How can it be Wednesday again? *looks at watch* … *looks out window* … *checks calendar* Time is just crazy lately! But it is indeed Wednesday so time for #1lineWed. I may even get to play a bit with it on Twitter today. We’ll see. Today’s theme is ENVIRONMENT. I’m not quite sure how to interpret that but these are my two longer snippets going with the idea that “enivronment” is what surrounds one. And since DOUBLE CROSS is about Navy SEALs (among others), and they get in some crazy environments, AND it’s since still in revisions, it qualifies as a WIP so…

This is just post-rescue of Cory via Duke’s POV:

Clouds were gathering and the moon played tag then hide-n-seek with them. The woman appeared deathly pale under the intermittent light—and younger than he anticipated. Tears, sweat, or both left dirty streaks on her face. Her gasping breath was louder than the entire team’s pounding boots. They’d have to stop soon. With luck, Copper’s explosions would keep Cudjo’s guerrillas out of action until Wilco could call in a chopper for an extraction.
He pushed the team another mile before slowing them to a jog. Another mile and he called for a walk. As the wind shifted, he got a whiff of the woman. Damn but she stank. Her eyes looked glassy and her movements were jerky and robotic. If he didn’t call a halt soon, they’d end up carrying her.

They topped a small rise and dropped down to a river. A copse of trees huddled about twenty feet from the raging water. There’d been heavy rain up-river and the current rushing by could wash a person downstream in a heartbeat.

After a series of hand signals, Dalton and Cop faded back to check for pursuers. Tank checked out the bushes for critters and flashed a thumbs up. With the all-clear, Poison halted next to the trees and helped the woman sink to the ground. She bent her knees to her chest, gulping great breaths of air. Digging in his kit, the corpsman set about tending to her. Water. A solar blanket. Wipes for her face. She stared at the canteen he placed in one of her hands, the wipe placed in the other but did nothing with either item.

And poor Cory just can’t catch a break. This happens shortly after, in a mixed POV between Cory and Duke.

Cory’s sanity went MIA with the first blast. By the second explosion, she had no hope of finding it. She couldn’t explain how she ended up in the river, sputtering and gasping for air after a dunking, and in the arms of the angry man who was the SEAL team leader. His arms banded around her as their heads bobbed just above the surface. Flames added dancing demons to the scene as unseen things churned the air.

Master Chief. Master Chief Reagan. His name came back to her. His face appeared ravaged, blood trickling down both cheeks. She needed her medical kit. She was a doctor and she had the insane need to fix him.

“We gotta go, doc.”

“Cory. Everyone calls me Cory.” Why did her identity matter? Because she was tired of being anonymous. If she was going to die, she wanted someone to know who she was. Cory Prince. Twenty-eight-year-old woman from Bethesda, Maryland. Who happened to be a pediatrician. Working for an international aid organization. Her brain circled back around to the present, which was scary beyond comprehension, except the man with her was injured. “I need my kit. You’re hurt.”

“Still gotta go. We’ll submerge, ride the current underwater. You’re gonna hang onto me. Wrap your legs around my waist.” He waited while she did and damn if his fucking dick didn’t like sitting in the sweet spot. Jerking both of his heads back into the game, he added, “I’ll breathe for you.”

“Breathe for me? How?”

“You just want to trust me on this, princess.”

Something whistled past her cheek like a hot, angry wasp. Bullet. She gasped but didn’t get her mouth closed as Reagan dragged her under. Her fingers clawed at his shirt and a part of her brain recognized his arm tightening around her back. Then his mouth was on hers, his tongue forcing her teeth open. She swallowed more water but it went into her stomach, not her lungs. Air filled her lungs. Warm, miraculous oxygen.

Time turned relative. Sense was no longer common. If this was death, his lips on hers wasn’t a bad way to go. Blackness consumed her, then time stopped. Forever.

Still working toward a July 1st release date, with hopefully a ten or fifteen day pre-order period. We’ll see. Plus, I’m over 20K on RDR#3 so things are good if busy. Who else has some #1lineWed love to share?