Chapter 434
[ 526 words ]
Chapter 434:
Hayes nodded, his face filled with the reverence of a soldier speaking of a legend. “The Colonel is one of a kind. I was attached to his command for that operation.” He looked at her, and a look of sudden, complete understanding dawned on his face. “Of course. That’s why you’re here. You’re looking for him.”
She seized the opportunity. “Yes! Do you know where he is? Where is his unit operating?”
The captain’s expression turned grave. “His unit, Task Force Ghost, they always get the worst of it. They went in last night. Deep into Zone A.”
“Zone A?”
“The epicenter,” he said, gesturing toward the mangled heart of the city. “The most unstable structures, the highest frequency of aftershocks. The Guard, we’re just handling the perimeter. They’re in the belly of the beast.”
C𝘩𝗶𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 n𝘰𝘃𝗲l𝗌 𝘁𝗋aոѕla𝘵𝘦d 𝗼ո 𝗀𝖺𝗹n𝘰vе𝗹s.c𝗼𝘮
The news landed like a stone in her stomach. He was in the most dangerous place on earth. Her fear for him intensified, but so did her resolve.
Hayes saw the look in her eyes. “Ma’am, you’ve done more than enough. You should evacuate with the next group of wounded. It’s not safe here.”
She shook her head, her gaze sweeping over the triage area. “I can’t. There are too many people here who need help.”
She was using her duty as a shield, an excuse to stay, to get closer.
Captain Hayes looked at her for a long moment, then sighed, a sound of weary resignation. He wasn’t going to argue. He recognized the look in her eyes. It was the same unbreakable will he’d seen in her husband.
Minutes later, Hayes led her to the edge of a collapsed residential block where the real work began. Captain Hayes looked at her, the resignation in his eyes slowly transforming into something deeper—a grudging admiration. “I’ve served under Colonel Romero for years,” he said, his voice low and serious. “I’ve never known him to put personal feelings ahead of the mission. But the way he watches over you… the way he’s built a system to protect you, even from three thousand miles away… I understand it now. He chose wisely.”
Caroline met his gaze. “I’m not here to be protected. I’m here to find him.”
Hayes nodded, a slow, respectful dip of his chin. “I can see that. The Colonel chose you,” he said, a note of admiration in his voice. “Now I understand why.”
Caroline had no time for compliments. She threw herself into the work, a machine fueled by fear and a desperate, singular hope. She didn’t just provide medical care. She joined the effort, digging through the rubble with her gloved hands, moving aside smaller pieces of concrete and debris.
Her work gloves tore. The rough edges of the broken cement scraped her palms raw, but she barely felt it. She was driven by a frantic, irrational thought: if she could just save one more person, maybe they would have seen something. A sign of an elite military unit. A glimpse of a man who moved with impossible confidence. Any clue that would lead her to Jarrod.
She was heaving a piece of drywall aside when a voice, lazy and laced with amusement, cut through the grime-filled air.
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