Page 242 of Rangers Last Promise

Kane.

All of us younger.

Dirty.

Tired.

Still stupid enough to believe we were coming home together.

Mara lifts the photograph carefully.

“Is this Site Seventeen?”

I study the concrete wall behind us.

A black number is painted above the door.

“Yes.”

Sheriff Tate leans closer.

“Who took the photograph?”

I don’t remember.

That bothers me.

“We were supposed to be on a reconnaissance exercise.”

“Who gave the orders?”

“Captain Miller.”

Mara turns the picture over.

Writing covers the back.

She reads it aloud.

“Eight entered the valley. Seventeen were waiting. Twenty-three never existed.”

The same message Grant left behind.

But there’s another line beneath it.

Smaller.

Written in red ink.

“Only seven Rangers came home.”

Wolf steps closer.

“That’s wrong.”

“No,” I say.

Everyone looks at me.