Hold On (Delos Series Book 5) by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna [McKenna, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Military
ISBN: 9781929977321
Publisher: Blue Turtle Publishing
Published: 2016-08-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Beau skidded down the slope and saw Callie hugging the ground. As he ran toward her, his radio crackled to life, and the nearest Apache pilot told him that the area had been cleared of Taliban and the medevac would be landing at Beau’s present location in ten minutes.

Beau told him he had Callie McKinley with him and quickly signed off. He knelt down beside her on one knee, pushing his M4 to his back. Callie was still lying on her stomach on the ground, her hands over her head, trying to protect it.

When he placed a hand on her shoulder, she screamed in terror.

“It’s me,” he shouted, raising his voice above the din of the helos now circling the slope like airborne wolves hunting their prey. The Apaches ruthlessly combed the entire area, continuing to look for enemy heat before allowing the medevac to land.

As she raised her face to him, Beau saw the terror etched on Callie’s face, and the front of her sweater was torn down to her breasts, which were covered with a damp, wrinkled white camisole; her hair was disheveled and encrusted with dirt, leaves, and twigs. She gripped the front of her sweater, her mouth contorted in a sob, tears trailing down her dusty cheeks. She held her other arm close to her body. Had she been wounded?

“Help is coming,” Beau shouted over the thump-thump-thump of the helos. He reached out again, his hands gently cupping her shoulder. “Where are you hurt, Callie?”

Shaking, she tried to form words but couldn’t get them out.

Beau quickly looked her over. “Can you stand up for me?”

Tentatively, she nodded.

He leaned down, pulling up her jeans. Her white cotton panties had been nearly torn off her, and he betrayed none of his rage as he gently lifted her up, his hands around her waist. He felt Callie’s fingers dig into his shoulders as she stood, wobbling. His leg was on fire, and he tried to anchor himself in case she fell or fainted. He couldn’t think about the blood flowing down his leg or the injuries he’d sustained. Not yet.

“Callie? Where are you wounded?”

“M-my right arm . . . I think it’s broken . . .”

Damn it! Beau brought Callie tenderly into his embrace, holding her. She was shaking violently now, her knees collapsing against him. Biting back a groan of pain, he took her full weight. Callie had become a frightened child, wide-eyed and terror stricken. And injured.

While he felt pangs of guilt for having left her alone, Beau knew that if he’d stayed behind they would have been overrun by the fourteen men he’d killed, wounded, or who had run off to avoid the fight. And he couldn’t have defended the two of them if all of them had attacked at once. No, both he and Callie would have been dead, or the Taliban would have captured and raped Callie.

God, he hoped she hadn’t been raped! He didn’t know for sure, but she couldn’t stop shaking. He continued to hold her tightly in his arms.

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