Chapter 1528
[ 632 words ]
Those four were already a massive liability. If the team failed to save them now, this entire suicide mission would have been for nothing.
“I’ll stay behind, but I’m assigning four of my best men to escort your forward team.” Silas was deeply concerned about leaving Claire and his infected men unguarded. With no better options on the table, dividing their forces was a necessary gamble. Once Zeke led the scouting party into the brush, Claire glanced over at Dane. Dane immediately turned to Silas. “Did you brief Miller on the tampered firewood?”
Silas let out a heavy sigh at the question. “I pulled him aside while we were taking a leak and laid it out for him.”
“But he trusts Zeke implicitly.”
“Zeke pulled him out of the fire a few years back.”
“So, when I brought up our theory, his immediate reaction was that we were paranoid.”
“He’s convinced it was just a misunderstanding.”
Silas looked thoroughly defeated explaining it.
He and Miller went way back to their special ops days, and their brotherhood was forged in blood. But Zeke had saved Miller’s life.
A life debt like that wasn’t easily overridden by mere suspicion.
Because he couldn’t entirely trust Miller’s judgment on this, Silas had embedded four of his own operatives into the scouting team with strict orders to monitor the guide.
If Zeke made a single suspicious move, they were to neutralize him instantly.
The only wild card was whether Miller would remain objective when the time came.
If Miller kept a cool head, they would be fine.
But if his emotions clouded his judgment, it would be a disaster.
“Silas, what if Zeke isn’t the traitor?” Claire asked softly, breaking the tense silence.
Both Silas and Dane froze.
Silas’s expression hardened instantly. “Claire, are you implying something else?” “You don’t honestly think Miller is compromised, do you?”
Claire could tell that despite Silas’s frustrations with Miller, their bond as brothers-in- arms was unbreakable.
“If Miller were compromised, would you be able to pull the trigger when the moment came?” Claire asked him point-blank.
Silas didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second. “I am a soldier, and I am a of
3. Special Security
Bureau. I will execute the right call
“When the moment of truth arrives, I will eliminate the threat, even if it’s my own brother!”
“But…” Silas struggled to swallow the horrifying hypothetical. “It’s impossible.” “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not accusing Miller of treason,” Claire clarified calmly.
Dane caught her drift before Silas
did. “She’s asking if Miller would make the same ruthless, objective
choice you would if the only
reversed content
were
Claire nodded in confirmation.
Silas let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
He prayed everything was going smoothly on Miller’s end.
As the group settled into their defensive perimeter, Claire began another round of
acupuncture on the four infected men.
By now, she was running on absolute fumes.
When she pulled the final needle, her face was drained of all color.
Suddenly, one of the infected men thrashed wildly against his restraints
and
thrashed, snapping hist
inches from Claire’s hand
If her reflexes hadn’t been razor-sharp, he would have bitten her fingers clean off.
Dane’s eyes flashed with lethal intent, and he instantly raised a heavy boot to cave the man’s ribs in.
Silas intercepted him just in time.
“Dane, stand down!”
“Quinn’s completely lost his mind! He doesn’t know what he’s doing!”
Of the four men Silas had brought, Quinn was the youngest, making his
psychological collapse the fastest and most violent.
Right now, Quinn’s eyes were bloodshot and feral, practically glowing with madness.
He was on the absolute brink.
That lunge wasn’t a deliberate attack; it was a total loss of motor control.
“Kill… kill me.”
Quinn ground his teeth together so violently his lips were shredded into a bloody
mess.
Even with a bite block shoved in his mouth, it occasionally slipped out.
And whenever they removed it to feed him, the men couldn’t stop themselves from violently self-harming.
Tears of pure blood began leaking from Quinn’s eyes.
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