That eternal bond created in the heat of battle when you trusted someone else with your life.

Along the way, he’d lost good men.

Marsden.

Theo.

Mac.

There were even soldiers he didn’t know beyond their mission, such as Vargas, Bennett, and Connell, all of whom died in the middle of the Amazon, fighting bravely until the end.

Despite their shaky start, Alan and Sam knew the other had been through war and survived.

That was worthy of respect.

Whether it was worthy of trust was a different matter, and Sam couldn’t blame Alan for treating him with suspicion. Alan was a man of the law, and Sam had been raging a war on the wrong side of it for a long time.

A roar of a motorcycle echoed down the empty street, and Alan shot forward as if someone had just zapped him with a cattle prod. Peering through the windscreen, his eyes squinted with fury.

‘Sykes.’ He uttered the name with the venom of a cursed word. Sam regarded Alan’s disgust in the mirror.

‘What’s the deal with you and Sykes?’

‘What?’ Alan snapped back, his eyes shooting up and meeting Sam’s in the reflection.

‘You seem hell bent on taking down Sykes, rather than the Riders.’ Sam leant forward. ‘I may not be Sherlock Holmes, but I’m not an idiot.’

Alan turned away, his focus on the street ahead as the large figure of Sykes pulled into an alleyway and disappeared into the shadow. His powerful jaw tightened, and Sam could see Alan’s knuckles whiten as he gripped the steering wheel.

‘My older brother, Peter, was a hell of a marine. He was older than me, so he’d been fighting for a few years before I even made the grade. He was a good man, you know. Strong, brave, and he gave a shit. Loved his family, had two beautiful little girls with his wife. Hell, he even did charity work.’

Sam smiled. It was the first time he’d seen vulnerability in Alan, a trait the man was trained to keep shielded.

‘He sounds like a great guy.’

‘He was.’ Alan’s tight jaw shook slightly. Enough for Sam to notice the pain. ‘He was promoted, commanded his own squadron. I was a fresh jarhead, finding my way, but he was a hell of a man to look up to. Nearly twenty years ago, he took a team to Istanbul to intercept an arms trade between a couple of known terrorist cells. The mission was clear as day. Neutralise the men in play and safely claim the weaponry. It should have been in and out.’

Alan snapped his fingers to emphasise the point. Sam waited, letting the man continue.