But small things like that made a big difference to morale. There was going to be a letter drop, as well, but I never got any mail; well, a card from Ches’s mom and dad—usually about a month after my birthday, depending where I was on tour. No biggie.

Grant confirmed that yesterday was uneventful, and other than our RPG contact and every guy losing about five pounds in sweat, not much else happened. Although one of the other patrols fired off a few rounds, but that was just to drive away a bunch of locals who were throwing rocks at them. Nice.

I strapped on my body armor and daypack, then slapped on my helmet and scooped up my M16. Jankowski ordered the compound gates to be opened and we filed out cautiously, keeping our eyes on the rooftops for snipers, the dirt under our feet for IEDs, and the foothills in the distance for ambush or RPG attack.

I tried talking to two locals who were standing in the bullet-ripped market, but they ignored me with stony faces, then turned their backs. I heard Jankowski mutter under his breath, “Is that what you call a charm offensive, Hunter?” He was a funny fucker.

Once we got past the last ramshackle building, we were in open countryside. There was no talking, and we were all hyper-aware of our surroundings: that’s how you stayed alive out here.

Two guys were sent ahead to check out a mud-built hovel. There was nowhere big enough to hide a body—I mean a person—so they didn’t go any further than the periphery. Doorways and windows were favorite places to booby-trap.

Some scrawny goats clattered past, nearly giving the guys searching a heart attack at the sudden sound. I could see a kid of about 11 in the distance watching us—probably the goatherd. He ran off when he saw that I’d seen him, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Who was he going to tell?

We walked another couple of miles before we saw any further signs of life. A man with a lined and cracked face of a village elder shouted at us from his tiny house. I could see a collection of barefoot children hiding behind his robes. His teeth were yellow with half of them missing.

He shouted at us, then slammed his door. His words nearly stopped my heart.

“Hunter?”

Jankowski was waiting impatiently for a translation. I swallowed several times, feeling like my throat was just about dry enough to shit sand.

“He asked what kind of cowards brought a woman to do their fighting for them,” I said, trying to hide the concern in my voice.

“You think he means Ms. Venzi?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Ah shit,” he sighed. “The boss was afraid that would happen.”

So was I.

We were the last patrol to return to the compound that evening. I could see Caro sitting across the quad from the entrance and I felt a surge of relief that she was safe. For now.

I went to Grant’s office with Jankowski to report on what I’d heard. The boss was worried and pissed.

“She’ll have to go back to Bastion. I’d get her on the water drop helo but they’re dropping not stopping.” He looked across at Mark. “She’ll need to stay in the compound until HQ authorize a ride, but maybe we can get her on the new personnel flight next week.” Then he turned to me. “Tell Ms. Venzi that I’d like to speak with her.”

I saluted and walked over to where Caro was sitting with a bunch of the younger guys who seemed drawn to her like she was sunshine in winter. I knew how that felt.

“Captain Grant would like to see you, ma’am,” I said, keeping it formal while we had eyes on us.

She stood up immediately, reading the stiffness in my body, and she didn’t ask any questions.

Grant’s office seemed appropriately gloomy. I stood to one side as he waved her into the only other unoccupied chair in the room.

“Ms. Venzi, your presence is causing some interest among the local population,” he announced, cutting right to the chase. “Hunter heard some talk while on patrol that concerned him.”

She glanced at me quickly.

“And what does this talk say?” she prompted.

“At the moment it’s vague, but the news of having a woman with us will spread quickly now. We have a new medic arriving in six days, so the helo will be putting down briefly. If you become a person of interest, as I think you will, you’ll be at risk and you’ll be putting my men at risk, too. I want you on that flight, Ms. Venzi. And until then, for your safety, you’ll remain in the compound.”

I saw her shoulders tighten and she took a deep breath.

“I see. Well, thank you for being so candid and explaining the situation to me, Captain Grant. I’ll ensure that I get as much work done as I can, and I’ll be ready to leave when you advise.”

The boss looked relieved; perhaps he’d expected her to argue, but there was no way Caro would be selfish while chasing down a story if it meant putting guys in danger. Hopefully she’d still be able to write her articles even if she wasn’t in Now Zad.

She stood up and let me escort her from the office.

“Sorry, baby,” I said quietly.

“That’s okay,” she replied, her voice tired. “I don’t want to cause more problems out here. Besides, I can get some stories from Leatherneck so the paper won’t be shortchanged.”

“If anything happened to you…” I began.

She interrupted me quickly. “I told you, Sebastian, I’m not going to take risks. If you care about me, you won’t either.”

“If I care about you?” I snapped, my temper flaring.

“You know what I mean,” she said calmly, “and keep your voice down.”

There were too many people watching us, so I zipped my lips and left Caro outside her room, trying—and failing—to keep my eyes off her.

We’d just finished chow and I was sucking down the piss-weak coffee, when Sanders reported that the helo would be here soon.

“Supply chopper on its way,” he announced, then picked out a platoon to retrieve the goodies before the locals decided to put their thieving hands all over it.

A few minutes later, we heard the distinctive thrum of the Black Hawk’s twin engines chewing up the air around it, and small parachutes began raining down.

Once the swag had been collected and relocated to the compound, guys gathered around to sort out the supplies: ammunition, water, fresh rations, but only a small bag of mail and no parcels. I wasn’t surprised by that—water was heavy and took up a lot of room. Larger items of mail would have to wait their turn or be stockpiled at Leatherneck.

Suddenly, my name was called.

“Hunter: you got mail, sir,” and one of the younger guys I hadn’t met yet waved a thin envelope at me.

There was no return address on it so I wondered who the hell it was from. I pulled it open and started reading.

My beautiful boy,

I hope I can see you reading this, because I want to watch as your eyes darken with lust and your lovely mouth widens in a smile, and maybe you’ll shift uncomfortably as your glorious cock hardens, pushing against the rough khaki of your uniform. Because then I’ll be imagining the moment I take you inside my mouth or inside my body, your breath hot on my back as your naked flesh…

My eyes widened in shock, followed by a grin that I couldn’t hide as I glanced up to see Caro watching me, a knowing smile on her face. She winked at me, then carried on helping sort the mail, although I could see she was still watching me from under her lashes.

I read through the whole letter, sitting in the dirt, leaning against the mud wall of the compound. Hot damn, my girl really was good with words. I was so fucking turned on, so happy that she’d written to me so I had something of her to keep by my side, so fucking grateful to have her in my life. I closed my eyes and let my head rock back against the mudbrick wall, imagining everything that she’d written.