Page 35 of Broken Oath

Three weeks while his brothers were carried home.

Three weeks while parents, friends, and children waited for answers.

Three weeks while whoever had murdered them continued breathing free air.

Rook closed his eyes.

The pain in his chest had nothing to do with broken ribs.

“What happened?”

Sniper and Fathom exchanged a look.

Rook saw the hesitation.

The weight.

The secret they didn’t know how to hand him.

Finally, Sniper spoke.

“We were found.”

Rook frowned. “By who?”

Silence.

Too long.

Too strange.

Fathom looked toward the window. “We don’t know.”

Rook stared at him. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I mean we don’t know.”

Frustration flashed across Fathom’s face.

Michael Sarrilla hated questions he couldn’t answer.

Sniper stepped farther into the room.

“The official recovery team didn’t find us.”

That landed hard.

Rook felt the cold of the mountain again.

Smoke.

Blood.

Stone beneath his hands.

“What are you talking about?”

“When the military reached the ambush site,” Fathom said, “we were already gone.”