escaped my lips. “Did you feel that way when you jumped into the car?” I raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “When you needed me to save your ass?”

Red shifted again in her seat, a bit of color rising up her cheeks. “Don’t try to take the moral high ground here,” she murmured, without breaking our eye contact. “Pointing a weapon at someone isn’t typically how one makes new friends.”

She crossed her arms, staring me down through the rearview mirror. “What gives you the right to tell me how to behave?”

I snorted, feeling the anger rise again. She was pushing every fucking button, and it took everything I had not to snap.

“You’re lucky I didn’t toss your ass out of the car back there. That would’ve been better, right?” Her expression twisted with annoyance as she took in my response.

“Lucky me,” she scorned. “How kind of you to give me such a gracious reprieve.”

I gritted my teeth, trying not to lose it. She wasn’t wrong, but damn if I was gonna admit it.

“Look, I’m sorry I held a penknife to your throat,” I hissed with anger. “Next time, I’ll bring a gun.”

Red’s lip curled into a snarl as my comments hit a nerve with her. “You should be happy I didn’t report you to my superiors for threatening my life. You wouldn’t be so smug if you had a court marshal hanging over your head!”

I turned to her, dead serious now. “Why didn’t you?”

She went quiet, shutting down like she was trying to block me out. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and saw her fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, her shoulders hunched like she was shrinking into herself. She wouldn’t look at me, and it was clear she didn’t want to talk anymore.

That’s when I saw it—the ugly bruise on her wrist. My brows furrowed as I stared at it, my mind spinning. Was it an accident? Or was someone hurting her?

I couldn’t shake the feeling something was seriously fucked up.

But then, it landed on me like a ton of bricks. The bruise, her dodging my questions, the way she scrambled to get out of that camp—it all made sense. Red hadn’t reported me because she needed me. She’d played me, used the threat I made to her as leverage to escape whatever messed-up shit was going on back there.

“You used me,” I stated coldly.

She knew it, and she didn’t bother apologizing. Not that I expected her to. I was the one who put her in that situation, not the other way around.

The silence between us stretched, heavy and uncomfortable. Red didn’t deny it, didn’t explain herself, didn’t even flinch. I figured she’d at least try to argue or throw some excuse my way, but nope. She just sat there, like she knew she didn’t owe me a damn thing.

“You expect me to take you as my responsibility? Just like that?” I asked incredulous.

She shrugged, like it didn’t matter one way or another. I didn’t know whether to be confused or annoyed by her confidence.

“Yes,” she said with a straight face.

I snorted involuntarily. “What makes you believe I’ll do that?”

She seemed to realize that I wasn’t going to budge, so she changed her approach. “I have a little something that might persuade you to do just that,” she answered confidently.

“Really now?” I asked, not falling for her little game.

She was trying to blackmail me. Plain and simple.

But what she didn’t understand was that I didn’t respond well to threats.

“Threaten me again, and I swear to—” I started, speaking with an air of authority. But before I could finish my sentence, she cut me off with a smile.

“I won’t have to,” she said, her voice a simple statement of fact. “Because I could always report that you ran out of the medical camp, threatened a doctor and stole a car.”

She was right—she could make it hell for me with one call. Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit. Protocols, orders, all that red-tape crap—I’d made it a habit to ignore them when they didn’t suit me. I got the job done, sure, but I did it my way, the way that kept me alive, even if it didn’t exactly sit well with the higher-ups. And that approach had gotten me into hot water more than once.

My captain tolerated it, maybe even respected it to some extent, but I knew I was pushing the limits of his patience. One more infraction, especially something as blatant as blowing off the med camp, and I might be one step closer to getting my ass kicked out or reassigned to some backwater detail.

She had me by the balls.

And she was squeezing them hard.

If I pushed her, she’d follow through, and then I’d be dealing with a mountain of crap I didn’t need.

Damn it, what had I gotten myself into?

But here’s the thing—I kinda liked it. It’d been a long time since anyone had me cornered, and weirdly, it felt good.

“How do I know you won’t just report me as soon as we get back to base?” I asked, still skeptical.

She didn’t flinch. “You don’t,” she said calm as hell.

Fuck, she was making it hard to refuse.

She was coming with me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I had to admit, though, the way she’d turned the tables was impressive. She took a dangerous situation and spun it to her advantage. As much as I hated to admit it, I respected her for that.

A small smirk tugged at my lips.

Not bad, Red. Not bad at all.

“Fine,” I said finally, relenting. “You can come with me.”

She grinned, victory written all over her face. “Good choice, Lieutenant.”

“But you’d better not try to fuck me over,” I warned, my tone terse and my eyes narrowed on her. “I’m doing you a favor, here. Don’t forget that.”

Red gave a brief nod, and I turned my attention back to the road. The dark, empty stretch of Kandahar lay ahead, the shitty transition from endless sand to crumbling cityscape staring me down. The memory of the scorching heat and the dunes still clung to my skin like the fucking dust in the air.

Before hitting the city, we had to cross the desolate expanse of the desert. The moon threw its eerie light over the dunes, casting weird, twisted shadows that seemed to dance with the wind. The only sounds were the low hum of distant military vehicles and the occasional gust that carried the damn whispers of the desert.

My eyes scanned the barren landscape, searching for the few landmarks that would lead us back to base. The road stretched ahead, lit by those crappy flickering streetlights that barely did their job. I had the route memorized, but fuck, the city wasn’t the same. Buildings that used to stand tall were now rubble, the streets clogged with makeshift barricades like a warzone waiting to happen.

The scent of dust and smoke permeated the air, choking out any fresh breath I could take. Navigating the tight alleys and bustling market zones was a pain, but I relied on my instincts and my past knowledge of this shithole to get us through.

I felt Red’s gaze was fixed on me, burning a hole in the side of my head. She was staring but didn’t have the balls to say anything, making the silence heavy as hell.

“What?” I asked in response, giving her a quizzical look as I kept my eyes on the road ahead.

She quickly looked away, pretending like she hadn’t been staring. “Nothing,” she lied, shaking her head like it was nothing.

Bullshit.

“What is it?” I pressed, my expression flat. “I can tell there’s something you want to ask.”

Her gaze met mine, a little hesitant. “You never told me your name,” she finally spoke up. “I saw Lieutenant Rogue on your file, but that’s not quite a name, is it?”

“That’s my call sign,” I replied, giving her nothing. “My real name isn’t important. Call me Rogue. It’s all the name you need to know.”

She sighed, clearly not happy with that half-ass answer, but she didn’t push.

“Fine, keep your secrets. Can you at least tell me why ‘Rogue’?”

“I was difficult to control,” I responded, keeping my face straight. “Always questioned the orders I was given. Never wanted to follow the rules. But I’d complete missions that no one else could.”

Red’s eyes narrowed and her head tilted slightly to the side. “Why did you enlist in the military?”

“Because I had nowhere else to go,” I replied, my expression turning somber.

That was it. Plain and simple. No family, no one to fucking turn to. The military was the only place that gave me structure, purpose, the kind of shit I’d been missing for too damn long.

My real name carried a story, though—a messed-up tale of a kid who saw the world for what it really was way too early. Innocence peeled away, leaving nothing but the rotten truth. In this fucked-up world, you were either the hunter or the prey. And that kid? He was long gone, buried deep where no one could drag him back out.

I wasn’t about to let Red peek into that darkness, into the shitstorm that was buried inside me. The pain, the regret, the hell I’d been through—it wasn’t something I was gonna share. Not for her sake, and definitely not for mine.

“What else did you read in my file?” I asked bluntly, cutting straight to the point.

She shifted, caught off guard. “Just the basics,” she replied, her words stumbling over each other. “Your medical history, your injuries, nothing too personal.”

I stared at her, waiting, the silence pressing until she caved.

“But there wasn’t much else on file,” she added quickly, a little defensive. “Medical staff have access only to the essential information. Everything else is classified.”

Good. My file was locked down tight. Only people with a need-to-know would have access to the real dirt.

But I knew one thing for sure—there was a fucking rat among us.

The steady hum of the engine wasn’t enough to drown out the storm of thoughts racing through my head. Someone had compromised us, a fucking snitch, and I was gonna find out who the hell it was.

“Rogue, watch out!”