Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan
Three weeks later

Devon had already served at Bagram, but it was still a shock to realize how big the remote base was when she landed. Stepping off the tail ramp of the C-17 Globemaster with all her gear, she looked around in awe at the small city before her.

“Home sweet home,” Will said beside her, lugging his own duffel. “Looks a hell of a lot better than it did after the Russians used it.”

“Does it ever.” She scanned for her friend Candace, who’d been there for over a month on her own tour as an Air Force Spectre pilot.

She’d also contacted Ryan and Cam, but only a few hours before her flight to Germany so they wouldn’t have a chance to reply. Almost a month had passed since Ty’s funeral, but her feelings for Cam hadn’t faded. She wasn’t sure she was ready to see him again quite yet.

She thought of the emblem she was cross-stitching, tucked away safely with her gear. She had stitched Ty’s name above the Pararescue angel with her spread wings surrounding the globe, and beneath, the words That Others May Live. She’d done almost half of it on the flight over, but she’d finish it on her down time between exercises and missions. Part of her wasn’t ready to let him go yet.

Following the throng of fellow soldiers, she made her way into one of the large administrative buildings and waited in line to get squared away. Leaving Will to find his own quarters, she headed across the base to where the housing was located. Bagram was fully equipped to look after all the service members stationed there, and had all kinds of amenities, even a Burger King tractor-trailer. Anything was an improvement from what the first Americans had found here back at the start of the war on terror. Devon noted signs with red triangles that still lined the edge of the roads, warning people of uncleared terrain outside the security fences.

Ahead of her, a group of women came out of another building. One was tall and blond, and her leggy stride had Devon craning her neck to make out the woman’s distant profile. She caught the blonde’s distinctively husky laugh as it floated through the air. “Ace!”

Candace stopped and whipped her head around. Her eyes opened in wide surprise and a huge smile broke over her pretty face. “Spike!” She ran across the pavement, and Devon had barely enough time to drop her bags before her friend all but tackled her.

Candace squeezed her tight before stepping back to look at her. “I didn’t think you’d be in already! You look great, by the way. Love the short do,” she said, ruffling Devon’s inverted bob.

“Fits better under my helmet this way.” Dev laughed. “I was just trying to get my bearings again. Wanna show me to my new digs?”

“And I happen to know just where they are.” She hefted a bag over her shoulder and put her free arm around Devon’s waist. “I arranged it so we’re roomies.”

“How did you manage that?”

“It’s no biggie. Two of the other girls in our hut are Army, so you’ll be in good company. And there are your new best friends,” she said, gesturing to the group she’d been walking with. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Dragged along in the wake of her friend’s longer legs, Devon smiled at the three women waiting on the road, watching them.

“Everybody, this is Devon Crawford. Dev, this is Maya Lopez, a Security Forces officer,” she said, indicating a honey-skinned woman about Dev’s height with dark straight hair and striking blue-green eyes. They shook hands. “This is Erin Kelly, an Army flight nurse.”

“Hi,” the brunette said softly. Her smile was a bit on the shy side, but she seemed friendly.

“And this is Honor Girard, the Army’s best mechanic on this base.”

“I try,” Honor said with a grin, tossing her cap of strawberry blond hair.

Candace grabbed the dropped bag and took Devon’s elbow. “Okay, pleasantries aside—let’s get this girl squared away and get some chow into her.”

Devon rolled her eyes as her friend dragged her along. “Some things never change, I guess. Ace likes to think she’s my keeper.”

“Yeah,” Maya answered, her dry tone holding the faintest trace of a Latin accent. “We’ve noticed she’s a bit bossy.”

The group walked her to the forty by fifteen foot B-hut she was going to call home for the next few months. Eight iron-framed bunk-style beds filled the putty-colored room, four against each wall.

“Bathrooms and showers are across the way,” Candace said, pointing out the window toward the narrow street.

Well, it was better than tenting. Devon took the bunk on the far end against the opposite wall. She stowed her gear, listening to the chatter of her new roommates before following them back past the huge Exchange building to the chow hall where they got in line. She picked out British, Canadian, Aussie and German uniforms in the crowd as she scanned the room, a lingering excitement fluttering in her belly that Cam might be there. Or was it nerves? They felt pretty much the same to her.

“So,” Maya said beside her, “Ace tells us you fly Hawks.”

“That’s right. Medevacs mostly,” she added, smiling at the female private who dished food onto their plates from the metal warming trays. “Your job sounds interesting. What got you into that line of work?”

Maya shrugged, her long dark hair rippling over her shoulders. “I always wanted to serve. I figured this might be my ticket to getting into the FBI or The Agency one day.” She grabbed a dinner roll from a basket.

“I’ll stick to flying, thanks.” Balancing her tray of chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed veggies with one hand while she grabbed a bottle of water with the other, Devon made her way through the sea of long tables. The food was a bit on the bland side, but it was hot and nourishing. Finishing a mouthful, she glanced around her group. “Anyone bumped into any PJs here?”

Candace flicked an amused glance at Maya, who scowled and stabbed a piece of carrot with her fork. “Yeah, there’s one over there,” Maya said, jerking her chin to the left and then muttering something in Spanish Devon couldn’t make out.

Swiveling in her seat, Devon looked around and caught a well-built man with dark hair and even darker eyes gazing at them. He gave a polite smile when he saw her, then quickly looked away. She didn’t recognize him, and there was no sign of Cam. The acute disappointment she felt took her aback. Forcing it from her mind, she switched her attention back to Maya, who still had a sour expression on her face. “What, you don’t like him or something?”

Almond-shaped turquoise eyes focused on her. “He annoys me,” she said with a wave of her fork. “Always staring but won’t say a word. Besides, he’s enlisted.”

“She calls him Tweedle Dumb,” Candace put in between bites, and the others snickered.

“His name’s Jackson,” Erin said. “I’ve met him a couple of times in the hospital. He’s really nice, just quiet,” she added in his defense, sending Maya a hard look.

Maya shrugged. “Then you tell him to stop staring at me. He’s not my type.”

“You have a type?” Honor asked from across the table.

Maya shot her a withering look. “Yes, and apart from not being a creepy stalker, he has to at least be able to string a few words together.”

Wow. The woman was more prickly than Ace, and that was saying something. Devon wasn’t sure what to think of her.

Candace bumped her with an elbow, though her eyes held a note of empathy. “Why’d you ask about the PJs, anyhow?”

“Oh, it’s just that a friend of mine is doing another tour here.”

“What’s his name?” Erin asked.

“Tech Sergeant Cam Munro.”

Erin frowned as she thought for a moment. “Is he tall and built, with light brown hair—”

“Dark blond.” The picture the other woman’s words painted of him sent a shockwave of heat rushing through her. Warm, hard muscle and a killer lopsided smile that had the power to make her weak in the knees. Her throat went so dry she almost couldn’t swallow her food. “But, yes,” she managed to croak.

Candace set down her silverware and grinned at her like an evil cat. “Really? Well now, this is interesting. How good a friend is he?”

Her cheeks flushed as she lowered her eyes and forked up another bite of chicken. “It’s not like that. He’s just a friend. I met him through Ty.”

Candace immediately lost her cocky attitude. “I heard about what happened. I’m sorry.”

Devon nodded but didn’t answer.

“Ty as in Tyler Bradshaw? Wasn’t he a PJ as well?” Erin asked.

PJ groupie, an inner voice accused. She cleared her throat. “Yes. I dated him for a short while before he deployed here.” And now they were naming a street after him here on the base. So everyone would remember him and the sacrifice he’d made.

“Under the radar, obviously,” Candace said.

“Very under the radar.” She still felt conflicted about that. She should have broken things off cleanly, and way sooner than she had. Instead, she’d waited until he’d gone overseas to let things fizzle out. Her lame attempt not to hurt him.

“I’m sorry.” Erin’s clear green eyes were full of sincerity. “I didn’t know him well, but everyone seemed to like him. I heard he was really brave out there.”

“Yeah. I heard that too.” And she knew he had been. Without a doubt Ty would have given his all to protect the others. Just as Cam would if it came to that. All part of the Pararescue code of conduct. Devon pushed her plate away, suddenly unable to eat another bite.

“I saw your friend the other day,” Erin put in. “He was going out as I was coming in with a patient.”

Stupid of her stomach to clench up, but Devon couldn’t stop worrying about him and Ryan. “I’m sure I’ll cross paths with him eventually.” And she dreaded that moment almost as much as she was dying for it.

“Well,” said Maya as she raised her bottle of water toward her lips, “if you do see him, maybe you could ask him to get his PJ pal to keep his eyes to himself.”

“I’ll try to remember,” Devon promised, sharing a grin with Erin.

As she was getting up to clear her place, she spotted a familiar face at the next table over. “Liam!” she called, setting her tray down to wave.

His dark head turned and a big grin broke over his hard face when he saw her. Laughing, Devon rounded the end of her table and rushed over to hug him. He squeezed her tight. “What the hell are you doing back over here, Spike?”

“Following orders, Major.” She eyed his flight suit. “Just coming in, or going out?”

“In. Thought I’d grab a bite before I hit the rack.”

“They still got you flying Chinooks?”

“Yep, and I know you’re jealous.” His blue eyes twinkled. “You on the 60?”

She nodded. “With Will. Have you seen him by the way? We’re supposed to be at a briefing at nineteen hundred.”

“Sorry, haven’t seen him.” His eyes flickered to the table she’d just vacated, but then he looked away fast, some indiscernible expression crossing his face. “They’ve got me out pretty much every night, but maybe I’ll bump into you at the Exchange sometime. You owe me a game of pool as I recall.”

She cocked a brow. “You want your ass handed to you in front of all your buddies?”

Liam laughed. “Good to see the flight from Germany didn’t slow your mouth down.” He tweaked her nose. “See you around, kid.”

The others watched her silently as she made her way back to the table. “That was Liam,” she explained when they all kept staring at her. “He’s with the Night Stalkers, flying Chinooks.” They still stared. What, like they didn’t know about the fabled Night Stalkers?

Maya arched a dark brow. “You sure know a lot of guys around here for someone that just got in.”

“I met Liam a few years back,” Devon answered evenly, wondering what the sudden tension was about. “He’s based out of Fort Lewis. I was up there for a training exercise.”

“What’s really happening,” Candace interjected, “is that Devon’s got a lot of male buddies, because she considers herself to be one of the guys. And somehow she’s still completely oblivious to the fact that they see her as anything but.”

Dev rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. That’s why I’ve got a swarm of men following me around, right?” And why she’d only ever dated a handful of them in her whole life. “Anyway, you know Liam too,” she accused her friend. “You were with me the night we stayed out at the bar shooting pool because his fiancée had just dumped him, were you not?”

Candace winced and gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head. Her eyes darted toward Honor.

“What?” Devon demanded, glancing over at her new roommate. Anything else she might have said evaporated when she saw the pinched look on Honor’s face. Her eyes were downcast. The sweep of her strawberry blond hair obscured some of her profile, but what Devon could see of her skin had gone pale except for the rosy blush staining her porcelain cheeks.

Then it hit her. Honor. Not a common name. Couldn’t be merely a coincidence that Liam had been engaged to someone in the Air Force named Honor.

“Oh, shit,” she breathed, then bit her lip. “Sorry. I didn’t know…”

Honor shook her head and forced a smile. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

Devon looked to Candace for help, but her friend merely sighed and stood as she gathered her tray. “Well that was an interesting meal. Thanks, Dev.”

Contrite, Devon followed in the wake of the suddenly quiet group as they left the chow hall. Honor made a point of patting her shoulder and smiling on the way back to their barracks, and Devon relaxed. Six months was a damn long time to live with four other women if they didn’t get along. Grudges, cattiness…ick. No wonder she felt more comfortable hanging with the guys.

A cool wind picked up, blowing dust around them, but the sound of it was drowned by the sudden roar of an incoming Chinook’s engines. Heart beating fast, Devon raised her head to watch it descend, a hulking mass of metal silhouetted by the twilit sky, its dual rotors tearing through the air with a thunderous noise. The rotor wash hit them even from where they stood far from the runway. Once its wheels set down, the pitch of the engines dropped as the pilots cut power. Adrenaline flooded her veins. She couldn’t wait to get up in the air and do her part for the mission.

“Getting itchy, huh?” Candace asked.

“So itchy,” she agreed, unable to wipe the grin off her face. Was there any better job in the world than being a helo pilot?

“Hey, Dev, is that you?”

She whipped around at the male shout and squinted through the cloud of dust raised by the Chinook’s blades. The man was big, decked out in his BDUs and full combat gear.

Something about his stance was familiar. Then the dust cleared a bit, and she let out a squeal. “Ryan!” Throwing protocol aside, she ran over.

He dropped his massive ruck and opened his arms, catching her when she flew into them. His deep familiar laugh almost made her tear up. “Hey, Dev.”

“Hi.” She squeezed him tight before stepping back. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too.”

She glanced around, heart rate increasing, but other than her roommates, nobody was staring at them. “Is Cam with you?”

“No, he’s crashed. Had a long night last night.”

She tensed. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. Lost a couple of guys, though.”

Oh. Cam was tough, but he was a softie inside. Losing men would be hard on him. She imagined him wiped out, crawling under the sheets and throwing a muscular arm across his eyes. It made her want to find him just to make sure he was all right.

And then crawl in beside him to hold him against her, skin to skin.

She shook the thought away. “You heading out?” she asked Ryan.

“In a few minutes, yeah.” His gaze fell unerringly on the group of women waiting for her. “Those your friends?”

“Roomies. Not sure they like me much, though. I’ve already managed to put my foot in my mouth.”

He glanced down at her. “What, you? Come on.”

“Trust me. I can still taste the dirt from the bottom of my boots. And that was before I scandalized them by running over to hug a non-com. But you’re charming—maybe you can smooth this whole thing over for me, regardless of your inferior rank.” She winked, then dragged him over by the hand. He went willingly enough, and it made her grin. There was no way she could’ve made him budge if he didn’t want to, but he was a shameless flirt. “Ryan Wentworth, meet Maya, Honor, Erin and Candace.”

Ryan shook their hands as she introduced them, but held Candace’s hand a moment longer than was necessary—or polite—as he took in her flight suit. “You a pilot?” Devon winced. Poor guy had no idea he’d just inadvertently hit Ace’s hot button.

Candace withdrew her hand and actually wiped it on her thigh as she gave him a contemptuous look from down the length of her nose, even though he was at least six inches taller. “That’s right. Got a problem with that, Sergeant?”

Ryan’s eyes lit with amusement, as though he got a kick out of her defensiveness. “No ma’am.”

“Good. I take it you’re a CCT?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Then you might need my services out there one day. And even though I am female, I still outrank you. Plus I’d hate for there to be any confusion as to whether you’re talking to the right aircraft if you heard my voice during an operation.”

He chuckled. Actually snickered, and Candace’s dark eyes flashed as he spoke. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m not real worried. I’d recognize your voice instantly if it came through my radio.”

Okay… Before things could get more uncomfortable, Devon stepped in. “How long will you be out this time?”

Ryan deliberately held Candace’s glare for another moment before looking at Devon. “Not sure. Day or two maybe. Depends on how quick the SEALs are with their hunting.”

Going after Taliban and al Qaeda chiefs. Or warlords like Nasrallah. “Be careful. And say hi to Cam for me when you see him.”

He smiled. “Trust me, Dev, you’ll see him long before I do.”

He picked up his ruck and walked away. Devon stared after him, thinking about that cryptic comment. Was Cam going to come looking for her? Her stomach flipped. God, she wasn’t ready yet.

“Dev, let’s go.”

Falling into step with her friend, she glanced at her watch. Only forty minutes until her briefing, and she still had to find Will.

“By the way,” Candace began, “about you rooming with us…know why a bunk suddenly became available in our hut?”

“No, why?”

Her friend’s eyes were full of censure. “The lieutenant that used to be in it is up on charges for fraternizing with an enlisted airman.”

Devon’s stomach dropped. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Happened last week. Granted she wasn’t being very discreet about her relationship, but…something you should be aware of.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” She shoved her hands into her pockets. “It’d be weird to not talk to them, though, Ace. They’re my friends.”

Candace shrugged. “Just warning you to be careful.” A few beats passed before she spoke again. “I realize they’re your pals, but you know what?”

Devon could tell by the hard tone that it was a rhetorical question. She raised her eyebrows in silent reply, and didn’t have to wait long for the answer.

Her friend’s mouth pressed into a tight line. “So far, I don’t think any of us like them very much.”

Yeah, Devon thought with a sigh. She was getting that message loud and clear.