Free Falcon: The Quiet Professionals Book 3 by Ronie Kendig Page A

those things.”
    “What?” Brie’s eyes went wide. “No.” She nudged it closer. “Smell that! How can you not like pomegranates?”
    Because my mate was killed in a pomegranate grove
.
    Unrelenting, Brie reached toward him. She tripped over his feet. Fell against him. Eamon wrapped an arm around her to make sure she didn’t fall. “I’m buying pomegranates. I’ll make you something.”
    His mind buzzed again—but not because of the locals watching. Because Brie was still in his arms. She straightened but didn’t step out of his hold. She stayed. Against him. Warm. Curvaceous. Lighthearted.
    He let his arm slide down around her waist. “You’re not the full quid if you think I’m letting you in my kitchen.”
    She gasped in mock shock and looked up at him, exposing flushed cheeks. Hesitating and unmoving, she searched his face. But then looked away quickly—as if embarrassed—and paid for the fruit. Still, she stayed way closer than was appropriate. Triumph glistened in her eyes as she presented her purchase. “Who says it’s your kitchen? And why can’t I be in it?”
    “You’ll burn it down.”

CHAPTER 7
    Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan

26 March—1945 Hours
    S al sprinted across the base, aiming for the alley he’d seen the spook vanish down. Son of a gun if he wasn’t again chasing a target across the base. This was getting old. Determination shoved him forward.
    “Stop him,” Hawk shouted from behind.
    No kidding, Sherlock
.
    “Command, this… is… Riordan, we have… spy…”
    Sal barreled into the night-darkened shadows. Saw the spook ahead, aiming for the heavily trafficked HQ and USO buildings. If the guy made it into HQ, they’d never find him.
    Throwing himself forward, Sal rounded a corner.
    Rammed straight into someone.
    A woman screamed.
    Pain jarred through Sal’s head as cement rushed up at him. He landed with a thud.
    A gargled cry came beneath him.
    He heard the unmistakable crack of skull on cement. The person he’d collided with had hit their head. Sal rolled to the side, disoriented.
    Raptor team and the SEALs caught up. Glanced at him.
    Pointing toward the alley, he said, “Go! Go!”
    On a knee, he glanced at the woman. And froze.
    Peeling herself off the sidewalk as she wiped at a dark stain on her blouse, Cassie groaned. Blood trickled down her temple. She reached for her head with another low moan. A foam cup rolled across the path.
    “What were you doing?”
    “
Me?
You were the one who—” Cassie tensed, hunching her shoulders as she grabbed her head. She swayed.
    Guilt chugging through his veins, Sal caught her shoulders. “We had a lead on the spook.” Why had she been in his path? Why her? Why couldn’t it have been anyone else?
    Tentative eyes came to his. “What? And now it’s my fault that you didn’t catch them. Right?” She blinked, wincing beneath a jab of pain it seemed.
    Sal felt the anger rising. “You did knock me off the pursuit.”
    “Right. And I did that because I have nothing better to do than make your life miserable.” She bent and snatched the foam cup from the ground. When she stood and took a step, her legs buckled.
    Sal caught her again.
    “Quite a knot,” Harrier’s voice boomed through the conversation as he returned. “Let me take a look.”
    “Did you get him?”
    Shaking his head, Harrier edged in, used his finger and thumb to open Cassie’s eyes wider. Asked her to track as he moved a finger back and forth in front of her. “Think you might have a concussion.”
    “A concussion?” Sal objected. “We just ran into each other.”
    “Her head hit the sidewalk.” At Sal’s skeptical look, Harrier shrugged. “Just telling you what I saw coming up the path.”
    “I’m fine.” Cassie pushed Harrier’s hands away.
    “You should get that looked at,” Harrier said.
    “I said I’m fine.” She pursed her lips and turned her gaze deliberately to Sal. “Sorry I messed up your high-speed chase. I didn’t know