Chapter 5 - THE SOLDIER WHO CAME BACKMason Reed returned that evening.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
Nora stared at him.
Then slapped him.
Mason accepted it.
“You deserved that.”
“Yes.”
“I mourned you.”
“I know.”
“I hated myself for surviving.”
“I know.”
Ranger barked once.
Mason smiled.
“He always hated secrets.”
Nora cried.
Mason told her the truth.
After the explosion, Mason had been taken into protective custody.
He had spent three years tracking Price's network.
He had finally found proof.
But he needed Ranger.
And Nora.
“Why me?”
“Because Price believes you know where the final evidence is.”
“I don't.”
Mason smiled.
“You do.”
Nora frowned.
“Where?”
He pointed toward her.
“You.”
She froze.
“The evidence isn't a file.”
“What is it?”
“Your memory.”
Nora stared.
The explosion had caused a concussion.
She had forgotten portions of the mission.
But Price believed some memories were still trapped inside.
Mason explained that Nora had seen the face of the person who authorized the operation.
She just couldn't remember.
Until Ranger came back.
The dog had been triggering pieces of memory.
The fire.
The bridge.
The warehouse.
The red scarf.
And the man.
Nora closed her eyes.
A flash.
A voice.
A watch.
She gasped.
“Price.”
Mason nodded.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Nora's voice broke.
“He was there.”
“Exactly.”
Price attacked that night.
The base went into emergency lockdown.
Ranger disappeared from his kennel.
Nora knew immediately.
She ran.
He had not been taken.
He had escaped.
His tracks led toward the old command bunker.
Nora followed.
Inside, she found Price.
He was holding Ranger at gunpoint.
Nora raised her hands.
“Let him go.”
Price smiled.
“You always were predictable.”
“You killed those soldiers.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed my life.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to kill Ranger.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he remembered.”
Price glanced at the dog.
“He remembers where the evidence was hidden.”
Nora stared.
“It was never inside the dog.”
Price smiled.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“It was inside the person who trusted him.”
Nora understood.
Her own missing memories were the final evidence.
Price needed her alive long enough to extract them.
She looked at Ranger.
He was trembling.
Then she noticed his paw.
Three scratches.
The alert code.
Danger.
Then one more.
Four.
Nora knew what it meant.
Behind Price.
Someone else.
She moved.
Gunfire exploded.
Mason rushed in.
Marcus fired.
Price fell.
Ranger escaped.
May you like
Nora caught him.
He buried his head against her chest.
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