Chapter 4 - Nobody Move
The laser remained fixed on Claire’s chest.
Rourke raised one hand slowly.
“Nobody move.”
Danner lowered the baton.
Barrett’s eyes shifted toward the pine trees.
The watching soldiers dropped their smug expressions.
Training yards sometimes used lasers during tactical exercises.
This was not scheduled.
Rourke knew it.
“Range control, this is Rourke,” he said into his radio. “Confirm active optics in Sector Four.”
Static answered.
Then:
“Negative. No live training authorized.”
Claire kept her breathing slow.
The laser dot moved once.
From her chest to the silver coin in her hand.
Then toward Danner.
It settled over his sternum.
Danner stopped breathing.
A phone rang inside the open pocket of Claire’s rucksack.
No one recognized the sound.
Rourke approached carefully and removed it.
The device was old.
Disposable.
He placed it on speaker.
A distorted male voice said, “Ask Danner about Grid Seven.”
Danner shouted toward the trees.
“You coward! Show yourself!”
The laser dot moved to his forehead.
He went silent.
Rourke ordered the soldiers behind the concrete barriers.
Claire tried to stand.
Her leg failed.
He caught her arm and pulled her into cover.
Danner moved with them, but Rourke blocked his path.
“Put down the baton.”
“This is my training area.”
“Put it down.”
Danner released it.
The wood struck the gravel.
Barrett backed toward the stacked tires.
Claire noticed mud on his boots.
The rest of the formation had trained only inside the dry yard that morning.
Barrett had been near the tree line recently.
She looked at the hidden sandbags.
Then at the coin.
“Luke,” she said.
He froze.
“Where were you before formation?”
“Equipment shed.”
“Your boots say otherwise.”
Danner turned toward him.
“Don’t answer her.”
Rourke looked between them.
“That sounded like an order to conceal information.”
Danner’s eyes hardened.
The phone crackled again.
“Check Barrett’s left pocket.”
Luke immediately grabbed that pocket.
Two soldiers saw it.
Rourke ordered him to remove his hand.
Luke hesitated.
Then he pulled out an empty black velvet pouch.
The exact size of the sniper coin.
Claire stared at him.
“You put it beside me.”
Luke’s face collapsed.
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“I didn’t know about the laser.”
👉 Barrett planted the coin under Danner’s orders—but he claimed someone else had forced him to do it.
