Page 25 of The Breaking Point

“What if they’re in trouble?” Her voice shakes. “I’ve been there. I’ve been in the middle of nowhere with nothing but dust and rifles and hope. I know what it’s like when a mission goes sideways.”

She pauses, her jaw working as she tries to keep it together.

“What if they’re out there, trapped somewhere? Bleeding, freezing, needing help and no one even knows?” Her voice cracks, barely above a whisper now. “What if… ” She stops like it physically pains her to even say it.

I don’t answer. I just reach out and place my hand over hers. Because there are no right words in moments like this.

“Maria… uh, the captain’s wife. She said she would make a few calls and get back to me. But she hasn’t. Not yet. All I can do is—”

Before she can finish, her phone rings. It’s sitting right there in her lap, lit up with Maria’s name. We both freeze and stare at it like it’s about to explode.

She finally answers. “Hello?”

I hold my breath.

There’s a pause. A long one. I can’t hear what’s being said, but I watch Quinn’s face change completely. Her expression drops, like something inside her has caved.

She doesn’t say a word, just listens, eyes fixed on nothing. Then she pulls the phone away from her ear and looks down at it like it burned her.

“She said they went on a scouting mission,” her voice is quiet, strained. “It was supposed to be two days max. But they never came back.”

My stomach drops.

“They didn’t send out a distress signal. No SOS, no radio contact. Nothing. So the army just... waited. They waited before telling anyone, because they didn’t know if it was worth alarming the families yet.”

She meets my eyes then. And hers are hollow.

“They’ve officially declared them MIA.”

Chapter 10

I just dropped Quinn off at Maria’s house. The others were already there. A quiet caravan of women with haunted eyes and wrung-out hearts, all headed to Fort Cavazos where maybe, just maybe, someone in uniform would give them a straight answer. Or any answer at all. Even just being close to the base feels like a lifeline to them. A tether to their missing husbands.

God, I feel sick.

All day I’ve been trapped in this spiral of self-pity and betrayal, crying about my marriage and my perfectly safe husband while Quinn had been holding her breath for a phone call that broke her heart. I feel so small. So petty. So self-absorbed. Could I be any more selfish?

I’ve barely stepped through the door at Quinn’s when my phone rings.

“Aiden, I’m really not in the mood.”

“Where are you?” he asks, out of breath.

“Quinn’s. Why? What’s wrong?”

“I’m gonna be there in twenty. Meet me outside.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there,” he says, then hangs up.

Son of a bitch.

Twenty slow, agonizing minutes crawl by. I’ve been sitting on the curb for the last ten, jittery and cold despite the evening warmth. When Aiden finally pulls up, the car barely stops before I’m in the passenger seat, slamming the door shut.

“Now are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Is it the boys? Oh my God—”

“Calm down and buckle up.”

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