Chapter 4
Back then, Matthews had been a colonel.
Ambitious.
Decorated.
Hungry for a promotion.
He had sent a rescue team into bad terrain after being warned the enemy had already repositioned.
Luna had been overwatch.
Her job was simple.
Keep the extraction team alive.
But Matthews wanted speed.
He ignored radio warnings.
He pushed the convoy forward.
Then the ambush started.
The first blast flipped the lead vehicle.
The second cut off the road.
Gunfire came from three directions.
Luna had a clean shot on the enemy commander.
But then she saw the children.
Four hostages.
Hidden in the lower building near the firing line.
If she fired at the commander, the return fire would tear through the room.
She did not take the shot.
Instead, she shifted left, crawled across open rock, and found the tower relay controlling the explosives.
One shot.
Then another.
Then a third through smoke so thick she could barely see the crosshair.
The convoy survived because the next bomb never detonated.
The hostages survived because she waited three seconds longer than the report allowed.
But Captain Reed was hit during the retreat.
He died before the medevac landed.
Matthews needed someone to blame.
A dead captain could not argue.
A female sniper with no powerful friends could be buried.
So he wrote the report himself.
He said Luna hesitated.
He said she disobeyed.
He said she abandoned her post.
Then he classified the file and walked away with a medal.
Luna walked away with nightmares.
May you like
And silence.
Read Part 5 to find out what the sealed file revealed in front of every soldier in the armory.
