The Sentinel's Vow
I closed the distance in four silent, blinding strides, coming up behind the scout just as he raised his gloved hand to plant a magnetic beacon on the cabin’s secondary junction box.
I dropped my rifle onto its sling, lunged forward, and wrapped my broad forearm around his throat in a sleeper grip, driving my tactical blade straight through the soft tissue beneath his shoulder blade, severing the nerve cluster before he could even draw a breath to scream.
The scout went limp instantly in my grip, his weapon dropping silently into the deep powder.
I dragged his heavy frame into the thick underbrush beneath a fallen pine tree, stripping his tactical belt to check his radio frequency. The radio