by Myke Cole
But Schweitzer still felt the link, the magic connecting them, specter of a trail that had haunted him from the moment he’d awoken to his new unlife. It had led him to her, and now, so close, he felt it attaching them. He knew Sarah felt it, too, could see it in the mixture of fear and longing on her face, could sense it in the chemical cocktail that poured off her. She knew who he was.
“They told me you were dead,” he said. “I would have come sooner, but they lied to me.”
She nodded, her eyes wet now. But the fear stink didn’t subside. Schweitzer could see the battle etched out on her face, her love of him warring with her physical instinct to run.
She was terrified.
But she didn’t move. Her muscles tensed to spring and didn’t.
She was trying.
And that was something.
All his newfound power did little to help him muster the effort to stop himself from reaching toward his family, to stand, to step away.
“Okay,” he said. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”
“I know,” she said. She stood, gathered Patrick, stepped to the ground. Stared up at him. “What is this, Jim?”
“I don’t know, baby,” he said, “but I’ll tell you what I’ve figured out so far, and we’ll hammer the rest out together, like we always have.”
She was quiet, looked away. Schweitzer could see the tears sliding out of the corners of her eyes. His new powers had their drawbacks, too, it seemed. He knew the lie in his own words. He was a walking corpse, a dead thing made animate by magic he didn’t understand. He had found them, his wife and child, but how could he be a husband and father to them now?
“I . . . I thought you were alive,” Sarah said. “I was so sure. Are you?”
Sarah had changed, but not so much that he could lie to her. “No,” he said. “This isn’t life.”
“Then how can we figure it out like we always have?”
He thought of the Gemini Cell, receiving satellite reports of the defeat of the Gold Operators, spinning up the secondary team, sending in drones, activating whatever plan B they surely had in place.
There wasn’t much time.
“Because we have no choice. Whatever I am now, I can protect you.”
“I can protect myself, Jim.”
“Not against what’s coming, Sarah. This is different.”
She shook her head, looked up at him. “I know.”
“You don’t, and I don’t have time to explain it to you now. So, know this. There are more of those monsters, many more, and they’re coming. They won’t stop until they have you and Patrick.”
“Why? Why do they care about some widowed artist and her son?”
“Because you know what I am, Sarah. And now you know there are others like me. You honestly think they’re going to let you live?”
“We’ll go to the authorities,” she said, her tone indicating she knew the foolishness of the statement.
“They are the authorities, Sarah. There is no help coming. You saw what they can do. You need a monster to defeat a monster. I’m the only one who can keep you safe now.”
“A monster . . .” She was weeping openly now. The sight tore at him. He would have joined her if he could.
“A monster who can keep Patrick safe. Sarah, if you won’t let me protect you, at least let me protect him. You can’t do it alone. Not now.”
She sobbed, nodding. “I love you, Jim. I love you so much. But . . . this makes things different.”
“No, baby,” Schweitzer husked. “Please don’t say that. I love you. Dying kills the branches, Sarah, but the roots hang on.”
“You promise to keep Patrick safe?”
“Promise. With everything I have, Sarah. I will not let them hurt either of you.”
“There’s something between us . . . there’s a link, Jim. I always knew you were . . . still here. I always knew you weren’t gone. How is that possible?”
“I don’t know, baby. It’s magic. I don’t think it’s supposed to make sense. But I know that I love you, and that love ties us together.”
She paused, mastered herself. She put her hand on her chest, indicating the invisible connection there, the one she knew they both felt. “If I die, will I become like you?”
And he did extend his hand now, his dead heart swelling with longing, with grief for what was lost, with gratitude for what had been saved, with hope for what was coming.
Sarah swallowed, took his hand.
Hell rose behind them, the stars circled overhead, and the woods swallowed them. The tree trunks closed in as they ran, sealing off the outside world, an oddly fitting door slamming on all they had finally lost.
All touchstones vanished, all notions of the familiar were erased by the thick darkness and the raging chorus of chirping insects and peeping frogs. This new world was as alien as the void had once seemed to him.
Pete’s face rose again in his mind, his deep-set eyes smiling. Proud of you, bro.
Schweitzer spoke to that ghost, words he’d never said aloud to anyone. Pete? I don’t know what to do. I’m scared.
And he was.
But he had himself now, wholly, truly.
And he had his family.
It was enough.
GLOSSARY OF MILITARY ACRONYMS AND SLANG
ABC’S—Airway, breathing, circulation. First responders check these vital signs to ensure a patient’s vitality. Direct-action teams check them to ensure a target has been neutralized.
BIRD—Aviation asset such as a helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft.
BMF—Boat Maintenance Facility.
BUD/S—Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training. The six-month training course that all sailors must graduate to become US Navy SEALs. BUD/S alone does not make one a SEAL, and additional training is required. BUD/S is intensely grueling, with an 80 percent attrition rate.
CARBINE—A long gun with a shorter barrel than a rifle. Carbines are better suited to combat in close quarters than their longer cousins.
CAS—Close air support. Action taken by fixed or rotary-wing platforms to assist ground troops.
CHEMLIGHT—Also known as “glow sticks.” A short plastic tube filled with chemical compounds in separate compartments. When the stick is bent, the barrier between the compartments breaks, allowing the compounds to mix. The resultant chemical reaction causes the tube to emit a strong colored glow.
CLEARED HOT—Authorized to open fire.
CONDITION YELLOW—A state of hypervigilance where a person is constantly anticipating sudden violence.
CONEX—A type of intermodal shipping container.
COP—Combat Outpost.
CQB—Close quarters battle. Refers to the tactics of breaching and clearing confined spaces, such as a building or ship.
DANGER CLOSE—Indicates a friendly force in close proximity to a target of fire, usually from artillery or close air support.
DFAC—Dining facility.
DYNAMIC—An operational state wherein the enemy is aware of the assault team’s presence, rendering stealth unnecessary.
EMBED—Embedded or one who is embedded.
“EYES ON”—Indicates the speaker is observing the subject of the sentence. “I have eyes on the door.”
FNG—Fucking New Guy/Girl. A person who is newly assigned to a military unit. This friendly pejorative is meant to indicate the likelihood that the described will make mistakes.
GROM—Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno-Manewrowego. Poland’s elite counterterrorism unit.
HAWK—Armed aviation asset such as a helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft.
HVAC—Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning.
K-9—Canine. A unit that employs working dogs for law enforcement or military operations. The term is also used to refer to the dogs themselves.
K
C—Kill-Capture. A direct-action mission wherein the team’s first goal is to capture a human target. If the team is unable to capture the target without risking harm to their own number, they will kill him/her. A successful KC must conclude with the target either captured or dead.
MAM—Military aged male.
MANPAD—Man-portable air-defense system. A shoulder-mounted missile launcher.
MEDEVAC—Medical evacuation. An emergency retrieval and removal of a casualty from a crisis zone. The patient is stabilized and transferred as quickly as possible to a medical facility where adequate care can be provided.
“MIKES”—Minutes.
MWR—Morale, Welfare, and Recreation center.
NODS—Night Optical Devices. Mechanical devices that permit the user to see in the dark.
“OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD”—Slang used to indicate a visit to a mental-health professional.
OP—Operation. Refers to any military undertaking with a discrete beginning and end.
OPERATOR—Members of special forces elements who engage in special operations. Term connotes members of direct-action elements whose primary tasking is breaching hardened targets and neutralizing a dug-in enemy.
PAX—Passenger or passengers.
PIPE HITTER—A fighter. A person whose principal occupation is the use of force.
PJS—Pararescue jumpers, also known as “pararescuemen.” A special operations element within the United States Air Force.
PLATOON—A military organizational unit consisting of twenty-eight to sixty-four members.
QRF—Quick Reaction Force. A standby troop of warfighters positioned to respond rapidly to an emergency.
SEABEES—CBs, the construction battalions of the United States Navy.
SEAL—“Sea, Air, and Land.” A special operations force of the United States Navy.
SQT—SEAL Qualification Course. Secondary instruction for SEALs that follows graduation from BUD/S.
SQUIRTERS—A colloquial term for those enemy who flee a targeted location.
SSG—Special Services Group. Pakistan’s Special Operations forces.
SST—Special Security Team. An elite counterterrorism unit in the Japanese Coast Guard.
TCCC—Tactical combat casualty care. First-responder medical training given to operators. It is designed to allow nonmedical personnel to engage in triage under fire, and to stabilize casualties for medevac.
TIC—Troops in contact. Indicates that the speaker is engaged and fighting with the enemy.
WIA—Wounded in action.
YN1—Yeoman First Class. A senior enlisted member of the US Navy or Coast Guard specializing in administration.
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