Roth(Hell Squad 5) Read Online Free Page B

mistake of thinking she wasn’t a hell of a soldier. Big mistake.
    She wrinkled her nose. “This homebrew sucks.”
    “It’s not that bad,” he said. “But it’s not chardonnay.”
    Taylor took a long swig from her bottle. “No. It’s not.”
    Mac leaned forward from Roth’s other side. “Looks like the aliens are getting pretty busy again out on the streets. I’d really hoped you and Hell Squad damaging their energy source would have put them down for longer.”
    Roth had hoped so too. “With the energy cubes we destroyed, it’ll take time for them to replace them, at least. It’ll also take time for them to make more of those genesis tanks.”
    “Thank God for small favors.” A tall woman sauntered up. Camryn McNab had gorgeous dark skin she’d inherited from her African mother, and a Scottish burr she’d picked up from her Highlander father. She leaned against the table. Unless she was in the field, Cam didn’t stand if she could sit. Hell, she’d lie down, if she could.
    He watched two nearby men with their gazes glued to Cam. The rest of the squad called her the glamazon. She liked to dress up when she wasn’t in fatigues or armor. Right now, she had on some tight, black pants and a tiny halter top that showed off her toned shoulders. Roth always pictured her as an ancient queen lounging on cushions while being carried around on a litter. But put a carbine in her hands and she turned into a warrior.
    The final two members of his squad arrived. Sienna Rossi—all long, dark curls and a curvy body—was talking a mile a minute to the tall, silent Theron. Roth nodded to them both. Theron didn’t say much, but he didn’t seem to mind being surrounded by tough, deadly females. He was a quiet man by nature, but a bull in a firefight.
    Roth sipped his beer and fell back into brooding. These gatherings helped everyone blow off steam, which was vitally important when the world had gone to hell. Even more important when people had lost their loved ones, and needed a sense of closeness. For many, the night ended up in someone’s bed. Casual sex wasn’t frowned upon here. Since the invasion, it was embraced as a way to feel close to someone else. He’d taken up the odd offer, but for the most part, he spent the majority of his time with the squads, and the rest of the time planning future missions.
    “What’s up with the boss?” Cam drawled. “All this broody silence isn’t his style.”
    Roth ignored Cam’s comment. He’d gotten used to ignoring them when they started poking at him.
    “Not sure,” Mac answered, talking over him like he wasn’t even there. “He was questioning that CCIA agent again. After that, he was cranky as hell. So I guess he didn’t get what he wanted.”
    “Hmm.” Cam dragged the sound out in a way that set Roth on edge. “And just what did he want, I wonder?”
    Roth took another deliberate sip of his beer and kept ignoring them.
    Across the room, he caught Marcus Steele’s green gaze, and the head of Hell Squad nodded. The man had his arm around Elle Milton. Talk about beauty and the beast. The battle-hardened soldier and the former socialite, but strangely, the two of them fit. When Elle looked up and said something to Marcus, the big man smiled.
    Happiness and love. Roth took another swig of beer to ease his suddenly tight throat. Even in the middle of a war, these two had found it.
    Beside them stood the rest of Hell Squad, minus Cruz and Santha. Gabe Jackson—in Roth’s opinion Hell Squad’s deadliest soldier—stood tall and silent. Beside him a blonde woman gesticulated enthusiastically as she told some story. Dr. Emerson Green was a hell of a doctor who ran the base’s medical team. She’d patched Roth up more times than he could count, and the rest of his team as well. He watched her laugh, then elbow Gabe. The man managed a small smile—and that was a minor miracle. Roth wondered if anyone else saw the all-consuming love in Gabe’s eyes.
    Hell