Chapter 10
The desert dawn broke over Sector Four in a blinding flash of golden light that cast long, distorted shadows across the rocky canyon floor. Maeve led Scout Platoon Echo through a narrow, winding arroyo, her boots finding purchase on the loose gravel with effortless grace. Behind her, Private Jenkins and his three squadmates—Davis, Ramirez, and Miller (no relation to the disgraced corporal back at Camp Alpha)—hiked in single file, maintaining proper tactical spacing despite the grueling uphill climb. The air was cool and dry, but as the sun climbed higher into the cloudless sky, the temperature began to spike rapidly, turning the march into a grueling test of endurance.
Maeve checked her wrist-mounted compass and altimeter, glancing back to assess the recruits. Ramirez was breathing heavily, his face flushed red beneath the brim of his patrol helmet, but he was maintaining his pace. No one was whining, which was a good sign. They had been hiking for nearly four hours without a break, navigating through a landscape that offered zero cover from potential aerial or high-ground observation. "Ten-minute halt in the shadow of that rock shelf up ahead," Maeve called back softly over her shoulder, raising a single gloved hand to signal the platoon.
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The recruits collapsed gratefully against the cool stone wall of the canyon, immediately pulling out their canteens to take small, measured sips of warm water. Maeve remained standing, scanning the surrounding ridgelines with a pair of high-powered binoculars. The terrain was dead silent save for the whistling of the desert wind through the canyon passes. "Sergeant," Jenkins whispered, walking over cautiously while holding out his handheld GPS unit. "My unit is showing a weird interference pattern. The digital map is glitching out every few minutes." Maeve lowered her binoculars and took the device, tapping the screen.
"It's not a glitch," Maeve said, her eyes narrowing as she studied the frequency readouts. "We're picking up localized electronic jamming. Someone is running a repeater station nearby, which means we're walking into an active zone, even if headquarters thought this was just a maintenance run." Jenkins swallowed hard, his nervous eye twitching again. "Should we turn back, Sergeant?" Maeve looked him dead in the eye, her expression unyielding. "We never turn back when we don't have the full picture. We adapt, we proceed with extreme caution, and we find out who is trying to hide in our backyard."
