Chapter 20

Carter held Cole upright and fought the rising panic. They had waited outside the conflict zone for 72 hours while approvals and paperwork crawled through the system, and only then did they latch onto a supply convoy and roll in. Once inside, they handed out aid from stop to stop and asked at every camp if anyone had seen Maya. They made it to the second encampment before the shooting started. Cole had taken a round. There was no field unit nearby that could handle it, so they chased the medical convoy to the closest war hospital. By the time they rattled through the gate, Cole was completely out. Carter shouldered him through the crush of bodies, then looked up and saw Maya. She stood a few yards away, looking calm and distant, with something complicated crossing her eyes. Carter stopped in his tracks, joy crashing through him. She was alive! She was right there! The moment snapped as he remembered the man bleeding in his arms. He pushed forward, his eyes stinging. "Maya, C