Bull's Eye Sniper Chronicles Collection (The Second Cycle of the Betrayed Series)

by McCray, Carolyn

  Davidson grabbed hold a metal strut and held on for dear life as Lopez swooped in and between missiles. Some from the sea, some from the jets overhead. It was like a missile slalom. Explosions rang out all around them, but so far none had hit.

  Lopez was up there whooping and cursing. You know, the norm for a life and death situation.

  Bunny clung tight within his arms, burying her head against his chest. She’d had a rough day and this stomach churning ride probably wasn’t helping anything. At the least Prenner had taken the Sarin canister from her and secured it in their haz mat box.

  However if the chopper got hit by one of those missiles, all bets were off on containment.

  “Stark, you’ve got to convince the Chinese that we’ve got Sarin. Not ours but the Righteous’. It must be all over the news about the thwarted worldwide attack.”

  “What do think I’ve been trying to do? Mom’s got Biden on the other line, but communication channels are clogged.”

  As the wind shoved them over a good ten feet, Davidson wasn’t surprised that even the Vice President couldn’t get through to China. They were on their own. But when weren’t they?

  “Uh oh,” Lopez said so low Davidson almost didn’t hear him over the wind and the missiles exploding.

  He’d rather have Lopez cursing up a blue streak then saying “uh oh.” Lopez’s “uh oh” was the equivalent to Australians “no worries,” which always meant there was something to worry about.

  “We’re losing hydraulic fluid!” Levont announced.

  Uh oh was right. Without that fluid, Lopez wasn’t going to be able to steer the helicopter and between the storm and the missiles, steering was kind of important.

  “What do you need?” Davidson asked, pretty much knowing the answer.

  “Someone’s got to manually turn off the valve to stop the leak.”

  Davidson shed his rifle and ammo, urging Bunny over to Malvern. He then picked up a rope and secured it to a metal bracing.

  “I should go,” Prenner said.

  Davidson shook his head. “I’ve got the leaner profile,” he explained. “You keep that line secure.”

  “Copy that,” Prenner responded.

  Davidson put on some goggles, the dust was still flying out there and opened the door. Dirt and wind blast him in the face like some kind of “dust” peel. He gripped hold of the side of the helicopter and swung out onto the struts. Prenner, true to his word, kept the line taut.

  He baby stepped his way down the length of the chopper. Unfortunately the valve he needed to get to was further down the tail, he would have to leave the relative safety of the struts and climb onto the tail to make the repair.

  Davidson heard the missile before he saw it, coming straight at them.

  He dug his fingernails into the seam of two metal panels as Lopez arced them away from the danger. The missile passed so close by that Davidson’s ear got singed. No time to dally though. He had a valve to shut.

  Leaping up, he grabbed hold of a handle, allowing his feet to dangle. He then threw a leg over the tail of the helicopter, keeping his head low so that his head didn’t get sliced off by the rotors churning overhead.

  Finally he stretched out and opened the maintenance panel door. There were a series of dials. He found the third one over, the one that was registering wild swings in pressure and shut it off. This would stop the leak, but also stop the flow of the fluid.

  They had ten minutes max fly time now.

  South Korea couldn’t be that far away could it?

  Then an explosion bloomed underneath of them, suddenly lifting the chopper high in the sky. Davidson clung to the chopper, but Lopez banked sharply to avoid another missile, flinging Davidson off the side of the chopper.

  Only that thin strand of rope kept him from plummeting into the Yellow Sea. Dangling from the rope, Davidson tucked his legs up as a jet screamed past beneath them.

  Prenner, God love him, pulled him back up into the chopper.

  Bunny and Malvern helped haul him all the way in.

  “Told you it was going to be fun,” Lopez said with a wide smile.

  * * *

  Fun this was not, Bunny thought.

  Her nerves were frayed down to the last nub. Their ducking and diving and otherwise insane flight path weren’t helping anything. She still had sticky blood on her face, plus possibly brain matter. She needed out of this chopper, now.

  But every time Lopez had to change course to avoid a missile it took them further and further from their goal.

  Then the worst thing that could have happened, happened.

  They flew out in front of the storm. There was nothing but clear skies. Which meant nothing but perfect targeting for the jets and the fleet of helicopters that were on their tail.

  “Look!” Prenner yelled.

  Far in the distance was the glimmer of land. And a strange shadow in the sky. Was South Korea having a storm as well?

  Lopez stopped rolling and pitching and instead just punched it. They streaked over the water’s surface toward their sanctuary. Missiles still exploded.

  “Stark, I thought were we in South Korean air space?” Lopez demanded.

  “You are in disputed South Korean air space, apparently the Chinese have decided today is the day to reclaim it.”

  There was nothing Lopez could do but speed on ahead.

  As they approached the eastern shore of South Korea, Bunny began to realize that the cloud was not cloud but a veritable wall of helicopters. Apparently Biden had gotten through to someone and the American Air Force had shown up in force.

  Lopez headed straight for the middle of the hovering craft.

  The explosions stopped. Apparently the Chinese weren’t ready to take on the entire South Korean contingent of the Air Force.

  The corporal banked them so they slipped through the grid and into South Korean air space.

  “You don’t feel bad about hiding behind Papa Bear?” Levont teased Lopez.

  “With the entirety of China on my ass, no way!”

  Lopez swung them around on their axis to watch as the Chinese juggernaut, finally broke formation and banked around and away from the wall of helicopters.

  “Just another international incident you incited today,” Stark said over the com.

  “Three of them in a day, not bad, not bad,” Lopez joked up in the pilot’s seat.

  Only after the Chinese had all turned back did the American formation loosen, guiding their little chopper back to base.

  Bunny burst out into tears. She wanted to be brave in front of her team, but too bad.

  They were alive.

  They had survived another religious zealot, the Great Wall coming down, a Sarin gas attack and a full out military assault from the Chinese.

  If you couldn’t cry at a moment like this, when could you?

  EPILOGUE

  Davidson walked down the hallway of the military hospital. Unlike most of the hospitals he’d been in, this one was fairly empty and most of the men here were sick, not injured.

  He took a left to the orthopedic wing that was practically deserted. The only room occupied was the colonel’s. Malvern was up, balancing on some crutches, trying to get his shoe on.

  “Sir,” Davidson said, rushing over to help him keep his balance. “I thought they were keeping you for another day?”

  “Posh,” Malvern sneered. “It’s not even broken, just a bad sprain.”

  “I thought the doctors said you had severe ligament ruptures?”

  “Potato, patatoe,” Malvern said, shrugging off Davidson’s help. “I’ll be fine. Just need some rest and physical therapy,” Malvern explained as he sat down on the bed, then looked past Davidson. “Is Bunny with you? She said she was coming by.”

  “Ya, about that,” he said, reluctant to say anything, but feeling like he must. “Sir, you performed admirably out in the field and kept your word to only support us, but…”

  “But?” Malvern asked, his bushy white eyebrow
going up.

  “But this thing with Bunny. I get where she is coming from, sort of, but you, you I don’t get.”

  “What thing with Bunny?”

  “Oh come on, sir, you know what I mean. It’s not just me, the rest of the team wants to know your intentions?”

  “Intentions? For Bunny, son, what are you talking about?”

  Davidson could feel his cheeks flush. This was a mortifying conversation. He should have let Prenner have it like he wanted to. “The flirtation, sir.”

  “With Bunny?” Malvern stated again.

  “Yes, with Bunny.”

  “The girl half my age?” Malvern chuckled. “Son, I don’t know where you got that idea, but I have absolutely no intentions on the girl. I am a happily married man for over forty seven years.”

  Davidson backed up a step. “Then why all the attention…”

  “For the love of God, she reminds me of my granddaughter,” Malvern said, chuckling again. “It just felt like she could use some fatherly energy. Does she think otherwise?”

  “Your granddaughter?” Davidson was still having a hard time grasping the concept.

  “Yes, but Bunny thought I was somehow coming onto her? And the rest of the team?”

  Davidson nodded, still slightly dazed. This conversation had taken a turn he hadn’t expected. He had been all ready for Malvern’s denial, defensiveness, and general surliness, but this? That he wasn’t interested at all. That all of them had their minds in the gutter, that had been unexpected.

  “Why in the world would everyone jump to that conclusion?”

  “Well, Bunny kind of has a history of it…” Davidson explained.

  “Oh, I didn’t know. Should I talk to her?” Malvern asked.

  “No, no, I’ll take care of it.”

  * * *

  “That won’t be necessary,” Bunny said as she walked into the room. She’d heard the tail end of the conversation. Even though her cheeks were on fire, she had to own up to her part.

  “I’m sorry, Malvern,” she said to the colonel then turned to Davidson, “He has been nothing but a gentleman. It was me that interpreted it all wrong.”

  Davidson looked like he felt a combination of relief and anger. She probably deserved that.

  Shame that she had misconstrued Malvern’s attention burned hot in her chest. Her daddy issues really were coming to the surface.

  “Don’t sweat it,” Malvern stated, shoving something into his bag. “I should have made it more clear.”

  “No, this was me, all me,” Bunny stated.

  This was all so awkward.

  Then Lopez came barreling around the corner. “So is this a ménage or can anyone join in?”

  His infectious good mood turned the room right around. Davidson punched Lopez in the arm and the corporal pretended that it actually hurt. “Ouch!”

  Levont laughed as he came in followed by Prenner who actually broke out a rare smile for the occasion.

  “So me and the boys were talking and you didn’t suck out there,” Lopez stated.

  “Good to hear,” Malvern answered with a grin of his own.

  “So we’re thinking instead of trying to train another hump, you might be a keeper, if you want to keep us,” Lopez said, sounding just a touch vulnerable at the end.

  Malvern thrust his hand out. “As long as you’ll have me, I’m here for you.”

  The two shook hands, then Lopez clapped Malvern on the shoulder. “Cool, then you’ve got to see some of these.”

  Lopez sat down on the bed as the men all gathered around. “And this one of you flying off that wall, right before you crashed! Look at that expression, priceless!” Lopez whooped. “If these weren’t classified, we’d own YouTube!”

  Bunny watched as the men flipped through photos of their harrowing experience. Now they could laugh, back then, not so much.

  “Do you want to talk?” Davidson asked. She hadn’t even noticed him coming up behind her.

  No, she really didn’t. She was embarrassed enough already. She really didn’t want some kind of pep talk from Davidson, but he at the least deserved a few moments of her time.

  She followed him out of the room as the men belly laughed. Once in the hallway, Davidson closed the door to the room. The laughter did sound a little out of place in a hospital.

  “I don’t know what happened,” Davidson said. “But I think we need to clear the air so that we can move on.”

  Bunny nodded. She couldn’t agree more. “Davidson, you are perfect and I mean that. You are kind and sweet and gentle yet one of the strongest men I know. You should be perfect for me.”

  “But?”

  “But, obviously this thing with Malvern shows there’s something wrong with me.”

  “Bunny, don’t say that.”

  “No, there is. You are right here, perfect. I should be in love with you… but.. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I’m not.”

  Davidson frowned, but not in a hurt feeling kind of way. “I know how you feel. Trust me, if my feelings were clear, I would have acted on them. You’ve got your Daddy issues, I’ve got my Knot issues.”

  Bunny gave a weak smile. The two of them. Quite the pair that weren’t a pair.

  “I’m sorry, I really am. I wish we could find a way to work through this, but I just don’t see it.”

  Davidson nodded. “I agree. So friends?”

  He put his hand out, but that didn’t seem to honor the bond they had formed over the past few years.

  Bunny put her hand on Davidson’s cheek, outlining one of the scars that ran down his face. She didn’t touch the scar, she knew that was still too sensitive, but stroked the skin around it.

  “More than friends, but less than lovers,” Bunny said. “How’s that?”

  She leaned in and meant to give him a peck on the cheek, but Davidson turned at the last second so that there lips met.

  There was a crackle to the air as she leaned into him. All doubt. All worry evaporated under that kiss. His lips were warm and inviting. She parted hers effortlessly. It was like they had been meant to be together but had some kind of spell put on them to not be able to see it.

  Well, his hands coursing over her back certainly dispelled that problem.

  Whatever semi-permeable membrane that had kept them apart was shattered.

  There was no more world than their kiss.

  * * *

  Davidson felt light headed, like he was walking in a dream. The world had a Gaussian filter over it as he pulled back from Bunny’s lips, which had tasted like peaches and cream.

  Her eyes were at half-mast as she licked her lips. “About everything I just said…”

  “Forget it?” Davidson replied. “Me too.”

  How in a single instant over a year’s worth of tribulation could be cleared away. Like a cleansing rain. He saw her through different eyes. She wasn’t just beautiful, she was his.

  “We’ve been idiots,” he whispered kissing up her neck. Her hand lay on his chest as her other hand landed on his hip.

  “Complete and total morons,” she answered.

  He smiled at her and leaned in for another kiss but Lopez burst out of Malvern’s room.

  “Jesus, you two, we can’t leave you alone for a minute! Geez, get a room already,” Lopez said as he walked past. The rest of the team followed suit, laughing. “We’re taking Malvern out for whatever passes for a drink in South Korea. You two joining us?”

  In truth, he’d rather spend some time alone with Bunny to explore this new development, but the team came first. If anyone would understand it would be Bunny.

  Which she seemed to as she grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “We’d be honored to.”

  With that they brought up the rear of the party. Lopez was still flipping through the pictures on his phone. “Stark, we’ve got to blow this one up!”

  Davidson didn’t even want to know which one it was.

  They’d saved the world and he’d gotten the girl.
r />   What else did he need?

  Bolt Action: The Bridge Short Story between Crosshairs and High Caliber

  CHAPTER 1

  ‘This is our stupidest mission ever,” Levont stated.

  “What just because we are back in Pakistan after last year’s debacle in Kashmir? Or the fact we are raiding a terrorist safe house across the street from Pakistan’s largest air force base? Or the fact we have no idea what the package is or looks like?” Lopez asked.

  Davidson smiled at the men’s banter. They were making their way through the back roads of the Pakistani city of Karachi, the Muslim world’s largest city. The streets in this older region of town were packed tight together. They couldn’t even get the SUV into the alley, hence why they were on foot.

  “Hey, I didn’t say I was complaining,” Levont responded. “I just thought I would mention it for posterity.”

  That sounded more like Levont.

  “That’s better,” Lopez said, slapping his teammate on the back.

  Prenner just rolled his eyes and kept walking.

  “Probably time for radio silence,” Malvern stated. “Stark, we will be off line until we are outside of the safe house.”

  “Roger that,” Bunny responded. It was weird not to have the redhead here. After their last mission, Bunny had decided to stay stateside for a while. Just as they had reconnected, they were separated. Probably for the best as things had heated up, quite a bit. Maybe a bit too much.

  Davidson had liked their take-it-slow plan, but their bodies had put the accelerator on that. If romance had freaked him out, physical intimacy threatened to blow a fuse. Every card in the deck was stacked against it. His scars, his training, his lack of experience.

  So in some ways it was a relief to have Bunny stateside, especially on such on odd mission.

  Davidson tapped Malvern on the shoulder then pointed up with his thumb. He needed to find his perch.

  The CIA had identified the best spot to observe the take down and given him a map to the spot. Normally he didn’t agree with the CIA’s assessment, but there weren’t a whole lot of options in the area. Beggars couldn’t be choosers.

  Down the alley, just down the alley, was the chain link fence of the Masoor Air Force base. Davidson could make out military personnel moving around a bunch of armed vehicles. The Pakistani President was coming later in the week to tour the base and they were pulling out all the stops so even though it was an air force base they had tanks, armored SUVs and even an amphibious vessel on display since the base was on the Arabian Sea.