Chapter 1 - Put Your Face Back Down
Sarah Miller’s right arm failed beneath the low-crawl wire.
Her shoulder dropped, and her face struck the red Georgia clay with a wet thud. For several seconds, she could hear only her own breath breaking against the mud.
Staff Sergeant Marcus Thorne stopped beside her.
“Put your face back down, Miller.”
Sarah’s fingers dug into the ground. Gravel cut through the fabric at her elbows, and the wire above her back left no room to rise safely. Fifty soldiers held plank positions nearby, their arms shaking as Thorne forced them to watch her struggle.
He had turned the entire platoon into an audience.
Every time Sarah reached a standard, he changed it. If she completed the low crawl correctly, he accused her of using her knees. If she improved her run time, he questioned the distance. When she passed an equipment inspection, he claimed someone had helped her.
Then he punished everyone else for her “failure.”
It made the platoon resent her without requiring him to admit that humiliation was the real objective.
“I’m not quitting,” Sarah said.
Her voice was hoarse, but the words were clear.
Thorne crouched beside her and seized the back of her tactical vest.
“You don’t belong here.”
He yanked upward, forcing her head from the mud without lifting her body far enough to relieve the pressure on her shoulders.
Sarah kept one palm planted.
Beyond the training field, a polished black Grand Wagoneer stood beside the road. It had been there for nearly twenty minutes, its tinted windows reflecting the pit and soldiers back at themselves.
Thorne had not noticed it.
Sarah had.
The driver’s door suddenly slammed.
The sound carried across the field.
Every soldier froze.
Thorne’s grip stopped tightening.
A silver-haired man stepped from the vehicle wearing a crisp khaki uniform. Four stars flashed on his shoulders beneath the Georgia sun.
General Richard Sterling walked toward the mud pit without hurrying.
He did not need to.
The field already belonged to him.
May you like
“Step away from her.”
Thorne released Sarah as if her vest had burned his hand.
