Page 21 of Broken Oath

Neither man argued again.

Smoke rolled across the mountain.

Rook ran.

Sniper and Fathom stayed beside him.

Bullets cracked overhead as enemy fighters poured down the slopes behind them.

Every step felt wrong.

Every instinct screamed at him to turn around.

To go back.

To bring his brothers home.

Another explosion ripped through the ridge.

Then he heard it.

Weak.

Broken.

Familiar.

“Commander…”

Rook froze.

Slowly, he turned.

A hundred yards behind them, half buried beneath shattered rock and debris, Noah “Viking” Kane lay pinned against the mountainside.

Alive.

Barely.

Blood soaked his uniform.

One leg was trapped beneath a slab of stone.

His rifle rested across his lap, its barrel still smoking.

“Viking!”

Rook started toward him.

Sniper caught his arm. “Don’t.”

“He’s alive.”

“We don’t have time.”

“We make time.”

Enemy voices echoed above them.