Page 2 of Holding the Line

“Should’ve said yes sooner,” Anton breathed.“Should’ve never...God, Blake, I loved you.I loved you so fucking much.”

Silence.Then one last whisper:

“Marrying you was the best thing I ever did.”

Marsh exhaled slowly.The fire snapped softly behind him.He looked over at Anton, whose face was twisted in pain even in sleep.No one else stirred.

He didn’t say anything.Didn’t wake him.Just kept watch as the night deepened, the fire burned low, and the weight of what they all carried settled a little heavier on the floorboards.

He was just about to shift position when he heard it.

A crack in the dark.

Not thunder.

Gunfire.Distant, but not distant enough.

He froze, every muscle tensing, eyes narrowing toward the broken seams of the boarded-up window.

Another burst—shouts.Harsh.Clipped.Chechen.

Marsh couldn’t translate every word, but he caught enough—“Track them ...alive if possible ...check the farmhouse.”

Fuck.

He moved fast, shaking Dale awake first, then Hogan.Pointed to the wall, two fingers up.Movement.Contact.

“Incoming,” Marsh said low.“They’re looking.”

Outside, the rain kept falling.But inside, every man was wide awake.

And the fire wasn’t the only thing burning.

Chapter One

It was 3:00 in thegoddamn morning.