The Omega Team: Precious Cargo (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free

Yure.
    “How do you do, sir? I’m Duke Gunnison, retired Army Master Sergeant. Happy to be of service to you.”
    They shook for only a moment before Mila grabbed Duke’s shoulder and attempted to spin him around in her direction. Despite being such a little thing, she had impressive strength. Even still, she succeeded only in pushing Duke slightly to the side.
    “You tell him the truth,” she ground out. “You’re Ukrainian. You were injured during the fighting in Crimea against the Russians. I nursed you back to health before you fled back to wherever you came from.”
    “Mila! What has gotten into you?” Shock tainted Yure’s voice. “My apologies, Mr. Gunnison. Since the incident a few days ago, she has not been herself.”
    “No apologies needed, sir.” Duke plastered on his meet-the-daddy smile. Although he’d done his best to be a gentleman back when Mila had helped him with his injuries, nature had had its rambunctious way. Bodies had collided, feelings had been shared, and things were said. Now it was time for him to pay the price for opening up to the possibilities of caring for someone, even though their brief time together had happened over two years ago.
    “But, with all due respect, Ms. Bartosh here is correct. When I met her, I was involved in a situation that I’m still not at liberty to discuss. At the time, I had to use a false name and false identity. I’m sure you understand.”
    Duke regarded Mila with an apologetic shrug. “Long time, no see, darlin’,” he said in English.

Chapter Four
     
    Patience.
    Aside from learning how to keep someone alive, if nursing school had taught Mila anything, it was patience. Breathing in through the nose, waiting a count of two, then letting the air out through the mouth. Again and again, over and over, while focusing on what the patient said and what had to be done. Not a particularly easy lesson to learn in her case. Patience was not a dominant gene in her DNA. And what little she had was currently wearing dangerously thin.
    For five and a half hours, she’d sat at the table in the hotel’s conference room and practiced patience. She listened while Major Petro Mazure, the head of her father’s security team, her father and the two American add-ons discussed the trip to Budapest, the accommodations there, and transportation to and from the location of the talks. Security. Vulnerability. “Course of Action” one. “Course of Action” two. Worst-case scenarios. Et cetera, et cetera.
    As the retired Major, who now worked with a branch of the Ukrainian Secret Service, droned on, Mila had done her best to pay attention and remain quiet unless asked to participate. Keeping her thoughts to herself was another gene she’d not inherited and something she’d worked hard to master.
    Most importantly during this security review, she had purposely avoided eye contact with the man sitting to her right. The man who had stolen her heart and then vanished into the night, never to be heard from again. The man who’d turned out to be nothing more than a liar. An American liar.
    If she dared look at him for long, she knew she would pull the gun from her purse and shoot a bullet straight into his chest. He deserved nothing less than suffering through the same wrenching pain she had.
    Killing him quickly was not a suitable punishment though. She’d lived with her ache for over two years. For months, she had clung to the belief that he would find his way back to her. That one day they would have the opportunity to live out the whirlwind romance they had started.
    I’ve never felt this way about anyone.
    I want to be with you.
    I…I love you.
    But hope eventually turned to apathy, and on some days, to anger. It was the only way she could carry on.
    No. Only a slow, torturous infliction of pain would be appropriate for Yakov or Duke or whatever his real name was. When she had a moment alone with her father, she would insist Duke be removed from the security