Chapter 3 - The Eighth Soldier
Jade's hand went to Mercer's belt again.
This time he didn't stop her.
She pulled his sidearm free.
Not dramatically.
Not clumsily.
She checked the chamber in one smooth motion, shifted the wheelchair sideways, and aimed toward the door.
Every man in the room went silent.
Not because she had a gun.
Because of how she held it.
No tremor.
No hesitation.
No wasted movement.
Collins stared at her like he was seeing a stranger.
Maybe he was.
The voice came again.
"Sparrow."
Jade's expression changed.
I saw fear.
Actual fear.
Not of being shot.
Of recognizing the voice.
"No," she whispered.
Hale moved toward the door.
Jade snapped, "Don't."
The general stopped.
"Who is it?"
Jade shook her head.
The person outside knocked again.
Three.
Pause.
Two.
Jade asked, "What's the counter?"
The voice answered immediately.
"Seven came home."
Jade's face drained.
Mercer looked at Hale.
"What does that mean?"
Hale said, "Their authentication phrase."
Voss watched the door carefully.
Jade asked another question.
"What did Sparrow carry?"
The voice outside replied.
"Everyone."
Her gun lowered by one inch.
Then another.
She whispered, "Eli."
The person outside said nothing.
Jade pushed herself upright.
Pain hit her face.
Mercer tried to stop her.
She shoved his hand away.
For the first time since I had known her, Jade looked desperate.
She unlocked the door.
A man collapsed inside.
He was bleeding from the shoulder.
Mid-thirties.
Dark hair.
Unshaven.
Tactical clothes under a hospital maintenance jacket.
Jade caught him before his head hit the floor.
"Eli."
He looked up.
"Sparrow."
Jade touched his face.
"You died."
He gave a weak smile.
"So did you."
Hale closed the door again.
Mercer dropped beside them.
"He's losing blood."
Voss opened the medical cabinet.
"Pressure dressing."
I grabbed one.
We cut the jacket away.
The wound was a clean pass-through.
Ugly but survivable.
Jade never took her eyes off the man.
"Elias Ward," Hale said.
The wounded man looked at the general.
"Marcus."
Hale exhaled slowly.
"Eight years."
"Sorry."
"That's all you have?"
Eli winced while Mercer packed the wound.
"I've had a rough morning."
Jade grabbed his collar.
"What happened at Red Hollow?"
Eli's humor disappeared.
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not."
"You disappeared."
"I was taken."
"By who?"
"The network."
Jade's fingers loosened.
Eli looked at her.
"They kept me alive because they thought I knew where the archive was."
"What archive?"
"The one Voss built."
Everyone looked toward him.
Voss's face became unreadable.
Hale said, "You built an archive?"
Voss nodded.
"Insurance."
"Against who?"
"Everyone."
Jade's eyes narrowed.
Eli whispered, "The archive holds recordings, transaction trails, field orders, identities."
"Whose identities?"
"People inside defense contracts, intelligence channels, logistics commands. Maybe higher."
Collins muttered, "You're talking about a conspiracy."
Eli looked at him.
"No. I'm talking about businessmen and officers who figured out war could make them rich if they kept certain wars alive."
Nobody had a joke for that.
Jade said, "Why is the archive under the bridge?"
"It isn't."
Eli looked at Voss.
"The communications node contains a key."
Voss nodded.
"One of three."
Jade looked at him.
"You let those engineers find it."
"I arranged for them to inspect the bridge."
"So you did plan this."
"Partly."
Hale looked furious.
"Four civilians are trapped because you decided to play intelligence games."
"They're alive because I moved first."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
Voss took out his phone.
No signal.
Emergency blackout.
He swore quietly.
Eli reached into his jacket and removed a cracked device.
"Satellite burst receiver."
He handed it to Jade.
The screen displayed one message.
MOVE SPARROW TO NODE BEFORE 1800 OR ENGINEERS DIE.
Jade stared.
"They know I'm here."
Eli nodded.
"They've known for months."
Mercer turned toward Rebecca.
She looked away.
Jade saw it.
"Months?"
Rebecca began crying again.
"Jade—"
"How long?"
"Since you took the armory job."
Jade's voice became dangerously quiet.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"You knew."
"Yes."
Mercer stood.
"Why didn't you tell her?"
Rebecca looked at him.
"Because she had finally started sleeping."
The answer silenced even Jade.
Rebecca continued.
"For seven years, she woke up screaming. She checked windows before sitting down. She memorized every exit in every grocery store. She couldn't hear helicopters without shaking."
Jade stared at the floor.
Rebecca wiped her eyes.
"Then she came here. She fixed rifles. She ate alone. She hated crowds. But she slept. For the first time since I met her, she slept."
Jade's anger softened.
Not gone.
Just complicated.
"You should have told me."
"I know."
"You should have trusted me."
"I know."
Hale said, "We need to move."
Reeves checked the emergency radio.
"Backup power is coming online."
Jade handed Mercer's pistol back.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed at Eli.
"He didn't come here just to warn us."
Eli smiled weakly.
"Still annoying."
"What aren't you saying?"
His smile disappeared.
Jade leaned closer.
"You said they kept you alive for the archive."
"Yes."
"Eight years?"
"Not all eight."
"How long?"
"Four."
"What happened after that?"
"I escaped."
"How?"
Silence.
Jade's face changed.
"You didn't."
Eli looked away.
"You were released."
"No."
"They let you out."
"No."
"They used you."
Eli shut his eyes.
Jade stood despite the pain.
"You brought them here."
He looked up at her.
"I'm sorry."
Mercer moved between them.
"What did they put on you?"
Eli reached beneath his shirt.
A thin incision ran under his ribs.
"Tracker."
Voss swore.
Hale said, "How close?"
Eli checked the burst receiver.
"Already inside the perimeter."
Reeves opened the door slightly and spoke to security.
Then he looked back.
"Hospital lockdown."
Jade shook her head.
"That won't hold them."
Collins asked, "How many?"
Eli stared at Jade.
"Enough."
The backup lights came on.
Jade looked at the tactical map again.
"We can't stay."
Hale said, "Agreed."
"We go to the node."
"No."
"General—"
"I said no."
"You want the engineers alive?"
"Yes."
"You want the archive?"
"Yes."
"Then they need me."
Hale stepped closer.
"I buried seven soldiers because of that operation."
"Six."
He stared at her.
Jade nodded toward Eli.
"Six."
For the first time, Hale almost smiled.
It lasted half a second.
Then he said, "I'm not losing another."
Jade looked him directly in the eyes.
"You don't get to decide that anymore."
Hale flinched.
She continued.
"You made that decision eight years ago."
No one moved.
Then Hale nodded.
"Fine."
Reeves said, "She can't walk."
Jade looked at the wheelchair.
"I don't need to."
Collins finally stepped forward.
"I'll push."
Everyone looked at him.
His face was red.
He couldn't meet Jade's eyes.
"I was an idiot earlier."
Jade said nothing.
"I laughed."
"Yes."
"I'm sorry."
She studied him.
Then nodded once.
"Push the chair."
That was all.
But Collins looked relieved anyway.
Within ten minutes, everything changed.
Our rescue team became something else.
Hale took operational command.
Reeves objected exactly once.
Voss provided coordinates.
Eli was stabilized and loaded into an armored medical vehicle.
Rebecca refused to stay behind.
Jade argued.
Rebecca won.
Mercer checked Jade's rifle himself.
A compact carbine.
Red-dot optic.
Two-point sling.
He handed it to her.
She accepted it like an old friend she had promised never to see again.
"Magazine?" she asked.
Mercer gave her one.
She checked the base.
"Not this one."
He frowned.
"Why?"
"Feed lip."
Mercer inspected it.
Tiny fracture.
Almost invisible.
He looked at her.
Jade shrugged.
"Weapons technician."
He laughed once.
Not mockingly.
With respect.
We left through the service exit.
Nobody in the hospital knew why a general, a supposedly dead colonel, a wounded stranger, a weapons technician in a wheelchair, and six armed soldiers disappeared into armored vehicles before lunch.
The convoy moved north.
Jade sat across from me.
Rifle against her chest.
Rebecca beside her.
Hale and Voss rode in the lead vehicle.
Mercer watched Jade.
"You never told me you had a call sign."
She looked at him.
"You never told me you sang country songs in the shower."
Collins choked on a laugh.
Mercer glared.
"You heard that?"
"Everyone heard that."
For thirty seconds, the vehicle felt normal.
Then Eli's burst receiver beeped.
Jade picked it up.
New message.
She read it.
Her expression vanished.
I leaned closer.
The message contained only six words.
ASK HALE WHO ORDERED NUMBER SEVEN.
Jade looked toward the lead vehicle.
"What does it mean?" I asked.
She didn't answer.
The convoy slowed.
Ahead, the bridge appeared through the trees.
Broken concrete.
Smoke.
Abandoned vehicles.
The engineers' emergency marker flashed from beyond the ravine.
Then Hale's voice came over the radio.
"All vehicles halt."
We stopped.
Jade opened the door.
"Why?"
Static.
Then Hale answered.
"Because someone is standing on the bridge."
I looked through the windshield.
A lone man stood on the broken span.
He raised a white flag.
Jade lifted binoculars.
Her hands began shaking.
Mercer saw it.
"Who is he?"
Jade didn't answer.
The man lowered the flag.
Even from a distance, I saw the patch on his chest.
A black bird.
Sparrow.
Then the radio crackled.
The man's voice came through.
"Jade Monroe."
May you like
She went completely still.
"I've been waiting eight years to tell you who ordered Red Hollow."
