Blindsided

Beavis flipped him off and they walked toward their armored vehicles to meet up with the rest of the group for the briefing.

  Just another day in paradise.

  * * *

  An hour later, Mick dropped to his knees in the mud next to Rob. “No, no, no!” He tore at his friend’s mangled body armor and sticky, wet shirt and—oh God, no. He spread his hands over the ragged mess that used to be his friend’s chest, as if he could hold him together by magic. His skills as a medic were of no use to him with an injury this bad… All he could do was try to stop the alarming flow of blood. “Damn it, Rob, hang on for me. You’re going home, remember? Come on, come on.”

  Fucking Murphy and his law. Rob should have known better than to announce that he was going home right before they went outside the wire. Everyone knew a convoy was an easy target for roadside bombs and insurgent attacks.

  Today, they’d managed to find both.

  This can’t be happening. Mick adjusted his position and pressed harder. Rob couldn’t die; he was one of the good ones. Jenna needed her brother.

  Mick needed him.

  “Jenna,” Rob whispered, clutching weakly at Mick’s arm. His look said he knew he wouldn’t make it.

  Mick blinked against the burn of hot tears and nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll watch out for her until you’re on your feet again. Just stay with me.” But the blood wouldn’t fucking stop. It bubbled through his fingers, warm and sticky and relentless.

  Rob closed his eyes and mumbled.

  Mick leaned close to hear him over the noise of engines, men shouting, and the buzzing in his ears left by the ricochet of gunfire. “What’s that?”

  “Don’t tell her.”

  Sharp smoke stung his nose as Mick surveyed the carnage surrounding them. The barren ground was covered with lifeless figures slicked with mud and blood. He closed his eyes briefly to block out the images, but like so many other horrors he’d witnessed, the scene would haunt him forever.

  No way in hell would he ever want to talk about it. Keeping this horrific moment from Jenna was an easy promise to make. “Never.”

  Want more? Get BLIND FURY in e-book or paperback at your favorite online retailer.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thanks to Rachel Grant for the brainstorming, encouragement, beta reading, and being an all-around great friend.

  Alan Albert, I finally worked your name into a book! I hope you enjoy seeing it in print, even if your namesake is pure fiction. My husband said you wouldn’t mind. And that Tessa Murphy would be jealous. ;-)

  My Kiss & Thrill sisters are the best group of friends a writer could ask for, and I wouldn’t want to do this without them.

  I owe a lifetime of gratitude to my husband and two boys for their unwavering support of my writing. xoxoxo

  Many thanks to the other Gwen H, Gwen Hayes, for her insightful editorial comments. Also to Kimberly Killion for another fantastic cover.

  And thanks to you for reading!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  GWEN HERNANDEZ was a manufacturing engineer and programmer before she turned to writing romantic suspense. She’s also the author of Scrivener For Dummies and teaches Scrivener (writing software) to writers all over the world.

  She loves to travel, read, jog, practice yoga and Kung Fu, and explore northern California where she currently lives with her retired Air Force husband and a lazy golden retriever.

  BLINDSIDED

  ISBN: 978-0991607327

  Copyright © 2017 by Gwen Hernandez

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  First edition: February 2017

  Cover design by Kim Killion.

  This book was written and formatted in Scrivener.

  www.gwenhernandez.com