Page 14 of Broken Oath

For one impossible second, he remained standing.

Then he crashed to the rocky ground.

Rook felt something inside him tear.

Not Hammer.

Not the man who had always seemed too big, too loud, and too stubborn to die.

But the mountain didn’t care.

The mountain kept taking.

Another rocket streaked through the darkness.

It slammed into Bishop’s position.

The explosion swallowed stone and fire.

Bishop emerged from the smoke bleeding, but still standing.

Still firing.

The older SEAL looked almost mythical against the flames.

One man holding back an army.

Then he looked toward Rook.

Their eyes met.

For one brief second.

Rook knew.

Bishop knew.

Everyone knew.

This wasn’t survival anymore.

This was sacrifice.

Bishop gave him a single nod.

A warrior’s farewell.

Then he turned back toward the enemy.

“GET THEM OUT OF HERE!”

His voice thundered across the mountain.

The machine gun roared.

Enemy fire converged on him.

Hundreds of rounds.