Page 36 of Rangers Last Promise

I already know the answer.

I can see the missing photograph in my mind.

Eight men standing before a bullet-scarred wall. Grant in the center. Wolf and Trigger on one side. Me on the other.

Hampton stood at the far left.

The man beside him was the only soldier who knew our assigned route before the false order came through.

“Captain Fred Miller.”

Wolf’s face hardens.

Sheriff Tate catches the reaction.

“Who is he?”

“Our commanding officer,” Trigger answers.

“Where is he now?”

“No one knows,” Wolf says. “He disappeared three months after Grant died.”

Mara’s eyes narrow.

“Disappeared?”

“The Army listed him as absent without leave,” I say. “Two years later, a body believed to be his was recovered from a burned vehicle in Arizona.”

“Believed to be?”

“Dental records confirmed the identification.”

“But you don’t believe he died.”

I remember the message on my phone.

Your promise ends with her.

“I did until today.”

Deputy Parker’s radio crackles.

“Sheriff, we found the SUV.”

Tate takes the radio. “Location?”

“Old Mill Road, two miles north of town. It’s burning.”

“Any sign of the driver?”

“No, sir. But there’s something painted on the rear door.”

“What?”

Static breaks across the transmission.

Then the deputy’s voice returns.