Melvin looked at him then, his eyes softer in the low light.
“You think we’re safe now?”
Mac paused, setting his boot down on the floor. “I think we’re seen now.”
Silence settled between them, filled only by the distant hum of a generator outside.
Mac could feel the steadiness in the room, the quiet presence of Melvin only a few feet away. The bond between them ran low and constant, not pulling, not urgent, just there. Like a current he could stop noticing but never quite lose.
Then Melvin leaned forward slightly, voice low.
“You’re still worth fighting for, you know. Even if this gets messy again.”
Mac felt his jaw tighten before he could stop it. He reached out, hesitated, then rested a hand on Melvin’s knee.
It was only a touch, but Mac felt it settle deeper than it should have.
He left his hand there a moment longer than necessary before pulling it back.
Outside, a door slammed somewhere down the barracks line. A radio crackled faintly through a wall. The base kept moving around them the way it always did.
Nothing had really changed.
But enough had.
And for the first time in a long while, Mac felt something close to balance.
It wasn’t safety. But it was steadier than fear.
Mac had learned something about quiet out here.
It never lasted.
Chapter 29 - Melvin
The static crackled across the TOC speakers, sharp and sudden in the morning’s dry heat. A clipped voice. Static. Then: “Contact, contact, this is Whiskey Three-Two. We are taking fire on Route Icebreaker, west of the overpass. Request QRF now. Repeat, taking heavy fire, over.”
Melvin looked up from the map table, heart already hammering. His eyes found the coordinates on the screen. They were close. Too close. Third Platoon was less than fifteen klicks out, still running a dismounted patrol near a checkpoint that had gone dark the night before. And Mac? Mac had been running a supply escort through a nearby corridor. Different route, but not far.
The TOC snapped into motion around him. Captain Baxter’s voice cut through it, calm and sharp. “Alpha Company: stand by for QRF deployment.”
He looked straight at Melvin, who was already grabbing his helmet.
“Hayes, you’re rolling out. Fast and clean. Carter’s convoy is rerouting to assist. This one could get loud.”
Melvin’s hands moved on instinct. Radio clipped. Vest buckled. Weapon slung.
Execute the mission.
Get to Mac.
He didn’t say it out loud.
The convoy tore across the desert, dust curling thick behind them. Engines howled. Inside the lead Humvee, Melvin gripped the side rail, eyes locked forward through the windshield.
Then cracks across the valley.
Then again.
