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Prologue
The deep, pounding sounds of the rotors died out the radio calls for help. Lance Corporal Cassidy Williams remained silent and observed everything going on around her. The yelling, the radio calls for backup. The small excursion mission with Sergeant Major “Red” Halloway and the small medical team, she and Dr. Reynolds, was swiftly turning into a nightmare. The sound of land-to-air missiles coming too close for comfort from enemies below had her shaking in her military gear.
“I am not landing this chopper. Not with a medical team unprepared for ground battle. How the fuck long will it take for backup to arrive?” Sergeant Major Halloway yelled into the radio receiver. “Fuck!” he exclaimed, and the chopper took a sharp dip to the right then back to the left as another missile whizzed by them.
Cassidy held onto the strap hanging from above. Sergeant Major Halloway looked at her. “We have to land. We need to get those men out of there.”
The others looked at her. Did they think she couldn’t handle this? Did they believe just because she hadn’t been in the midst of battle with bullets whizzing by her head that she couldn’t use her training as a Marine to stay alive and take orders? For crying out loud, she was a medic, a nurse who assisted with gruesome procedures alongside Dr. Reynolds. She was so desensitized to seeing gore and blood and not freaking out or panicking that Dr. Reynolds had her assist lots of times in situations like this. Situations where soldiers needed immediate medical attention the moment they got on the chopper. She could do this.
“Sergeant Major, don’t you dare think for one moment that I would hold you back. I’m a Marine, sir. I’ve trained for all of this. Those men need medical attention, or they’ll die down there. I’ve got this.”
An exchange occurred between Sergeant Major Halloway and Dr. Reynolds. Reynolds nodded. Truth was Sergeant Major Halloway was one of the best command leaders. He never left a man behind. And word was that some of the men down there were from his old team. He would be retiring soon. This was his final tour.
“Land this bird, Corporal. We’re going in,” Sergeant Major Halloway said, and then one of the team members checked Cassidy’s gear.
“You got this, Cassidy. Just stay on the damn chopper,” Frederick stated, and then winked.
He was a bad-ass Marine. Tough as nails and a total flirt. She hung out with him and some of the team that were down there. Maybe that’s why she was so willing to help. Their lives meant more right now. They were injured, scared, and she and this team in the chopper were their only help right now.
She nodded as the chopper descended.
She jerked each time bullets peppered the side of the chopper. But then she watched in awe as the soldiers and Sergeant Major Halloway hopped off the chopper before it even fully landed. What she hadn’t expected was to see the smoke, the burning vehicles, and then Frederick fall to the ground as someone shot him.
She didn’t think twice as she jumped from the chopper. Automatic rifle in hand, she turned toward three men with automatic weapons and fired her gun, taking all three men out as they fired toward her. It was so instinctual. Her training kicked in, despite the fact that she mostly served her country in the ER alongside doctors and surgeons. The adrenaline was pumping, and she lowered to a squatting position and made her way to Frederick.
“Corporal Frederick, are you okay?” she yelled to him.
He cringed in pain. “That’s some fine fucking shooting, Cass. Did you kill those fuckers?”
She saw the blood oozing from his side.
“They won’t be shooting anyone else, Frederick. Let’s get you to the chopper.”
As she tried to help him up, she heard more yelling and lots of gunfire being exchanged. One of the other men from the ground team joined her. His expression was hard, his face covered in dirt and blood. There was blood on his uniform. She reached out to him.
“Are you injured?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am. Not my blood.”
“Help me get him in the chopper,” she said just as a series of bullets whizzed by their feet. Both she and the soldier turned and fired, taking out another set of men, but the soldier she was with took a bullet to his arm.
“Fuck,” he yelled out.
