Page 175 of Broken Oath

“You don’t understand.”

“Then help me understand.”

Gunfire continued around them.

But for one second, Sarah looked only at Rook.

“Wade trusted him.”

The words were barely audible.

“Marcus was his commanding officer.”

Rook understood the betrayal then.

Marcus hadn’t merely investigated Wade’s disappearance.

He had sent Wade on the mission.

Then carried out the investigation into his own decisions.

“He lied to all of us,” Sarah said. “He stood beside my family and promised he would bring Wade home.”

Her eyes returned to the road where Marcus had vanished.

“He carried my brother’s casket even though there was nothing inside it.”

An empty casket.

A symbolic funeral.

Five years without a body or an answer.

Rook’s anger became something colder.

“Is Wade dead?”

Sarah hesitated.

“I don’t know.”

Hope and agony lived inside those three words.

For five years, she hadn’t known whether she was hunting her brother’s killer or trying to find him alive.

Rook released her arm.

Not because he wanted her to run.

Because he understood now.

“We find Marcus,” he said.

Sarah met his eyes.

“We find Wade.”

The promise crossed between them.