All Chapters of Iron Bonds: The Brotherhood of Echo Unit : Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
18 chapters
Chapter 1: Echoes in the Dust
The desert slept beneath a shroud of dust and heat, endless and merciless. It stretched in every direction — a sea of beige and silence that made men feel small, even those trained to forget fear.Captain Daniel Mercer, call sign Hawk, stood at the edge of the camp’s perimeter, scanning the horizon through the faded tint of his ballistic goggles. The sun hadn’t risen yet. The world was still a dull bruise between night and morning. He liked it that way — quiet, uncertain, suspended in the only peace this war ever gave.The base wasn’t much — a cluster of shipping containers, torn tents, and sandbagged walls that groaned in the wind. Somewhere behind him, the diesel generator coughed to life, spitting smoke into the gray dawn.“Coffee’s burning again,” a voice called from behind.Sergeant Rafael “Rafe” Ortiz walked toward him, carrying two steaming mugs that smelled more like gasoline than caffeine. His grin was sharp even in the gloom. “You keep watching the horizon like that, boss, y
Chapter 2: Orders from Above
The desert morning came cold and sharp, slicing through the last threads of sleep.By 0500 hours, Echo Unit was already awake — the hum of discipline mixed with the ache of routine.Captain Daniel Mercer zipped up his vest, adjusting his comms wire as the tent lights flickered overhead. He had slept little, haunted by dreams that bled into memories — faces of soldiers he’d once promised to bring home. Promises he hadn’t kept.Outside, the camp buzzed with tension. Soldiers moved with the kind of efficiency that only came before something dangerous. You could smell it — not fear exactly, but that charged silence before a storm.Rafe Ortiz tossed a duffel bag into the Humvee, his movements brisk. “You know, I had a dream last night,” he said. “We actually went home after this mission. Sat on a beach. Cold beer, no radio chatter.”Mercer glanced at him, strapping his helmet on. “You dream too much.”Rafe smirked. “Somebody’s gotta keep morale alive.”From the next vehicle, Jace Kavanagh
Chapter 3: The Trap Beneath the Fire
The tunnel air was thick — hot, metallic, and heavy with the stench of gunpowder.Echo Unit moved in formation, flashlights sweeping through clouds of smoke and dust. The echoes of their firefight still bounced off the steel walls, fading into the hum of unseen machinery.Captain Daniel Mercer led the way, rifle steady against his shoulder. His breathing was calm, but his heart wasn’t.He’d been in enough battles to know when something was wrong.And everything here was wrong.Behind him, Rafe Ortiz muttered a prayer under his breath — quiet, almost instinctive.Amir Rahman kept one hand on the comms unit strapped to his chest, scanning for interference.Jace Kavanagh checked corners with his usual recklessness, while Eli Navarro, the youngest, tried to hide the tremor in his hands.The refinery stretched beneath the earth like a buried beast — pipes hissing, vents moaning, machinery grinding in the dark.Mercer stopped at a fork where two corridors split. One led upward toward the ge
Chapter 4: Ashes and Oaths
The refinery still burned above them. Through the cracked ceiling came a bleeding orange glow, smoke curling down into the tunnels like a living thing. The air tasted of ash and hot metal; every breath rasped in Mercer’s throat. Captain Daniel Mercer crouched beside Eli Navarro, whose arm was wrapped in blood-soaked gauze. The kid’s eyes fluttered, unfocused. Mercer pressed two fingers to his neck—weak pulse, but steady enough. “He needs morphine,” Mercer said, voice hoarse. Rafe Ortiz rummaged through a med-kit that was half-empty. “Last dose went to Amir when the shrapnel hit his leg. We’re out.” Eli gave a shaky grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m fine, sir. I can keep moving.” Mercer looked him squarely in the face. “You’ll live—if we get you out. Don’t waste strength pretending.” A groan echoed from deeper in the tunnel. Jace Kavanagh kicked at a loose pipe, nerves buzzing through every movement. “This place is a damn furnace. We can’t sit here, Hawk.” Mercer rose, wipin
Chapter 5: Ghost Protocol
The desert had a way of swallowing sound — as if it knew how to keep secrets.By dawn, Echo Unit was already miles away from the refinery ruins, moving under the ghost-pale light of a rising sun.Mercer led from the front, rifle slung tight, eyes hidden behind scratched lenses. The others followed in silence, weighed down by exhaustion and questions that no one wanted to voice.The world felt different now.No orders.No mission briefing.No Command watching over their shoulders.Just five men walking through sand that smelled of smoke and diesel, haunted by what they’d seen.“Anyone else getting déjà vu?” Jace muttered finally. “Last time we were this far off-grid, we ended up three clicks into an ambush.”Rafe adjusted his pack, smirking faintly. “That’s because you were reading maps upside down.”“I was improvising.”“You were lost.”Amir sighed. “Both of you, shut up. Navarro’s trying to sleep.”Eli, half-conscious and pale, leaned against Amir as they walked. His wounded arm was
Chapter 6: Ghost in Uniform
The convoy had been gone for two days. Echo Unit hadn’t seen another living soul since the refinery. Just desert — endless, white-hot, merciless.The heat warped the horizon into rivers of glass. Even the wind had teeth.Captain Daniel Mercer walked ahead of his men, his boots sinking into the sand. His radio hissed with static. Nothing from Command. Nothing from anyone.Behind him, Rafe Ortiz hauled a duffel full of salvaged rations over his shoulder, muttering curses under his breath. Jace Kavanagh dragged a damaged comms pack, its antenna bent like a broken limb. Amir Rahim supported Eli Navarro, whose wound was stitched but still bleeding through the bandage.They were five ghosts in uniform — and the desert didn’t care.“Water check,” Mercer called.Rafe tossed him a bottle, sand-caked and half-empty. “Last one.”Mercer looked at the horizon, then back at his men. “We move east. There’s a town on the map—Aqir. Might be friendly.”Jace snorted. “Or they’ll sell us for diesel.”Mer
Chapter 7: Black Site North
The desert changed as they moved north.Sand gave way to rock, the dunes hardening into ridges that cut the horizon like bones. The wind grew colder.Echo Unit had been walking for three days. By the fourth, the coordinates Turner had marked began to make sense. From a distance, the site looked like nothing — a cluster of ruined storage silos half-buried in the earth. But as they drew closer, Mercer saw the truth beneath the dust.The sand around the silos was too level, too clean. Someone maintained this place.“Eyes up,” Mercer said. “We’re close.”Rafe Ortiz adjusted his rifle strap. “Doesn’t look like much.”Mercer crouched and brushed his hand across the ground. Under the sand, metal.He rapped his knuckles twice — hollow echo. “It’s not on the surface.”Jace Kavanagh scanned the area with binoculars. “Thermal’s picking up faint signatures underground. Power lines, maybe.”Amir Rahim frowned. “So what’s the plan? Knock and ask who’s home?”Mercer pointed toward a ridge overlookin
Chapter 8: The Remnant Division
The wind had changed.It blew colder now, carrying dust that cut the throat when you breathed. The desert had thinned into badlands—jagged canyons, fractured stone, and wind like a warning.Echo Unit moved through the ravine at dawn, their boots grinding gravel, their bodies weary but alive. Mercer led from the front, his eyes tracking the faint smoke rising beyond the ridge.“There,” he said quietly.Rafe Ortiz squinted. “Campfire?”“Or signal,” Amir Rahim murmured.Eli Navarro wiped sweat from his forehead, his arm still wrapped in bandages. “At this point, I’ll take either. I’m running on adrenaline and salt.”Jace Kavanagh adjusted his scope. “No movement. But whoever’s up there doesn’t want to be found.”Mercer’s voice was steady. “Let’s find them anyway.”They climbed the slope, moving in silence. The air grew colder as they ascended; the smell of ash drifted stronger.At the top, the landscape opened into a shallow basin where a dozen tents huddled around dying fires. Empty amm
Chapter 9: The Signal War
The desert was quiet again, too quiet for the living.Ash drifted across the blackened basin where the Remnant camp had stood. The fire had long burned out, leaving only the metallic smell of gunpowder and loss.Captain Daniel Mercer stood at the edge of the ridge, the wind tugging at his torn sleeve. Below, Rafe Ortiz and Amir Rahim checked weapons salvaged from the wreckage, while Navarro sat against a rock, pale but awake. Major Cole Barrett stood beside Mercer, silent, his eyes tracking the distant horizon.“They found us in less than an hour,” Barrett said finally.Mercer nodded. “Which means they’ve got a satellite grid watching this sector.”“Or someone feeding them coordinates,” Barrett replied.Mercer looked down at the half-buried data stick hanging around his neck. “Either way, we hit back. No more running.”Barrett turned his head, one brow lifting. “You’re thinking offense?”Mercer’s jaw tightened. “They use their satellites to hunt ghosts. We take one of their eyes away.
Chapter 10: The Price of Fire
Morning broke over the desert like a slow wound.The light wasn’t warm—it was pale, strained through dust, washing everything in a gray that felt too quiet.Echo Unit sat in the canyons, the world above them humming with distant aircraft.They hadn’t spoken in hours. Only the sound of sand sliding off rock filled the silence.Rafe Ortiz was the first to break it. “So… what happens now?”No one answered.Amir sat cross-legged beside the radio, its surface flickering with static bursts. He looked up. “The leak worked. I’m picking up transmissions everywhere—news outlets, rogue journalists, even Command chatter.”“Reading anything good?” Jace asked, his voice low.Amir adjusted the dial. “Depends what you call good. Half the world’s in shock. The rest doesn’t want to believe it.”Captain Daniel Mercer crouched near the edge of the cliff, his rifle across his lap. He watched the horizon, where heat shimmered like ghosts.“Truth never wins right away,” he said.Navarro, still pale but stea