Page 142 of Broken Oath

One sentence bothered him.

One careful choice of words.

I tried to stop it.

Not I tried to warn them.

Not I tried to save them.

She had tried to stop it.

That meant she knew about the operation before the ambush.

Before the mountain.

Before six men died.

She hadn’t uncovered the conspiracy afterward.

She had been close enough to see it coming.

Close enough to interfere.

Close enough to fail.

“She was inside,” Rook said.

Fathom looked at him. “Inside what?”

“The conspiracy.”

The room went still.

“She knew the mountain was coming,” Rook continued. “She knew someone planned to betray us.”

“Then why didn’t she warn you?” Cobra demanded.

Rook didn’t have an answer.

Fathom opened another file.

“Maybe she tried.”

A classified message appeared.

Sent fourteen hours before the mission.

Addressed directly to Rook’s former command account.

The subject line read:

MISSION COMPROMISED—ABORT IMMEDIATELY

Delivery status:

INTERCEPTED AND DELETED

Rook stared at it.