Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

“Shut up!” Tara yelled, and she grabbed Anna by the arm and pulled her to her. “Get over here and hug me, dammit!”

“Okay, okay, geez,” Anna laughed.

“Mmmm, let me get in on this, too,” Bailey said, and she wrapped her arms around Tara’s back.

“Me three,” Paige said as she joined the group hug.

“And me four,” I laughed and wrapped my arms around all the girls at once.

“You know, I’m not sure I’m liking pregnant Tara,” Anna snickered. “She’s kind of a bitch. And I mean that in the sense that she’s emotional as hell.”

“You love it,” Tara sniffled.

Anna caught my eye, smiled, and shook her head.

I didn’t know about Anna, but I definitely liked pregnant Tara. There was something absolutely adorable about how she could no longer hold her emotions in. My usually stubborn, smart mouthed beauty had now become a sweet, crying girl who needed hugs and forehead kisses.

“Alright, alright,” Anna chuckled, and she squeezed out of the hug. “We should go help everyone else.”

“Okay,” Tara squeaked, and she held back tears as she nodded.

“Good grief, woman, get it together!” Anna laughed and shook her head.

“You try growing a human being,” Tara snapped. “It’s a lot of work! Sorry if my body is too busy making an eyeball to control the crying center of my brain.”

“Thank you,” Anna teased. “That apology is all I wanted.”

“Oh, shut up,” Tara giggled, and she playfully hit her friend on the shoulder.

I shook my head at the girls’ antics as we walked back toward the road where everyone else had gathered.

“Do you think we’ll actually find anything?” Bailey asked. “I figured everything was pretty smashed in the explosion.”

“It probably was.” I nodded. “But it doesn’t hurt to check.”

“Right,” the blonde agreed.

I found Hammer among the rubble and asked him how the search was going.

“We’ve found a few usable plasma guns so far,” the SEAL chuckled, then he looked at me seriously. “That was intense with those soldiers. I’m glad you did what you did, and I want you to know I’m happy to serve under your command.”

“I appreciate that,” I told him with a clap on the shoulder. “And I appreciate the hell out of you and your team. You all did good today.”

“I called my men back from their posts by the roads,” he informed me.

“Good,” I said. “We could use all the help we can get going through this shit.”

I kicked some of the rubble next to my foot only to reveal the smashed in face of one of the soldiers.

“Gross,” Hammer said, and his nose wrinkled slightly.

“Yeah, we should try and finish searching here while we have some daylight left,” I said. “We don’t want to deal with these bodies when they start to smell.”

“I’m with you,” Hammer said, and he looked up at the horizon behind us. “But I’m afraid we don’t have much time left for that tonight.”

“You’re right,” I sighed as I looked up at the sky. “It’s pretty dark out, we should probably call it for the night.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Hammer nodded.

It had been getting dark when the battle had started, and while it had only lasted maybe twenty minutes or so, it was long enough for the sun to sink down behind the horizon. The world was now cast in a deep blue and orange glow to signal the end of the day, and we only had a few minutes at most until everything was pitch black.

“Alright, everyone,” I called out. “Let’s pack it in, we can make our way back here tomorrow.”

“Wait, Tav, over here!” Anna called.

Hammer and I looked at each other, then we took off toward the redhead.

“What is it?” I asked as we approached, but even as the words left my mouth, I realized what she was talking about.

The NK troops had been hauling two MiGs, one of which some soldiers had chosen to hide behind, so it was in complete disrepair. The one Anna was standing by, though, looked a little beat up, but it also looked like it could still be functional.

I didn’t see any major damage on the aircraft, aside from some black spots where it had taken some fire from the blasts, and a few scratches here and there from a stray bullet or a vehicle ramming into it. Overall, it looked hopeful.

“It looks pretty good, right?” Anna asked with a grin as she gestured to the jet. “You think it still flies?”

“What’d you find?” Tara asked as she and the rest of the girls came running over, too.

“Whoa,” Paige said at the same time. “You think it still works?”

“That would be awesome.” Bailey looked at me and smiled. “It’s worth a try at least, right?”

“Definitely worth a try,” I told her.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” Hammer said with a shake of his head. “I’m surprised it’s not totally blown to bits, but it looks like the vehicles in front of it took most of the impact from the blast.”

“That’s what I was thinking as well.” Paige nodded. “And since this one was toward the back of the line, it wasn’t as good of a hiding spot, especially since the semi behind it is halfway in the water.”

“How sick was that shot when Bailey took out the semi driver trying to climb out?” Tara gushed.

“Oh, yeah, that was badass,” Anna agreed with a grin.

“What?” Paige asked with a frown. “How did I miss that?”

“I don’t know.” Tara shrugged. “That was, like, the first shot of the fight.”

“It was a good shot,” I told Bailey with a smile.

“It was,” Hammer agreed. “You’re a hell of a sniper.”

“Thanks, guys.” Bailey blushed with embarrassment and looked down at the ground.

“You