Page 41 of Jacques

A phone rang through the computer’s speaker.

“Hello,” a deep, male voice answered.

Remy asked, “Is this Sergeant Tobin?”

“Yes, sir,” the man answered.

“Sergeant Tobin, this is Remy Montagne. I’m a former Navy SEAL and a current member of the Brotherhood Protectors. We’re hoping you can help us reconstruct the details of the night you and your classmates graduated from Ranger School.”

“Seriously?” Tobin laughed. “That’s been a while. The most I remember about that night was getting smashed with my buddies and barely making it back to the barracks.”

“Do you remember having a female classmate with you that night?”

“Yeah. Danny French was with us,” Tobin said. “She was a complete badass in the field—one of the team. Of course, she was with us. Why do you ask?”

“Did she leave the pub with you that night?” Remy asked, already knowing the answer.

“No, she left before us. I think she had booked a hotel room. The rest of us were too cheap and went back to the barracks.”

“Did you see French leave with someone?”

“I don’t remember seeing her leave. One minute she was there, the next she was gone.”

“Did anyone look for her?” Remy persisted.

“I’m pretty sure I texted her,” Tobin said. “Wait, let me look. That text might still be on my phone. I don’t think I ever deleted her number after we left Fort Benning.” A pause. “No, I didn’t. It’s still here.”

Danny leaned forward, her heart racing.

“What did it say?” Remy asked.

“I remember it was a little past midnight. Some of us had to be up early to catch a flight to our next duty station,” Tobin said. “I said, We’re heading out. Need a ride?”

Remy shot a glance toward Danny. “Did she respond?”

“She did,” Tobin said. “She said Already left. Got a ride.”

Danny covered her mouth to smother a gasp.

“Would you take a screenshot of those texts and send it to this number?” Remy asked.

“Sure,” Tobin said.

“And whatever you do, don’t delete her number or that text.”

“I thought it strange we didn’t see her after that night. She didn’t tell any of us goodbye. Then I heard she didn’t reup and left the Army. Did something happen to French? Is she alright?”

“We’re just trying to gather information. Do you remember anything else about that night?”

“Just that we drank too much, and Thacker got us all in trouble getting back into the barracks. I have a picture of all of us at the pub. French is in it.”

“Could you send that as well?” Remy asked.

“Sure,” Tobin said. “Give me a minute.”

After a long pause, two images appeared on the monitor: the screenshot of the text messages and a photo of Danny’s classmates in the pub with her at the center, smiling and happy.

Danny barely recognized the young, vibrant woman in the photo. Tears welled in her eyes as her gaze swept over the other faces of the men she’d trained with and had vowed to always have their backs.