Page 145 of Rangers Last Promise

“Who was in command of Twenty-Three?”

Hampton doesn't answer.

I look at him.

“Who?”

“That's the name I don't have.”

“After fifteen years?”

“I know the title.”

“What title?”

Hampton looks at me.

“The Colonel.”

“That's it?”

“No name. No confirmed identity. Every instruction went through intermediaries.”

“Convenient.”

“You think I haven't spent fifteen years looking?”

“I don't know what you've spent fifteen years doing.”

“Trying to stay alive long enough to finish what Grant started.”

I laugh without humor.

“You have an interesting way of honoring him.”

“I didn't say I was a good man.”

At least we agree on something.

My phone isn't in my pocket.

Hampton took it before forcing me into the truck.

I look toward the mirror.

Mara is still behind us.

Closer now.

“What happens when we reach Site Seventeen?”

“You see the records.”

“And then?”

“You decide whether to believe me.”

“What about Mara?”