There was no touch. When Melvin stepped toward the convoy, he didn’t feel superstition or luck. He felt presenc
A few yards away, Lucero glanced over as Melvin slipped the card into his breast pocket. He looked away a second too quickly.
Across the lot, Kessler stood over a clipboard by the motor pool. His gaze lifted just long enough to catch Melvin slipping the card into his breast pocket and Mac watching him a moment too closely. Kessler returned to his checklist without comment.
Melvin had the uneasy sense that it hadn’t gone unnoticed.
He pushed the thought aside and climbed into the lead Humvee.
The convoy rolled out as dawn bled pale gold across the horizon. Five Humvees moved in tight spacing, tires crunching over hard-packed dirt. Melvin rode lead with Bennett and Lieutenant Alexander.
The route was supposed to be safe. Halfway back from Warhorse, the world fractured. A sharp report snapped out from a rocky ridge to the left.
“Contact left!” Bennett yelled.
Bullets spat into the windshield, spiderwebbing the glass. The sound built into a deafening roar. Melvin’s hands clenched the radio mount. Hesitation cost lives. “Sniper, keep us moving!”
A heavier thud followed. An RPG struck behind them, the blast shuddering through the chassis. A searing pain sliced across his shoulder. Blood bloomed along his uniform. Another sting grazed his cheek.
“Comms are out!” Bennett yelled. “Antenna’s gone!”
“Maintain spacing!” Melvin ordered. “Return fire and push through!”
Turret gunners pivoted. Diaz’s Humvee stayed tight behind them. The convoy cleared the kill zone in a grinding surge of engines and dust. The firing thinned behind them until it faded entirely.
Melvin forced himself to breathe once before speaking into his portable radio. “Status check.”
One by one the calls came back. No KIA. Minor damage.
They were still moving. But the convoy didn’t feel clean anymore.
The windshield ahead of him was cracked through the center. The antenna lay bent across the hood. They needed eyes on the vehicles. Melvin scanned the terrain as the road dipped into a ruined courtyard framed by collapsed concrete.
“Diaz, hold security,” he said. “Short halt.”
The Humvees rolled to a staggered stop. Gunners stayed locked on their sectors. Melvin stepped down into the heat, boots crunching through powder-fine dust. The courtyard felt deserted in a way that pressed against the skin. Just the ticking of hot engines. It should have felt safer this far from the ridge. It didn’t.
“Check vehicles and spacing,” Melvin ordered. “Quick and quiet.”
Reynolds dismounted immediately, rifle up. Melvin watched him move along the perimeter. The collapsed stairwell beside him gave partial cover and a clear view down a narrow alley. Since the memorial he carried himself differently. Tighter. Steadier. Melvin approved of the placement without saying so. No stray dogs moved through the rubble. Even the wind seemed to hesitate. His instincts tightened.
“Hold it tight,” Melvin murmured into the mic. “Stay sharp.”
Reynolds held the left sector beside the stairwell, eyes tracking the dark opening. A shape slid low across broken ground. Reynolds shifted, rifle rising.
The creature erupted from shadow in a single fluid motion, landing and sending Reynolds sprawling. A gunshot cracked and Reynolds cursed sharply. For a heartbeat Melvin saw it. Coarse fur stretched over taut muscle. A dark muzzle bristling with too many teeth.
It didn’t snarl.
It inhaled slowly.
The creature paused like it was choosing something.
Reynolds rolled, cursing, scrambling for purchase. The beast adjusted its stance with eerie precision. Melvin stepped forward, posture calm. No threat. No retreat. The panther inside him settled intothe stillness. Their eyes met. And for a moment Melvin had the cold certainty it knew exactly what he was.
Then the intruder slid backward into shadow and vanished. Melvin exhaled. He dropped beside Reynolds. Two puncture wounds marked the fabric above his boot. Swelling climbed fast. Blood dripped into the dust.
“I’m fine,” Reynolds protested.
