Page 107 of One Last Shot
“How’d you get Boo?”
She turned her gaze to Hannah. Finally, “My Marine squad leader, Staff Sergeant Hecktor, gave me the nickname. He was a tough guy, a great leader, and pretty much treated me like one of his men, even though I was a Navy attachment.”
“Why’d he call you Boo?”
“He said that I had a way of just showing up out of nowhere.”
“Like on the highway, about to run over a guy.”
“Who is standing in the middle of the road?—”
“Calm down. I’m kidding. But yeah, I see that. You’re quiet but fierce, Boo.”
She said nothing, and for a moment, he thought maybe he’d hurt her.
“Thanks. It’s better than being the tagalong, whiny youngest child.”
“Aw, c’mon?—”
“Believe me. It wasn’t easy being the youngest sibling in my family. My brothers are all hockey players, tough and brutal, and my sister is downright brilliant. She’s a humanitarian aid doctor.”
“Seems to me you’re just as amazing.”
“You’re already on my good side, Oak. You don’t need to?—”
“Stop.” He reached down and tucked his hand under her chin. Lifted it. “I find you to be amazing, Boo. Brave and smart and?—”
“He died because of me.”
A beat. “Who?”
“Hecktor.”
“What?”
She shook her head, looked away, then leaned back into his jacket.
“Boo . . .”
She drew in a breath. Swallowed. “We were in Kabul, helping with the evacuation, and... it was chaos. We’d goneto retrieve a group of Americans secured at the embassy, and there were Taliban everywhere. We were loading people into trucks when one of our men went down. I ran over to take care of him. He was alive but had a leg wound, and I thought if I could get him to the trucks...” She shook her head, her eyes filling. “He was too heavy. I couldn’t move him. And then the Taliban closed in on us, and Staff Sergeant Hecktor—they called him Hammer—told me to run, but I was... I was paralyzed. I didn’t want to leave my marine, but I also... I was scared. Really scared. We hadn’t been deployed into any real combat until then, and I froze.”
He nodded.
“Hammer told the other trucks to leave, and he and a couple other guys came to get me. Hammer was killed rescuing me.”
She met his eyes. “He was always saying how... scrappy I was. I impressed him during training—I not only kept my pig alive but I had better survival skills than a lot of the guys. He was the real reason I decided to joinSurvival Quest. I wanted to... I don’t know... live up to all he thought I was.”
Oh, Boo. “I think Hammer would be proud of you.”
She looked away. “I don’t know.”
“Listen. You are tough, and amazing. But you’re not a burden.”
“Say that again when you’re carrying me out.”
He smiled. “Okay.” And he couldn’t stop himself from leaning down to kiss her. Something sweet, and he hoped she felt the promise in it.
He leaned away. “I’m going to try to restart the fire, then I’m going to get Hannah out of here. I’ve been thinking about how to carry her—I think I can make a sling for her with the backpack and carry her that way.”