Chapter 98 Carter
Carter
The ridge shook with the force of the firefight. Bullets screamed off rock, dirt exploding at my boots. The air was thick with smoke and the stench of gunpowder, every breath tearing hot into my lungs.
“Left flank!” River called.
I swung, sighted fast, and cut down two climbing through a gap in the rocks. One stumbled back, tumbling down the slope, his rifle clattering against stone.
Cyclone roared a curse as a round grazed his arm, but he didn’t falter. His rifle boomed again, the recoil slamming his shoulder, every shot tearing Redwood men off their feet.
Gideon crouched low, his pistol barking between frantic keystrokes on the laptop balanced on a flat rock. “Jamming their comms—buying us time!”
Rounds sparked inches from my head, and I pressed tighter against cover, heart hammering. Sable’s laughter drifted through the chaos—dark, twisted, amused.
“You can’t hold them forever,” he taunted, blood dripping down his chin. “Redwood doesn’t stop.”
I ignored him, sighting down my rifle again. My finger squeezed, another merc dropping. One more step cleared. One more second bought.
But he wasn’t wrong. For every man that fell, two more pushed through the trees. We were holding the ridge by sheer fury, but the pressure was mounting.
I grit my teeth, forcing calm through the storm. My vision tunneled, Harper’s face searing itself across my mind. Her smile. Her strength. Her whispered always.
I pulled the trigger again, every round a vow carved into the battlefield.
We wouldn’t break. We wouldn’t fall.
Not while she was waiting for me.