Chapter 17 - The Last Message from Ruiz
Mercer visited on a cold November morning.
No convoy.
No uniform.
Just Robert.
He carried an envelope.
"Investigators recovered this from Ruiz's safe."
My name was written across the front.
I opened it.
Claire,
If you're reading this, I probably ran out of time.
Don't carry that.
You taught us that responsibility means doing everything you reasonably can, not controlling everything that happens afterward.
Kestrel wasn't your failure.
It was Caldwell's betrayal.
Tell my girls their father wasn't afraid.
Actually, that's a lie.
I was terrified.
Tell them courage worked anyway.
—Daniel
I read it twice.
Then I walked outside.
May you like
For twelve years, I had carried the names of two dead Rangers like stones.
That morning, for the first time, I allowed myself to put some of the weight down.
