Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James

Chapter 1

“This is Kylie Adams reporting to you from the Logar Province of Afghanistan where Taliban forces have attacked an Afghan security outpost in a town only forty kilometers from the capital city of Kabul.” Kylie squatted behind the remaining wall of what had once been a school in the province, talking in low, clear tones into the microphone, while staring into the video camera.

An explosion rocked the earth nearby, shaking dust loose from the jagged wall.

“Did you get that?” Kylie asked, glancing upward.

“Yeah. Can we get out of here before the battle comes to us?” Josh Bolton, her young cameraman, cringed every time a mortar exploded nearby.

Kylie straightened and looked over the broken wall. “I want to get a little closer to the actual security building to show the damage.

“Ma’am.” Sergeant Garcia, the Army Ranger assigned to escort her through the battle, pressed a hand to her shoulder. “You need to get down. Those are live rounds exploding, and those guns going off are using real bullets.”

Kylie fought to keep from rolling her eyes. Just because she was a female on a battlefield, didn’t mean she was an idiot. She knew the risks and didn’t mind taking them to get the stories she had built her reputation on.

Because she was in excellent shape and so good at being right down in the action, showing the human side of the conflict, she had earned a spot working with the Army Rangers while they were on maneuvers. She was sure it didn’t hurt that she was giving the U.S. Army Rangers some positive press on their war against terrorists.

The current mission was to extract an Afghan informant whose cover had been blown. The U.S. owed him protection, and the man had vital information about the location of one of the Taliban leaders notorious for kidnapping women and children and selling them into the sex trade.

She was going to be there for that extraction, if she had to low-crawl to the next location.

“What? Seriously? Fuck!” Garcia said behind her.

Kylie ducked below the wall and looked back at the soldier.

The man who’d told her to get down touched his hand to his helmet and tilted his head slightly. “Roger. Will do.” His focus aimed at her, his lips thinning into a grim line. “Time to bug out. The point men are being overrun by bogeys. We have to get you out of here, before they get to us.”

“But we haven’t gotten to Faaid, your informant.”

“It’s my job to make sure you’re safe. Besides, they didn’t find him where he said he’d be. More than likely, he left when he saw it was getting hot.” He jerked his head. “We need to move quickly.”

Garcia herded her and Josh back the way they’d come, zigzagging through the rubble of a bombed-out village.

Shouts sounded behind them.

She heard the soldier curse behind her, and then he yelled, “Run!”

Kylie’s pulse jumped. She took off, scrambling over crumbled walls, piles of brick and rubble, followed by her cameraman.

“We can’t outrun them,” her soldier said. “Make a left. We’ll find a place to hole up until they pass.”

Kylie jagged left onto a street she could actually run down without tripping over stones and brick. The buildings on either side were damaged, and appeared unoccupied, but they were fairly intact.

“On your left! That door,” Sergeant Garcia barked. “Get inside.”

Josh burst through the door into the building.

Kylie blew through behind him.

Shots rang out in the street.

Her heart in her throat, Kylie spun to check for the good sergeant.

She was about to go out and look for him when he fell across the threshold and tried to drag himself inside.

Kylie’s heart leaped into her throat. The man had been shot in the arm and leg. He wasn’t moving fast, and he couldn’t hold the rifle that fell through the door with him.

“Help him,” Kylie shouted to her cameraman.

Between Josh and Kylie, they dragged Sergeant Garcia into the building and slammed the door.

“They’re coming,” the sergeant said through gritted teeth. “I. Can’t. Shoot.” He grimaced as he pressed his good hand to the wound in his leg.

“We need to apply pressure to these wounds,” Kylie said to her cameraman.

“You apply pressure, I’ll shoot anyone coming through the door.” Josh pulled off his T-shirt. “Use this.”

“Bullshit.” Kylie shoved the shirt back at him. “I’m a better shot, and you know it.” She took the soldier’s rifle from him. “Drag him back behind that wall. I’ll take care of anyone coming through the door.

Josh hesitated.

She gave him