7. Lucas
LUCAS
The convoy never reached the road.
The first rocket-propelled grenade exploded fifty yards ahead, showering the narrow mountain pass with rock and dirt.
“AMBUSH!”
Adam’s voice cut through the darkness.
“Vehicles off the road!”
The armored SUVs swerved.
One slid into a shallow ditch.
Another disappeared behind a rocky outcropping.
The Brave exploded into motion.
Exactly as we’d trained.
Russ climbed onto the hood of the lead vehicle and scanned the ridgeline through his scope.
“Multiple shooters! High ground!”
Boone was already helping civilians out of the second vehicle.
“Move!”
“Stay low!”
“Follow me!”
Terrified families scrambled toward a cluster of boulders as bullets sparked off the armored doors.
I didn’t take my eyes off the ridgeline.
“They’re disciplined.”
Adam nodded.
“Not militia.”
“No. They’re trained.”
Another burst of automatic fire ripped across the convoy.
Hawk answered with three carefully aimed shots.
One enemy fighter disappeared behind the ridgeline.
“Target down.”
The radio crackled.
“More moving east!”
I studied the terrain.
Something wasn’t right.
The attackers weren’t trying to destroy us.
They were herding us.
Forcing us deeper into the canyon.
Into a kill box.
Someone had planned every inch of this.
“They know exactly where we’re going.”
Adam looked at me.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“We’ve got a leak.”
Another explosion rocked the mountainside.
Huge rocks crashed across the trail behind us.
Our escape route disappeared beneath tons of stone.
Russ looked back.
“We’re trapped.”
Adam stayed calm.
“No. They think we are.”
He pointed toward a steep ridgeline.
“There.”
Boone looked up.
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
Hawk smiled.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
I turned toward Wynn.
“Stay with Janice.”
She folded her arms.
“I can help.”
“You already are.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Before either of us could say another word, a frightened little boy screamed.
“My sister!”
I looked across the open ground.
A little girl stood frozen in the line of fire.
She couldn’t have been more than five.
Enemy rounds stitched the dirt around her tiny feet.
Then Wynn ran.
I closed my eyes for half a second.
“She’s doing it again.”
She reached the little girl just as another burst of gunfire tore across the ground.
I was already moving.
Bullets snapped past my head.
Adam yelled something behind me.
I didn’t hear him.
All I could see was Wynn.
She scooped the little girl into her arms and turned.
Our eyes met.
Her emerald-green eyes widened.
“Lucas!”
An enemy rifle cracked.
I dove.
My shoulder slammed into Wynn, carrying all three of us behind a shattered stone wall.
A bullet struck the rock where she’d been standing.
Stone fragments exploded around us.
For one heartbeat, I couldn’t breathe.
She was alive.
Barely.
The little girl buried her face against Wynn’s shoulder.
I looked down at Wynn.
“You really don’t know how to follow orders.”
She smiled.
“You noticed.”
I shook my head.
Frustration.
Relief.
Love.
I wasn’t sure where one emotion ended and the next began.
“You are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met.”
“And you married me anyway.”
That one hurt.
More than either of us expected.
Adam’s voice exploded through my earpiece.
“Lucas! We’ve got incoming!”
I looked toward the ridgeline.
More trucks.
More fighters.
A lot more.
I helped Wynn to her feet.
“Stay behind the rocks.”
This time, she nodded.
Still holding the little girl.
I sprinted back toward Adam.
“What have we got?”
He lowered his binoculars.
“The rescue wasn’t their real target.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
He looked toward the growing convoy of enemy vehicles winding through the canyon.
“I think someone wanted us to succeed.”
Silence settled over the Brave.
Boone slowly lowered his rifle.
“They let us rescue the hostages.”
Russ finished the thought.
“So they could trap all of us together.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Hawk checked his rifle.
“Well…”
That familiar grin spread across his face.
“They’re about to learn why nobody hunts the Brave.”
Adam smiled.
“Let’s go teach them.”
I checked my rifle one last time.
Around me, every member of the Brave did the same.
The mountains erupted in gunfire.
The battle had only just begun.
And I had a feeling getting everyone home—including the woman I’d never stopped loving—was going to be the hardest mission of my life.