Stone Ranger

by Bob Blanton

  “Jamal, save your strength,” Colonel Marshall said as he used Matthew’s cummerbund to apply a tourniquet to Captain Walker’s leg.

  “How’s Reese?”

  “He looks fine, cussing about getting nicked in the arm. Now take it easy. Medic!”

  The EMT rushed up. “What’s the story?”

  “Femoral artery,” Colonel Marshall said. “We need to get some fluids in him.”

  “Marshall, you tell my wife and kids that I love them.”

  “You’ll tell them yourself.”

  “And take care of Matt; he’s part of the club now. He’s special, so if you ever need a miracle.”

  The gurney arrived and Colonel Marshall and the EMT got Captain Walker onto it while Matthew held the IV.

  Tears were streaming down Matthew’s face as he watched them wheel Captain Walker out the back.

  “He’s a tough old dog,” Colonel Marshall said, putting his arm around Matthew’s shoulder. “If anyone can pull through it, he will.

  After The Storm

  Matthew looked around for Emily. He’d seen her when the lights came on but had lost her when he rushed to Captain Walker.

  “Matt,” Emily gasped, as she worked her way across the mostly deserted stage, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but Captain Walker is hurt bad.”

  “Will he be okay?” The two friends grabbed each other into a hug.

  “I don’t know,” Matthew replied. “I’m going to check.”

  He opened his portal up; he couldn’t sense Captain Walker, but he hadn’t been sure he would be able to. So he zoomed the portal out back and found the ambulances. He saw the EMT who had taken Captain Walker outside sitting in the back of one of them. He just got the portal over to it when the EMT covered Captain Walker’s face. He looked at the other attendant, “He bled out, there must have been another ruptured artery or something.”

  Matthew closed his portal. “He died.”

  “Oh no!” Emily started to cry on Matthew’s shoulder.

  “I can’t believe some idiot panicked and gave us away,” Matthew said through his clenched teeth. “He’s the one that should have gotten shot.”

  “Not everybody can keep their cool,” Colonel Marshall said as he walked over to the two friends. “We have no idea how it would have gone down. Any second someone would have noticed there were hostages missing.”

  “But things were going so smoothly,” Emily said.

  “It was going to get ugly; it was just a matter of time. The guy may have given it away a minute early but no more than that. Once we started shooting, they were going to start shooting back. We saved a lot of lives tonight, and now that it’s over, let’s go find our loved ones. I’m walking out the front of this thing, same way I came in.”

  Matthew looked at Emily, she nodded, and the two followed Colonel Marshall off the stage and up the aisle. When they got to the lobby they saw pandemonium outside. There were several news camera crews, reporters and photographers outside walled off by a row of FBI Agents. The lights from the TV cameras were almost blinding, and they could hear the continuous clicking of cameras as the photographers seemed to be taking pictures continuously. As they walked outside, Matthew saw his mom, the Winthrops and Stevensons standing with a few other families inside the space that had been walled off from the reporters.

  As soon as they saw Matthew and Emily they all rushed forward.

  “Matty, I was so frightened,” his mother cried out as she grabbed him in a fierce hug.

  “I’m okay,” Matthew replied weakly.

  Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson were hugging Emily, all three were crying.

  Brianna came up beside Matthew and his mother. “Matt, I was so scared when I heard about it on the radio. We came as fast as we could.”

  “Thanks,” Matthew said, inviting Brianna into the hug with his mother. “How’s your cold?”

  “I should have been with you,” Brianna cried and sniffled.

  “No, I’m glad you weren’t here. I wish nobody had been here,” Matthew said.

  Colonel Reese was hugging Amanda. Matthew noticed that she was a good five inches taller than him; it made him laugh a little.

  Sarah came up to the group and hugged her husband.

  “Hi, I’m glad to see Sarah made it out okay,” Colonel Reese said. “I was a little worried that she’d go into labor once it got crazy.”

  “No, I’m doing just fine. The doctor checked me out already,” Sarah said.

  “Hate to tell you, but Jamal didn’t make it,” Colonel Reese said.

  Colonel Marshall just nodded his head. “You folks have two amazing kids here,” he said to Mrs. Brandt and the Stevensons. “They did one hell of a job in there. I wouldn’t have expected any more from any of my Marines.”

  “Thank you,” Mrs. Brandt said. Then looking at Matthew she asked, “Just what did you do in there?”

  “Nothing, Mom, just did what Captain Walker told us to.”

  Agent Caruthers walked up. “We need to talk to your children,” she said. “It won’t take too long.”

  “I think you can talk to them tomorrow,” Colonel Marshall said. “Reese and I can give you a run down tonight.”

  “Yes, let them go home with their families,” Colonel Reese said. “They’ve done enough for one night.”

  Agent Caruthers looked like she was going to argue.

  “It’s been enough, Jane,” Colonel Marshall said.

  “Okay, James,” Agent Caruthers said. “If you and Colonel Reese will stick around for an hour, we can let everyone else go home.”

  “Is Captain Walker’s family here?” Colonel Reese asked.

  “They’re over in the car there,” Agent Caruthers said. “They’re taking it pretty hard.”

  “Give me a few minutes,” Colonel Marshall said as he kissed Sarah. Then he walked toward the car with the Walker family inside.

  “The rest of you should go. I’ll have my men keep the press cornered until you get to your cars.”

  “You’re mom came with us,” Brianna said, as they walked toward the parking lot.

  “Are you okay, Matt, it must have been crazy in there,” Jason said.

  “Let the boy be,” Mr. Winthrop said. “You’ll have plenty of time to talk about it later. Right now we need to get him home.”

  Obligations

  On Saturday morning they held Captain Walker’s funeral. Most of the hostages were at the service.

  Colonel Reese got up to say a few words.

  “I’ve known Jamal for over ten years. We were friends and served together on a few missions. If he were here today I think he would express his love and pride in his son who is going to the Naval Academy next year; his love to his daughter who is turning into a fine young woman and his intense love and admiration for his wife, Phylicia, who has been there for him throughout their marriage and has been the main force in raising their two children.

  “But then he would want you to know his intense pride and love for his country that he dedicated his life to serving. He would ask each and every person to look at themselves and ask, ‘How am I serving my country?’ He wouldn’t have expected everyone to join the military service, but he would look for each and every American to step up when the opportunity arises -- like the men and women on 9/11 stepped up to help each other. Many of us would not be standing here today if a young man and a young lady hadn’t stepped up and risked their lives to sneak a cell phone onto that stage and call for help last week. This is a country of freedom, but with that freedom comes an obligation to serve, a lifetime obligation to reach your hand out when it is needed.

  “Jamal gave his life to protect this country. He would have been the first to say, don’t take my death as an excuse to be angry at the people in whose name this tragedy was done. Be angry at the intolerance that led these men to kill indiscriminately. It is the terrorists whom we should be angry at, whether they are misguided Muslims or Christians, whether they are intolerant of your r
eligion or the color of your skin, whether they do it to influence international opinion or to influence national policy. When they use guns and bombs to argue their point, when they use fear to get their way, they’re terrorists and we’ve declared war on them.

  “We all loved Jamal deeply and will miss him. God Bless.”

  Matthew and his mother rode to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in a limousine with the Stevensons. There wasn’t much room for words as they all sniffed back tears. At the graveside, they all stood solemnly while the Navy Chaplin committed Captain Walker’s body to the ground. They stood at attention while the honor guard fired a twenty-one-gun salute, and then watched as the pallbearers folded the flag and presented it to his wife, Phylicia. Then the bugler played taps as Phylicia Walker hugged her two children.

  When Matthew expressed his condolences to Mrs. Walker, he was shocked at the icy reception he and Emily got from Captain Walker’s son, Jamal Jr.

  “He acts like it’s our fault,” Matthew said to Emily.

  “I don’t think he knows how to deal with the fact that we were the last two to really talk with his father before he was killed. If it were me, I’d feel a little cheated.”

  “I guess that makes sense.”

  Agent Caruthers walked up, “How are you two holding up?”

  “We’re doing fine,” Matthew said.

  “That was a fine speech Colonel Reese gave, I especially liked the part about obligations.”

  “I did too,” Matthew said with Emily nodding her head in agreement.

  “What’s going to happen to his family?” Emily asked.

  “A trust fund was set up for them. I hear that it’s received over a million in donations, mostly from the hostages.”

  “That’s good, but no amount of money can bring your father back,” Matthew eyes welled up with tears again. “I know.”

  “Yes, I understand that,” Agent Caruthers said.

  Jamal Walker Jr. came up behind Matthew and Emily. Nodding at Agent Caruthers, he said, “Hey, man, I was kind of cold back there.”

  “No problem,” Matthew said, “you’ve lost a lot.”

  “I know. Colonel Reese was telling me you lost your father a while back.”

  “Yes, almost two years now.”

  “Do you still remember him?”

  “I can see his face and hear his voice anytime I close my eyes,” Matthew said, “but it took me months before I stopped being angry.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll ever stop being angry,” Jamal Jr. said. “I feel like I should just join the Navy now.”

  “Don’t let it change the plans you and your father had,” Matthew said. “He would want you to go on.”

  “That’s right, son,” Colonel Reese said as he walked up and put his arm around Jamal Jr. “This war is going to be going on for a long time. You shouldn’t get in a hurry. Your mom needs to know you’ll be safe, at least for now.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “If you need someone to talk to, or to hang with, give me a call,” Matthew said.

  “Me, too,” Emily added.

  “Thanks; I just wanted to say hello the right way,” Jamal Jr. said. “I’ve got to get back to Mom and Andy. Bye.”

  “That boy will make a fine officer,” Colonel Reese said, as everyone watched Jamal Jr. walk away.

  “I don’t believe we’ve shaken hands yet,” Colonel Reese said, as he extended his hand to Matthew.

  “No, I guess not.” Matthew took Colonel Reese’s hand and shook it. Colonel Reese really bore down on his grip, but Matthew didn’t have any trouble returning the affection.

  “Is Agent Caruthers here giving you a hard time?” Colonel Reese asked.

  “No, we were just commenting on how much we liked your speech.”

  “That’s nice of you; I stole most of it from a speech Jamal gave after 9/11. I thought it would be fitting.”

  “It was.”

  “Did you know that Agent Caruthers was a CIA operative?”

  “No.”

  “Yeah; she transferred to the FBI, but I don’t think they’ve ruined her yet.” Colonel Reese gave Agent Caruthers a big smile. “Marshall and I have always said you were the best of the team we worked with in Afghanistan.”

  “Why thanks, I don’t remember such praise when we were working together,” Agent Caruthers smiled back. “In fact what I mostly remember are words that I can’t repeat in polite company.”

  “Heat of battle,” Colonel Reese said. “We didn’t want you thinking you were in charge; but at least we could trust you and you knew how to do your job.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You thinking about recruiting these two?” he teased.

  “I’m trying to decide between that and arresting them,” Agent Caruthers said with a smile. “But I think we’ll need to wait a few years.”

  “Where’s Fauget?”

  “He hates funerals, he’ll be by later to pay his respects.”

  “Probably at midnight,” Reese said. “Thanks for getting us out of there.”

  “You’re the ones who got it done,” Agent Caruthers said.

  “Well, we made a good team. That idiot you report to would have probably gotten us all killed.”

  “I’m sure he would have handled the situation correctly.”

  “Don’t go politically correct on me; you know he couldn’t find his ass with both hands, but he’s your problem. Bye kids,” Colonel Reese gave Emily a hug and nodded to Matthew before heading off.

  Agent Caruthers looked at Matthew and Emily, “I hope we don’t meet again.”

  “So do we,” Matthew and Emily replied in unison.

  As she walked off after Colonel Reese, Matthew turned to Emily, “Maybe I should tell her.”

  “I don’t know. What would they do to you, lock you up and make you their secret weapon?”

  “You heard what Colonel Reese said about obligations.”

  “And you heard what he said about not getting in a hurry.”

  Matthew and Emily turned and looked at the big flag flying at half-mast over the cemetery. They stood there for a long time, arm in arm, watching the flag as it fluttered in the breeze.