“You sure about this?” I looked dubiously up at the towering gate in front of us, surrounded by trees.

Hector shrugged. “Did you have another destination in mind?”

“Not a city?” I suggested without much hope.

Hector narrowed his eyes at me. “Where else do you suggest we find work? We’re soldiers. Besides, this one has trees. I thought you liked trees.”

I scowled up at the massive redwoods like they had personally offended me. “Cities don’t deserve trees.”

At that moment, I never would have guessed that I would still be there two years later, holding the rank of Captain and investigator, willing to lose everything for the people within its walls, and plunged into a conspiracy that threatened to take all that I loved.