Page 268 of Rangers Last Promise

He fails.

Mara catches his hand the moment he reaches the surface.

“We’ve got you.”

“My leg feels like it’s on fire.”

“That’s because you tried to kick your way through concrete.”

“I didn’t kick it.”

“You’ve always been an overachiever.”

Paramedics move him onto a stretcher.

Carson grips Mara’s wrist.

“There are markings on the containers.”

“What kind?”

“Names.”

Every sound around us seems to disappear.

“You saw names?” I ask.

“Numbers too. I couldn’t read all of them.”

“Did you recognize any?”

Carson looks at me.

“One.”

“Who?”

“Michael Torres.”

The name hits me.

Wolf stops behind us.

Trigger goes completely still.

“You knew him?” Mara asks.

I nod.

“He was an interpreter attached to another unit.”

“Was he a soldier?”

“Not officially.”

I remember a young man with a wide smile and a photograph of his wife folded inside his pocket.

He spoke five languages.