Chapter 2
Two military police officers stepped forward.
Elena did not run.
She did not argue.
She stood straight as they grabbed her arms and pulled her wrists behind her back.
Max lowered his head and growled.
A deep, warning sound.
“Control that dog,” Dane snapped.
Elena’s voice came out rough from smoke.
“I brought them out alive.”
Dane stepped closer.
“You abandoned your post.”
A survivor near the ambulance tried to stand.
“She saved us.”
Dane turned on him instantly.
“Sit down.”
The man froze.
Elena’s jaw tightened.
She had heard that voice all night.
Over the radio.
Through static.
Through screaming.
Through fire.
Hold your position, Cross.
Do not enter that sector.
That is an order.
But she had heard something else too.
Voices inside the burning barracks.
Children crying behind a jammed door.
A man pounding on metal until his hands bled.
And Max.
Max had heard them first.
The old K9 had stopped in the smoke, ears raised, body stiff.
Then he pulled hard toward the east wing.
The east wing Colonel Dane had told everyone to ignore.
Elena had looked through the flames and made a choice.
She stopped being obedient.
May you like
And started being human.
Read Part 3 to see the one detail Colonel Dane forgot was still watching him.
