Chapter 7 - The Team Returns
Nora shifted the rifle toward the sound.
Hale came over the ridge first, hands visible.
“Friendly.”
Briggs followed him with two infantrymen.
Nora lowered the muzzle.
“I told you to move the civilians.”
“They’re moving.”
“Then why are you here?”
Hale crouched beside her. “Because you’re still on the ridge.”
Nora looked down toward the convoy. The last vehicle had cleared the most exposed section of road. Dust trailed behind it as the transports entered the covered pass.
“You should have stayed with them.”
“They have escort now.”
Briggs checked the dead radio clipped to Nora’s vest.
“Whole channel’s jammed.”
“Not jammed,” Nora said. “Targeted.”
Hale’s eyes narrowed. “Meaning?”
“Someone knew the frequency, timing, and my position.”
Another distant impact rolled through the valley.
They all looked toward the opposite ridge.
The mortar fire had stopped chasing Nora’s old nest. It had begun walking toward the evacuation route.
“They’re correcting based on inside information,” Hale said.
“Yes.”
“Can you prove it?”
Nora looked at the radio.
“Not from here.”
Hale studied her condition. “We need to move.”
Nora tried to stand.
Her leg failed.
Briggs caught her arm before she hit the rock.
For one moment, nobody spoke.
Nora hated the weakness in her body more than the pain.
Hale did not pity her.
He simply shifted position and offered his shoulder.
“You kept eighty civilians alive,” he said. “Let us carry some weight now.”
Nora accepted.
Not surrender.
Not defeat.
May you like
Trust.
Together, they moved off the ridge as another mortar impact struck the empty stone behind them.
