She pulled it firmly against her chest.

“Everything here belongs to me,” he said.

Avery gathered the torn pieces from the dirt.

As she placed one strip beside her handwritten wind charts, something beneath the bullet mark caught the light.

A second lane number had been stamped over hers.

Raines saw it too.

His hand stopped in midair.

The evaluator stepped closer and raised her tablet.

Avery held the strip between two fingers.

“You switched my target.”

👉 Raines had manipulated one score—but the faded number connected him to years of ruined military careers.

Chapter 2 - Fort Blackridge’s Final Trial

Fort Blackridge was where elite Army marksmen either earned their place or disappeared from the program.

The desert range was unforgiving.

Heat shimmered above the dirt.

Crosswinds changed without warning between the canyon walls.

Candidates trained for weeks before reaching the final qualification.

Avery had arrived with the strongest field record in her class.

She had completed two combat deployments.