11. Lucas
LUCAS
The canyon shook beneath the rumble of armored vehicles.
I glanced toward the eastern road.
Three armored personnel carriers.
Two armed technicals carrying more fighters.
This wasn’t a rescue mission anymore.
It was a battlefield.
Adam reached my position and dropped beside me behind the boulder.
“What’ve we got?”
I adjusted my scope.
“Three APCs. Two technicals loaded with fighters.”
Hawk let out a low whistle over the radio.
“They’re serious.”
Russ’s voice crackled through my earpiece.
“The civilians are moving. Boone’s got them headed toward the western trail.”
Adam nodded.
“Good.”
He looked at me.
“We buy them time.”
I smiled.
“My favorite kind of mission.”
Adam returned the grin.
“I figured.”
Another burst of enemy fire slammed into the rocks.
Stone fragments sprayed across my vest.
The enemy commander stepped out of the lead armored vehicle.
Through my scope, I could tell he wasn’t a local militia member.
His uniform was immaculate.
His movements deliberate.
Professional.
He raised a pair of binoculars and studied our position.
Then he slowly lowered them.
“He knows exactly who we are,” I said.
Adam looked through his own binoculars.
“I think you’re right.”
The commander lifted one hand.
Enemy fighters spread out with practiced precision.
Bounding.
Covering one another.
Military tactics.
Not desperation.
Training.
Hawk settled behind his rifle.
“They’re trying to flank us.”
“I see it.”
I keyed my radio.
“Russ, three-man element moving toward your position.”
“Already tracking.”
A second later, Russ’s rifle barked twice.
Two enemy fighters dropped.
The third disappeared behind cover.
“One escaped.”
“He won’t get far.”
Boone’s voice came next.
“Civilians are halfway to the trail.”
I couldn’t stop myself.
“And Wynn?”
There was a pause.
Then Boone chuckled.
“I had a feeling that’d be your next question.”
Heat crept up the back of my neck.
“Status?”
“She’s helping Janice carry one of the wounded.”
Of course she was.
Even with enemy soldiers closing in, she was carrying someone else.
Adam glanced at me.
“You know…”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
I sighed.
“But?”
He smiled.
“She’s still the first person you ask about.”
I checked another magazine.
“She’s a civilian.”
“So are all the others.”
I didn’t answer.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
Another explosion rocked the canyon.
The enemy commander pointed toward our position.
“They’re coming.”
Hawk settled deeper behind his rifle.
“Finally.”
The first wave advanced.
Using the rocks for cover.
Moving well.
Too well.
“They’re trained,” I muttered.
“They’re about to meet better training.”
Adam rose just high enough to fire.
One precise shot.
One enemy down.
Hawk fired twice.
Two more dropped before the others realized where the shots were coming from.
I picked the point man.
Slow breath.
Gentle squeeze.
The rifle barely moved.
He collapsed instantly.
The remaining attackers scattered, searching for targets they couldn’t find.
Their commander stepped away from the armored vehicle and motioned them forward.
Wrong move.
He’d exposed himself.
Hawk saw it too.
“You taking him?”
I nodded.
“On three.”
“One…”
“Two…”
Before either of us reached three, a burst of enemy fire erupted farther down the canyon.
Not at us.
At the civilians.
My heart stopped.
“Boone!”
“We’re hit!”
His voice came over the radio.
Urgent.
“We’ve got wounded!”
I shifted to move.
Adam caught my shoulder.
“They’re trying to pull us apart.”
“I know.”
He studied the enemy positions for half a second before releasing me.
“Go. Reinforce Boone. Hawk and I will hold them here.”
I was already moving.
Because Wynn was with those civilians.
And I’d already made myself one promise.
I wasn’t going to lose her again.