She was up there. Alone. With strangers. But at least they were from Chase.
He should’ve been with her. He should’ve…No.No emotion.That’s how you blow the mission.But this wasn’t a mission anymore. Not to him.
He looked toward the western sky, watching the dark speck of the helicopter dissolve behind the front range. “Don’t die,” he said under his breath.
Because if she did, there wouldn’t be a system left for him to respect.
9000 FEET ABOVE COLORADO
The rotors screamed overhead, but inside the Chase medevac helo, Tim Holland worked in silence with a field medic. Shannon lay unconscious beneath thermal layers, warmed fluids pumping into her veins. Heated oxygen flowed down the tube into her trachea. A monitor flickered against the fuselage wall.
Four more minutes until touchdown.
He opened his secure comm. The encrypted connection buzzed, then linked.
“Ford,” came the voice.
“She’s alive,” Holland said, “but critical. She’ll make the facility, but she’s still in acute danger. Possible anoxic brain trauma. We won’t know until she reaches normal body temp.”
“I want updates every half hour,” Ford said.
“You’ll get them when I can,” Holland replied. Then he cut the line.
SECURE LINE, USAFA TRAINING WING
Dante stepped into the utility corridor, out of earshot of anyone who mattered. The call buzzed once.
“Ford.”
“Tell me she’s alive,” Dante pleaded.
“I just got off with Holland. She’s critical. What happened?”
“She was strangled and intentionally drowned.”
Ford exhaled hard. “How close are you to proof?”
“I already have the name,” Dante said. “I just don’t have proof.”
“Name.”
“First year, Daniel Krueger.”
“Jesus.”
Dante’s voice dropped. “She saw him coerce another cadet into a blow job, but the kid won’t testify. Shannon tried to keep a record, but Krueger destroyed it. Then the sabotage, the fall, and now this.”
“Who else knows?”
“No one who’ll speak, and the Academy’s locking it down. Judging by Holland’s view, the medical care was substandard.”
Ford’s tone turned quiet. “And you? You staying in place?”
“Yes,” Dante said. “I can’t move yet. Not until she’s safe. Not until I have proof. Not until he screws up again.”
“You think he will?”
Dante didn’t hesitate. “He already has.”
