Page 61 of Rangers Last Promise

“Don’t make me into something I’m not.”

“What are you?”

“A medic who couldn’t save the one man he needed to save.”

“Grant was shot in an ambush.”

“You weren’t there.”

“No.”

Her voice softens.

“But you were. And you carried his dog tags for fifteen years. Men who don’t care don’t do that.”

Her words break through a wall I’ve spent years building.

I turn away.

Mara reaches for my hand.

Her fingers close around mine.

The touch is gentle.

No demand.

No accusation.

Only warmth.

I should let go.

Instead, I stand in the dusty darkness holding Grant’s sister’s hand while the past closes around us.

“There may be another copy of the coordinates,” she says.

“Grant gave me the only one I knew about.”

“You said Grant chose his words carefully.”

“He did.”

“He wrote that you had the coordinates. He didn’t write that you had the only copy.”

I look at her.

“The lockbox.”

Her hand tightens around mine.

“Grant gave me the key before he deployed,” she says. “But if he sent something home after he discovered the betrayal…”

“He could have put another copy in the box.”

“Or something that tells us where those coordinates lead.”

“And we don’t know where the box is.”