To the Xtreme (Xtreme Ops #2) - Em Petrova Page 0,3
with gold.
The woman who appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as fast confused him as much as how he was going to sit on his ass these next few weeks.
“Have any questions?” the nurse asked.
He hadn’t been listening past how to keep the cast from getting wet, but he nodded anyway. He had no damn intention of following recommendations. Those were for civilians and not special forces with several tours in the Middle East. He’d singlehandedly rescued a political figure from a hostage situation, for fuck sake. A broken ankle wouldn’t keep him down.
He nodded to the nurse and hopped off the bed. He started to set his cast down, but the nurse hurried to hand him a set of crutches. As soon as he had one in hand, he remembered the crutch that woman had fashioned for him out of a fallen tree branch.
“Take it easy,” the nurse told Lipton. She turned to Penn. “And keep him quiet.”
Penn gave her a solemn nod. The minute she was out of earshot, Lipton grumbled, “I’d like to see you try, Captain.”
Penn snorted. “C’mon. Let’s get outta here.”
Lipton wanted nothing more, but he still hesitated. “What happened to the fairy girl?”
His captain delivered a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about and a did-you-hit-your-head look in one go. “Fairy girl?”
“The nymph.” He wasn’t making any sense even to himself and shook his head. He tried again. “The woman who found me after I fell.”
“Oh. She went back to work. She’s a park ranger.”
“Yeah.” Moon Shadow was her radio handle. Or for all Lipton knew, it was her real name. It sure suited her carefree curls and that thin braid she wore tied up with a shimmery gold string like some gypsy mixed with hippie.
“I’ll talk to the park office and find her so I can thank her.” Yeah, he only wanted to extend his gratitude for her helping him get off that mountain, first stomping his way through the thick Alaskan underbrush of summer by way of that hand-fashioned crutch, and then to a trail, where he was picked up by an ATV and shuttled down the mountain to a park ranger vehicle waiting to transport him to the nearby hospital.
As he stumped past the nurse’s station with Penn at his side, a group of nurses looked up and stared at them as if they were seeing a pair of yetis passing through.
Penn shook his head. “You’d think they never saw two bad-ass motherfuckers before.”
Lipton snorted. “You sure found it amusing back there when that doctor’s face got red.”
“It’s because she only blushed when she glanced directly at you.”
Lipton hated his irritatingly slow pace. “Because I was a grouchy dick.”
Penn flashed a grin. “Whatever you say, man. Let’s get you back to base. Everyone else is in the national park searching for more explosives.”
He groaned but held his questions for when they got outside and into the SUV. He tossed the crutches into the back and stared down at his right foot. He couldn’t even drive. Or wasn’t supposed to, if he’d heard the nurse’s instructions right.
Once Penn climbed behind the wheel and they were rolling down the road, Lipton spoke. “What the hell am I supposed to do for weeks? Who’s going to be second in command?”
“Broshears.”
Their team member knew his weapons, that was for damn sure, but could he take charge the way Lipton did?
“I know what you’re thinking.” Penn swung his head in Lipton’s direction. “And it won’t be the same without you for a few weeks, but there’s nothing else to do. Now let me ask you what the hell happened on that mountain.”
Lipton related the events, leaving out the part where he might have blacked out for a minute or two while the fairy nymph park ranger with the big green eyes reached him. Real men didn’t pass out. Ever.
“The question is how the hell someone strung explosives in that treetop. And why,” Penn told him.
“Did you check the park’s records for injuries and deaths from falling limbs?” Lipton glared down at his cast.
“We’re still collecting info.”
“Don’t take me to the base. I’m going to the park.”
Penn sighed. “We’ll keep you in the loop, Lip. You can run backup via computer and by feeding us intel.”
“Exactly why it’s a good idea for me to be at the park.”
“I have an idea, but nothing is finalized yet, since I’ve been in the hospital with you.”
“What’s that?”
“We might have a cabin for you, on the edge of the park lands. It’s a place rangers