Page 45 of Holding the Line

He would rain down fire.He would break the earth open.And he would rip that bastard apart with his bare hands.

No one touched Eli and lived.

Marsh sprinted back the way he came, the world narrowing to the path in front of him.Over the comms, he heard Hogan’s voice shout, “Let him go!If you don’t then I will end you!”

No response.

Then Eli—calm, too calm.“It’s okay, Hogan.Don’t.Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Not a chance,” Hogan said.“You don’t get to be the one bleeding for us again.”

Marsh’s heart clenched as he skidded closer, unable to take his eyes off Eli.The sight of that gun against his temple, of the trust and light in him being held hostage, ignited something feral in Marsh’s chest.

I can’t lose him.I won’t survive it.Not this time.

Memories swirled behind his eyes—of Eli laughing in the sun, curled against him half-asleep, whispering in Maori with a blush on his cheeks.That man was his anchor, his compass.And if someone took him away...

I’d burn the world to the ground and smile while it turned to ash.

He forced himself to breathe, to focus, to see the angles.But his voice when he spoke was raw.“You hear me, Eli.You stay with me.You do everything you can, anything it takes.Because I’m not fucking letting you go.”

Eli sent him a calm look, one that gave him pause.“Marsh, I will always stay with you,” he said, then added in softly spoken Maori,“Kei te haere au, ehara mo taku anake, engari mo tetahi atu e tika ana kia ora.”I’m going, not for me, but for someone else who deserves to live.“I love you.I’ll be waiting for you to come get me.”

Marsh was torn—caught between a desperate belief that Eli had a reason for what he was doing, and the burning chaos in his chest that screamed this was all wrong.How had it come to this?His heart pounded like a war drum, breath lodged in his throat as the man behind Eli kept the gun steady.Every fiber of him was ready to launch forward, to rip the bastard apart with his bare hands and paint the dirt with his regret.

Then, movement.

Two figures emerged from the shadows behind Hogan—low, silent, weapons drawn.Predators.Their sights locked on Hogan’s back.

Marsh’s blood ran ice cold.

Another voice broke the tense silence—not over comms, but close, real.Familiar.The man who had Eli.“Hogan—duck.”

A second later Hogan obeyed on instinct, dropping low as the man behind Eli removed the gun from his temple and shot the two advancing figures straight through the head.

Smoke curled from the muzzle of the gun as it moved to press once again to Eli’s temple.

The black SUV rolled to a stop at the edge of the site.

Hogan slowly rose, eyes never leaving the figure in black.

“You son of a bitch,” he said, voice tight.“We trusted you.”

Marsh took a step closer, frowning.“Who is it?”

Hogan didn’t look away.His fists clenched at his sides, shaking.“We fucking trusted you,” he snapped again.“You were supposed to have our backs.You said you understood what we were building here.You said you stood with us.”His voice cracked, thick with betrayal.“And this is what you do?”

He took a half-step forward, teeth bared, fury radiating off him in waves.

“Who the hell is it, Hogan!”Marsh yelled, moving to the side, to get a better shot at the bastard who had taken Eli.

“Answer him.”His voice cracked with rage.“Don’t be a fucking coward, Kai.”