Chapter 429
[ 525 words ]
Chapter 429:
A catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake had struck Redwood Valley, California. The screen filled with horrifying aerial footage of collapsed buildings, fractured highways, and plumes of smoke rising from a landscape that looked like a war zone.
Redwood Valley.
The name sent a cold spike through Caroline’s chest, but not because Jarrod was stationed there. He wasn’t. He was still overseas, still in that dusty, war-torn country she had spent countless sleepless nights praying he would survive. The earthquake was a tragedy, but it was not her tragedy. Not directly.
Then the news anchor’s voice cut through her thoughts. “We are receiving reports that several U.S. military units have been diverted from overseas operations to assist with domestic search and rescue. Among them is the Joint Special Operations Task Force, which has extensive experience in urban disaster response.”
Caroline’s blood turned to ice. Joint Special Operations Task Force. That was Jarrod’s command. The same unit she had been told was deployed to a combat zone far across the ocean was being rerouted directly into the heart of a natural disaster.
Her hands trembled as she fumbled for her satellite phone, her fingers numb and clumsy. She dialed his number. Nothing. Just a dead, empty hiss of static. She tried again. And again. The same suffocating silence.
A voice crackled over the hospital’s PA system, calling for an emergency assembly of all available medical personnel. They were forming an emergency response team to fly to California.
Without a second thought, Caroline ran. She sprinted through the chaotic hallways toward the designated assembly point. This was her only way. The only way to get to him, to find out if he was alive. Her fear was a fire in her veins, burning away everything but that single, desperate purpose.
Her focus and her medical credentials got her a spot on the first transport. At the assembly point, she saw Julian and Brenna, their faces pale but resolute. They had volunteered too. Julian met her eyes, his expression a complex mix of concern and the lingering pain from their last conversation. He just nodded. In the face of this, personal dramas felt small, insignificant. Brenna offered her a small, tight smile of solidarity.
They were herded onto a cavernous military transport plane. The roar of the engines was deafening. Julian leaned across the aisle, shouting over the noise, trying to offer some words of comfort.
𝘓a𝗍𝘦𝗌𝘁 𝘤𝗁а𝗉𝘁e𝗋s 𝗼ո 𝗀аl𝗻𝗼𝗏𝗲𝘭𝘀.𝖼𝗼𝗺
Caroline just shook her head, her gaze fixed on the small, scratched window. Her mind was a slideshow of horrors, imagining Jarrod’s unit diverted from one danger straight into another, his injured body caught in a collapsing building, calling for help. She didn’t see the landscape passing below. She only saw his face.
The plane touched down with a jolt at a hastily erected temporary military base that was now the central command for the rescue operation. The air outside was thick with dust and the frantic energy of organized chaos.
The moment the ramp lowered, she saw him. K.C. Bell, his face grim, waiting for them.
She scrambled down the ramp and ran to him, grabbing his arm. “K.C.! Where is he? Where’s the Colonel? When did his unit get diverted here?”
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