Ethan wanted to believe the photograph was fake.
He wanted to believe someone was manipulating him.
But the scar above Noah’s eyebrow was real.
The small metal chain around his neck was real.
Ethan had given him that chain before his first deployment.
He took the photograph to Ryan.
Ryan looked at it for less than two seconds before turning away.
“Where did you get this?”
Ethan’s anger returned.
“So it’s real.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You recognized him.”
Ryan lowered his voice.
“Ethan, you need to leave this alone.”
“Is he alive?”
Ryan said nothing.
Ethan grabbed the front of his uniform.
“IS MY BROTHER ALIVE?”
Ryan pushed his hands away.
“You have no idea what you’re walking into.”
“Then explain it!”
Ryan glanced toward the hallway.
“Your brother wasn’t captured by the enemy.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Then who took him?”
Before Ryan could answer, the emergency alarm suddenly began to ring.
Soldiers rushed through the corridor.
A guard shouted that someone had breached the restricted medical wing.
Ethan followed the noise.
At the end of the hallway stood a reinforced steel door.
Two guards were unconscious beside it.
The door was slightly open.
From inside, Ethan heard a weak voice.
“Ethan?”
He stopped breathing.
That voice belonged to Noah.
He pushed past the guards and entered the room.
A man sat on a narrow medical bed, his wrists bruised, his face pale.
Noah.
Alive.
Ethan rushed toward him.
“Noah!”
His brother tried to stand but collapsed into his arms.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Ethan pulled back.
“Who did this to you?”
Noah looked terrified.
“Listen to me.”
“Who kept you here?”
Noah’s eyes moved toward the security camera in the corner.
Then he whispered:
“Ryan didn’t abandon me.”
Ethan froze.
Noah gripped his sleeve.
“He tried to save me.”
A heavy sound echoed outside the room.
Footsteps.
Several people were approaching.
Noah’s voice dropped to almost nothing.
“But the man who gave the order…”
The door began to open.
Noah stared past Ethan.
“It was Colonel Hale.”