Chapter 4 - The Badge Behind the Glass
"Deputy Nolan Price."
Jack stared at the reflection.
Price had been the second deputy at the roadside confrontation.
The man who had supposedly disappeared when Mara escaped.
Jack sat down.
"I trained him."
Ethan remained focused.
"Then we assume communications are compromised."
Jack nodded.
Wade paced.
"My brother is sitting in a chair somewhere while we're discussing radio procedure."
"We're making sure he stays alive," Ethan said.
They created two plans.
Jack would make Vale believe the exchange was proceeding.
Ethan and Wade would approach the wildlife station through the forest.
No radio transmissions.
No marked vehicles.
No direct confrontation unless necessary.
Jack contacted federal wildlife investigators using a number he'd kept outside department channels.
Then they separated.
By late afternoon, Ethan and Wade reached a ridge overlooking the station.
Three vehicles.
Two guards.
Mara visible through a window.
Luke inside.
Alive.
Ethan studied everything through binoculars.
Years earlier, he'd measured battlefields in wind, distance, angles, and human behavior.
Now he refused to think of this as one.
He wasn't there to hunt people.
He was there to bring a man home.
"Back entrance," he whispered.
Wade nodded.
They descended through timber.
At 5:42, Jack called Vale.
Ethan could hear the conversation through a secure earpiece.
"I've got Cole."
"Drive?"
"Yes."
"Ranger station."
"We're coming."
That bought minutes.
Ethan reached the rear wall.
A generator hummed.
He disconnected the fuel line.
Lights inside flickered.
Mara appeared at the window.
One guard walked outside.
Wade waited behind the woodshed.
The second guard followed.
Ethan moved to the rear door.
Unlocked.
Too easy.
He stopped.
Thin wire.
Alarm.
He bypassed it.
Inside, Luke sat tied to the chair.
His face was bruised.
His eyes widened when Ethan appeared.
"Don't."
Ethan froze.
Luke looked down.
Pressure plate beneath the chair.
Ethan examined it.
Not explosive.
Alarm switch.
If Luke stood, the building would know.
Ethan cut the chair legs instead.
Luke remained seated while Wade entered.
The brothers looked at each other.
Neither spoke.
Wade knelt and touched Luke's shoulder.
Luke whispered, "Took you long enough."
Wade laughed once through tears.
Ethan almost smiled.
Then footsteps sounded.
Mara.
She entered with her handgun raised.
Ethan stood between her and Luke.
Mara recognized him.
"So that's Ethan Cole."
"Put it down."
"You first."
Ethan had no weapon visible.
Mara's eyes narrowed.
"You ruined everything."
"No. A dead elk ruined everything."
For the first time, something like regret crossed her face.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Your men killed her."
"They weren't my men."
"Then whose?"
Mara hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
"Vale's?" Ethan asked.
She laughed bitterly.
"You think Vale runs this?"
Wade looked at Luke.
Luke whispered, "No."
Ethan's attention shifted.
"Who?"
Mara stepped backward.
A vehicle approached outside.
She looked frightened.
Not relieved.
That told Ethan more than any answer.
"Who is coming?" he asked.
Mara lowered the gun slightly.
"We need to leave."
"Who?"
Headlights swept across the window.
Mara whispered, "The person Vale answers to."
A voice called from outside.
"Mara!"
She went pale.
Ethan recognized the voice.
He had heard it before.
Not recently.
Years ago.
His mind searched through memory.
Then it landed.
A briefing room.
Virginia.
Sixteen years earlier.
A senior officer congratulating Ethan's unit before deployment.
A man who later signed Ethan's retirement recommendation.
Admiral Thomas Rourke.
Retired.
Respected.
Decorated.
And, according to Ethan's last information, living in Florida.
Mara whispered, "He knows you're here."
The front door opened.
Slow footsteps entered the building.
Then the familiar voice called Ethan by the nickname only six men from his old Navy unit had ever known.
"Eagle Three."
Ethan stopped breathing.
May you like
The footsteps came closer.
The next person through that doorway knew exactly who he had once been.
