Baby, It's You (Uncharted SEALs Book 5) - Delilah Devlin Page 0,3

living room, he heard the sharp report of a weapon then the quick rattle of more bullets firing in rapid succession from down the corridor. “Son of a bitch!”

“Three in the last room!” came Big Mac’s voice in his ear.

More shots rang out. Carter pounded down the hallway.

“Billy’s down!”

Orders were shouted, the sounds of more of the team running through the house could be heard in the distance, but he was closest. He entered the room. A desk had been flipped. Billy sat against a wall, his head held at an odd angle as blood spurted from a gaping wound in the side of his neck.

Hot fury spilled through Carter’s veins, but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t lose focus. Hardening his jaw, he kept his weapon level and his feet moving forward.

Shots and scuffling sounded from another doorway at the far side. Knowing others would be there in a moment, he barely spared Billy a look and moved across the room, glancing around the frame before darting through. The darkened room was long, with three smooth lanes running down the center. A fucking bowling alley in a shithole building. He spotted Big Mac popping up like a whack-a-mole to fire blind shots over a counter toward the enemy. Rather than get pinned, Carter ducked to the left and ringed the room, making his way to the side of the pits at the end of the lanes where the enemy combatants had taken cover.

Coming up beside the first opening, he tugged another grenade off his belt, pulled the pin, and tossed it inside before quickly diving to the side. A guttural curse sounded, followed by the sounds of men scrambling, but the grenade blew, hurling bowling pins and bits of softer, bloodier matter out of the openings.

Silence followed. Carter crawled toward a blackened opening and looked inside. “Clear!” he bit out, then added, “Motherfuckers,” under his breath.

“Helos are on the way,” came the mission commander’s voice in the earpiece. “The site’s secure.”

Only then did he let himself feel. His heart thudded against his chest as he rested with his back against the wall, an arm slung around his bent knee as he leaned forward and let the tide of grief spill over him.

A hand clapped his shoulder, and Big Mac knelt beside him, his mouth set in a grim line above his scruffy blond beard. “We gotta move, buddy.”

Carter took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll ride with Billy.”

“We both will.” Big Mac reached down a large hand and pulled him up.

Together, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, they trudged into the room where their fallen friend rested.

*

Forty minutes later, Carter jumped to the tarmac from the open door of the Chinook. After moving away from the spinning blades, he stood beside Big Mac as corpsmen unloaded Billy’s body.

Big Mac leaned toward him to shout into his ear. “Someone’s tryin’ to get your attention.”

Feeling a hundred years old since the adrenaline of the mission had dissipated, Carter glanced in the direction of Mac’s pointing chin.

Commander Callahan strode toward him, his expression hard as granite.

Carter stiffened but didn’t salute. That courtesy was outlawed in a war zone to keep snipers from identifying officers. “Sir,” Carter said as the older man drew near.

“Vance, I have some bad news. I have a helo standing by to take you to Bagram Airfield where you will be on a flight home.”

Home? Carter’s chest tightened. “What’s happened?”

“There was a car bomb at your brother’s residence. Both he and his wife were killed. Son, I’m very sorry for your loss. Your father asked that you accompany them back to Texas, but you were in the field. He’s delaying the funeral until you arrive.”

Carter drew another breath, his gaze snagging on the gurney they’d rolled up to transport his fallen friend. “Sir, respectfully, I appreciate the arrangements, but I’d prefer to stay with Billy.”

Commander Callahan’s gaze narrowed. “Are you sure that’s the message you want me to relay?”

“The team’s my family, sir. Billy’s my brother. I’ll see him into the ground.” With his jaw aching from the effort to keep it firm, he let his gaze slide away. Callahan could continue to wonder, but his mind was made up. Nothing remained for him in Texas. Sure, his heart ached for Daniel’s loss. And he was sorry about Cassie. Sorry for their child. But his father had made it clear long ago that he was unwelcome at the Rocking V. The bastard couldn’t pick and choose the occasions he acknowledged he