Page 118 of Rangers Last Promise

Mara studies my face.

“You're sure.”

“Hampton cut Miller's face out of that photograph.”

“So?”

“If Miller were dead, why bother?”

Wolf nods slowly.

“He wants us thinking about Miller.”

“Or warning Miller that we're coming,” Trigger says.

Mara picks up the personnel sheet.

“Who are the seventeen contractors?”

I look at the names.

Most mean nothing to me.

Then I reach number twelve.

My blood turns cold.

“No.”

Mara moves closer.

“What?”

I point at the name.

ELIAS HAMPTON.

Wolf swears.

Trigger takes the paper.

“Hampton wasn't assigned to our base as an intelligence contractor?”

“Apparently not.”

Mara looks at me.

“What was he?”

I read the heading again.

PRIVATE SECURITY SUPPORT PERSONNEL.

Hampton lied about who he was.

For fifteen years, I believed he worked for military intelligence because that's what his credentials said.

Those credentials were false.