Page 119 of Rangers Last Promise

Mara runs her finger down the list.

“If Hampton was one of the seventeen…”

“Then he wasn't talking about enemy fighters,” I say.

Wolf finishes the thought.

“He was talking about themselves.”

Eight entered the valley.

Seventeen were waiting.

A cold weight settles in my stomach.

Grant hadn't discovered a bad set of coordinates.

He'd discovered an operation that officially never existed.

And seventeen men had been brought to Afghanistan shortly before our team walked into an ambush.

Mara looks toward the house.

“Someone took the key.”

I follow her gaze.

“Yes.”

“Hampton doesn't have it.”

“We don't know that.”

“I think we do.”

She turns back to me.

“Hampton knew I had a key. He searched Mom’s house looking for Grant’s evidence. He stole your coordinates. But if he already knew where my key was, he could've taken it yesterday instead of searching Mom’s house.”

She's right.

“So someone else has it.”

“One of the seventeen?”

“Maybe.”

Sheriff Tate's phone rings.

He answers.

“Tate.”

His expression changes.

“When?”

We all go silent.