"You okay?" he asked, gaze intent.
"Yeah, good. Let's go again," Brady said, swiping the sweat from his face.
"We've been at it for an hour, and you're still rarin' go to."
Brady straightened from his sparring stance. He was hot and sweaty, but he'd not yet been able to rid himself of the wired energy humming through his blood. He felt like sparring until noon.
"I thought you wanted to hit the comms site today," Dan added. "Save a little in case you run into any bad guys."
Brady gritted his teeth but nodded. Dan was right. He had a four-hour helo and hiking trip ahead of him to their nearest secure comms facility tucked into natural cave a few ranges over. The way things were going lately, he'd be lucky to make it there and back at all.
"You taking me?" Dan asked.
"Not this time, in case I don't come back."
"Think happy, man."
"You're awfully chipper today," Brady said with a grimace.
They walked into the camp from the designated exercise areas. The camp was being broken down quickly, with pallets already loaded and sealed, awaiting evacuation. Despite his less-than-serious nature, Dan was detail oriented and quick to execute, two traits Brady found priceless over their years together.
"We'll have everything down by tomorrow morning," Dan said, following his gaze to a pallet.
"Good man. As usual, you deliver."
"Yep. I can move the girls tonight so they're not stuck without a tent to sleep in."
"One night wouldn't hurt 'em," Brady grunted.
"It might hurt me."
He gave a sidelong look at Dan. "You and Elise?" he asked, surprised. "I thought she'd slit your throat."
"I'm not saying she didn't try," Dan said with a snort. "I put up a fight, but it was useless."
Brady ignored Dan, eyes taking in the progress of their preparations to leave. Dan's estimates were always conservative. It looked as if the camp would be packed up-if not evacuated-before dark.
"Move them to the nearest underground site today."
They entered his tent. Lana looked up from her seat on the couch. Her searching gaze lingered on him. He withdrew the micro and handed it to her.
"Emerops stations," he directed, watching. "Send the coords to Dan."
She chewed her lip but complied. He removed the micro from her hands and took her injured wrist. She'd tried to change the bandage on her own. It was messy and uneven.