Part One “You’re out of your league, sweetheart.” Staff Sergeant Marcus Briggs said it loudly enough for the entire gym to hear. The…

PART 1 The ballroom smelled like lemon polish, expensive cologne, and aggressive pride. It was the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, the holy night…

Part 1 “Ma’am, this is a restricted engineering space. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” The voice was thin, reedy,…

Part 1 “Ma’am, that access is restricted. I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the door.” The voice cracked.…

Part 1 The bus groaned to a halt just outside the main gate of Camp Armmitage, its brakes squealing with the kind of…

PART 1: THE EXILE   The rain didn’t just fall; it punished. It came down in relentless, icy sheets, hammering against the asphalt…

Part 1: The Ambush My name is Elena Rener. I am thirty-five years old. I am a medically retired Major from the United…

Part 1 “Ma’am, with all due respect, what’s your call sign?” The question cut through the noise of the Miramar mess hall like…

Part 1 The first thing you notice about Falcon Ridge isn’t the heat, though the Nevada sun is brutal enough to blister paint…

Part 1 By the time I reached the training complex, the Texas sun had settled into that blinding midmorning glare that made everything…