Page 278 of Broken Oath

The door slammed shut, leaving him alone beneath the merciless fluorescent lights.

For several seconds, he sat perfectly still.

Then he looked toward the ceiling.

Toward thousands of tons of rock and ice.

Toward the prison that had held him for five years.

Toward the men who believed no one would ever find what they had buried beneath the mountain.

For the first time in a very long time, Wade allowed himself to feel hope.

Sarah was alive.

His father was alive.

Rook was hunting the people who had betrayed them.

And somewhere beyond the mountain, ghosts were moving.

Shadow Division was coming for him.

32

WADE

Something had changed.

The mountain felt different.

For five years, the routine had never varied.

Lights.

Food.

Interrogations.

Silence.

Repeat.

Day after day.

Month after month.

Year after year.

The routine wasn’t merely part of the prison.

The routine was the prison.

It stripped away time. Smothered hope. Convinced a man that nothing existed beyond concrete, steel, and the fluorescent lights that never went dark.

Today, the routine was gone.

Wade noticed it before the first meal arrived.