Page 206 of Broken Oath

Looking for Wade.

Looking for Warden.

Looking for anything that might explain why four survivors had been secretly transferred after a mission the government claimed killed everyone involved.

Across the warehouse, Sarah sat beside the operations table.

A cup of coffee rested untouched near her hand.

She wasn’t reading.

She wasn’t working.

She stared at Wade’s photograph.

The same face she had carried in her memory for five years.

Only now everything had changed.

Dead men didn’t receive transfer orders.

Dead men weren’t listed as active three months after their funerals.

Dead men weren’t assigned prisoner-classification numbers.

Wade survived.

For at least three months.

Hope had returned.

And hope terrified her.

Rook understood why.

If Wade had lived, then someone had stolen five years from them.

Birthdays.

Holidays.

Family dinners.

Every ordinary moment people took for granted.

Rook looked away.

Sarah’s pain was difficult to watch.

Not because she was weak.

Because she was trying so hard not to let anyone see it.

A sharp curse broke the silence.

Fathom sat upright.

His fingers stopped moving.