Page 243 of Rangers Last Promise

“Eight entered the valley. Grant died there.”

“Seven came home,” Mara says.

I shake my head.

“No. Six.”

The room goes silent.

Trigger understands first.

“Kane disappeared before extraction.”

I nod.

“We thought he’d been killed.”

“But he survived,” Tate says.

“Yes.”

Mara studies the photograph.

“If Kane didn’t leave with you, then who brought Grant’s phone home?”

I look toward the dead flip phone sealed in the evidence bag.

“Kane did.”

“He said Vance took it from him.”

“Which means Kane made it out of the valley on his own.”

Wolf swears softly.

Mara sets down the photograph.

“Open the envelopes.”

Lieutenant Ross photographs each one before moving them onto the table.

The first has my name written across the front.

DOC.

The second says MARA.

The third says IF WE FAIL.

I can’t breathe.

Grant knew.

Maybe not that he would die.

But he knew he might.

Mara looks at the envelope with her name.