“This fight is not Jared's. It's yours.”
“Great. More riddles,” I said, crossing my arms. My muscles relaxed, thinking about the situation at hand. I looked to Gabe. Even with his shark eyes, he was still someone from my childhood that I loved. “Is Claire going to die?”
The plane hit turbulence, and a bit of bouncing evolved into what felt like a several-hundred-foot drop. As I gripped the arm rest, Gabe turned to me once again.
“Listen.”
“I can’t listen if there’s nothing to hear!”
“Listen,” he repeated.
The plane fell again, causing the overhead storage bins to vomit various items, and the already dim lights flickered violently until they surrendered, and the fuselage turned dark.
I jerked awake, and Jared sat where Gabe had been. The lights were on, and the floors were clear of debris.
“It’s you,” I said, relieved.
“Yes,” he said with a confused smile, “who did you think it would be?”
After a short pause, I shook my head. “No one. Just forgot where I was for a second.”
Jared nodded, and then rested his hand on my knee. “We’ll be there in two hours.”
He spent the remainder of our flight on his cell phone. He made arrangements for a car to pick us up at the airport, and for a friend, Colonel Jason Brand to meet us at Landstuhl with visitor identification.
Upon arrival, the pace accelerated. The second the plane came to a stop, Jared had the few things we brought with us in hand, and he held out my jacket.
“It’s chilly,” he said, helping me twist into the sleeves.
Descending the stairs of the plane, it was clear why Jared had to make so many phone calls. Pilots walked to and from their jets, crew chiefs were parking and marshelling out jets, while others were busy with flight inspections. Jet engines screamed as they prepared for takeoff.
We had landed at Ramstein air base. Jared’s connections spanned farther than I had imagined.
We rushed off the tarmac to the waiting car. The driver was a stranger to me. He spoke fluent German to Jared, so I was unsure if he was just a local or someone Jared had met before. He looked about Jared’s age. Light blonde hair peeked from his dark green ball cap, but his eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses.
“Warum gehen Sie nach Landstuhl?” the driver said.
“Claire’s Taleh ist verletzt worden,” Jared said.
The driver’s eyebrows pulled in. He was a friend. Jared mentioning Claire’s Taleh could even mean that he was a Hybrid, and by the features I could see, he was.
“Gutes Glück zu Ihnen, Freund,” he said, shaking his head.
“Danke,” Jared frowned. He leaned toward me, then. “He was asking why we’re here. I told him, and he wished us luck,” he whispered against my cheek.
Nodding, I hugged Jared’s arm to me. Landstuhl was just three miles from the West Gate of the base. The soldier guarding the gate seemed to know the driver, and after checking out his identification, let us through quickly.
An officer in a blue decorated dress uniform waited at the front entrance of the hospital.
“Colonel,” Jared said, shaking his hand. He was definitely not a hybrid, with his dark hair and eyes. “Nina, this is Colonel Jason Brand,” he said.
I shook his hand. “Thank you,” I said.
“Not at all. Claire’s pretty famous around here. We’ve all trained with her at some point,” Jason said with a small grin. “Jared, we’ve got good news coming from the surgeon,” he said as we followed him inside. His voice was firm and no-nonsense. It reminded me of the way my father spoke. “Claire is in the waiting room on the third floor. They know you’re coming.”
Jared nodded. He kept me by his side as we walked to the elevator. The space was quiet, and despite Jason’s positive comment earlier, Jared was on-edge. He rubbed his thumb compulsively against the top of my hand as he held it a bit too tight in his.
“What can I do,” I asked, touching his arm with my free hand.
One corner of Jared's mouth turned up in an appreciative half-smile. “You're here with me. That's all I need.”
The door opened to a bustling hallway. The walls were devoid of anything but white paint, and the halls were full of equipment and people. Medical personnel attended to the wounded wearing either utility attire or green scrubs. Soldiers past by in wheelchairs, accompanied by their attentive wives or mothers. A few were trying on their new prosthesis and learning to walk again.
My stomach instantly felt sick, wondering what was waiting for us in Ryan’s room.
Jared pushed through a set of double doors and stopped. Claire, tiny and alone, stood at the end of the hall. She was looking down an adjacent hall, but the second she felt Jared’s presence, she slowly turned to face him. His stoic disposition deteriorated as he looked into the eyes of his little sister, and a small sound escaped from his throat.
Claire ran down the hall at full speed, and crashed into Jared, wrapping her arms around him. She had run so hard, and hit him with such force, it made a clapping sound that echoed through the halls as if a door had slammed. Even with Claire’s incredible strength, Jared didn’t budge. He lifted her off the floor, taking her into his long arms and squeezed her tightly.
“You didn’t have to come, stupid!” she said. Her voice was muffled against Jared’s shoulder. When she pulled back to look at him, tears blurred her round, ice-blue eyes. “But, I’m glad you came.”
She reached for me, and hooked her arm around my neck, adding me to their embrace. We stood there in silence for a long while, knowing once we let go, reality would set in.
Time was not on our side, and too quickly the reunion was over. We walked to the waiting room, dazed and emotionally exhausted. Jared sat beside me on the sofa, and Claire took a chair adjacent to us.
Jared cleared his throat. “I’m going to apologize in advance, Claire. This is hard for me.”
“Déjà vu?” she said in understanding.
“Something like that,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb.
“You mean me,” I said softly.
Jared didn’t meet my eyes; he simply nodded as he stared at the floor. I had tried to imagine many times what he went through while waiting to hear whether I would live or die after the shoot out in the restaurant.
“I remember,” Claire said with a far-off look in her eyes. “Mom was there. Bex was stuck in Dubai with Amir.” She spoke low and slow, looking to Jared with weary eyes. “You sat on that horrible, fake leather chair until you couldn’t stand it, and then you paced the length of the room until we couldn’t stand it. It was harder to watch than when Daddy slipped away. Then Samuel came, and Eli….”
“They were there?” I asked, surprised.
Jared nodded. “They appeared after I called for Gabriel. I begged him to take me the second…I didn’t want to know what it would feel like when you were gone.”
“Would it be painful?” I asked, touching his arm.
Jared breathed a heavy sigh. “My father described it as weakness, growing so debilitating that eventually every system in our bodies stop.” He looked into my eyes. “We literally need our Taleh’s to breathe.”
Claire watched us for a moment before speaking. “I had to restrain Jared several times. He couldn’t stand the thought of you lying on a table without him, letting strangers — humans — try to save you. He wanted to force his way into the O.R. I’d never seen him so unreasonable.” Claire’s icy eyes melted when she looked at her brother. “Seeing Jared feel so helpless and desperate — Mom waiting to hear if she would lose you and her son — the collective pain in that room will be burned into my memory forever. Just like yesterday will.”
I grabbed her hand. “And I’m okay. Just like Ryan will be.”
Claire wore what used to be a white tank top, now more of a grey-brown, and khaki utility pants with heavy, lace-up boots. A blood-stained hijab sat bunched up in the ch
air next to her. Her moist eyes and smeared mascara had mixed with the desert sand, but only around her eyes.
“Did Ryan recognize you?” I asked.
Claire shook her head. “I should have pulled us out earlier. He looked up at me, but he was pretty out of it. And with the hijab…he could only see my eyes.”
Jared placed his hand on ours. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re both alive.”
“Ryan's company was conducting a raid to extract two contractors that had been missing for a few days. I made a lot of mistakes today, Jared. They were ambushed. I should have seen it coming. I should have heard the snipers get into position, but my mind was full of complaints and resentment.” She stared at the floor, deep in thought. “They always raid at night. Everything was off, and I missed it.”
Jared grabbed Claire's jaw in his hands. “You know better than to beat yourself up about this. What were you telling me in the waiting room in Providence? He’s alive, Claire. No one else could have gotten him here with a chance.”
She pulled away from him, and looked out the window. In her mind, she was still on that street corner, watching the extermination of Ryan's company in real time. “It was like Shock and Awe out there — one explosion after another,” she snapped her eyes shut. The memory replayed in her mind. “I could hear him, but I couldn’t see,” her eyebrows pulled in, “I couldn’t see.”
Her eyes popped open, and she immediately wiped away her tears. “My first glimpse of Ryan didn’t surprise me: He was sprinting from the debris cloud with Tommy on his back.” She smiled. “Of course it would be Tommy. Ryan's only saved his hide three times already.” Her smiled faded. “They were close. Closer than the others. Ryan felt responsible for him.”
Jared stood, and walked to the other side of the room. He rubbed the back of his neck; the worry and memories were clearly overwhelming him.
“That was when I decided to move in,”” Claire explained, “but a sniper clicked on his sights.” Claire laughed once. “The jerkface got one off after I severed his brain stem with one bullet, Jared. That shit only happens in the movies.”
“So Ryan was hit?” I prodded. My mind raced with where the story would end. I had no idea what injuries Ryan had sustained, and with the vivid detail of bombs and bullets, I needed her to get to the point.
“Twice. A bullet ricocheted off a rock, and clipped his right lung; the other blew straight through his shoulder. It was fate. Both injuries are going to send him packing.”
Jared glanced at me, and then returned to his seat. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “That was when you evac’d?”
Claire sniffed. “He wouldn’t let Tommy go. I had to pry all ten of his fingers from the guy’s flak jacket.”
“Figures,” Jared grumbled.
“Ryan’s whole unit was wiped out in three seconds. He needed to save one of them. It didn’t matter that Tommy was dead ten meters from the explosions…Ryan was going to carry him home.”
Tears welled up in my eyes and overflowed. “Can we see him?”
Jared hugged me to his side. “He can’t know you were ever here. We can’t take that chance.”
Jared's reasoning made sense. Explaining Ryan’s memories of me at his bedside in Landstuhl would be too difficult to explain away to our friends at Brown.
Claire looked at her dirty hands. “I hauled him to an empty shack off the path, stayed the night until Morning Prayer, and then back-tracked East to my Jeep.”
Colonel Brand knocked on the door jamb. Jared and Claire immediately stood, and Jared pulled me with him.
“Colonel,” Jared and Claire said in unison, both nodding.
“He’s out of the woods for now. Doctor Vanhooser is closing, and he’ll be in to speak with you shortly. He has been informed that Sergeant Scott is to be kept unaware of your presence.”
“Thanks, Jason,” Claire said, letting out a big sigh of relief.
“There is something you should know,” Colonel Brand said. “Ryan is going to need substantial physical therapy, and after losing his entire unit, his debriefing will be substantial.”
“What does that mean for Ryan?” I asked.
“Sergeant Scott’s chances to return to active duty are slim,” Colonel Brand said, matter-of-factly.
I was ashamed of the relief the Colonel’s words brought me. Ryan would be devastated, and I could only think of myself. Thoughts of Ryan returning to Brown on the military’s dime, and his empty seat at the Ratty being filled peppered my mind, and I had to cover my smile with my hand.
Jared glanced at me. He knew how Colonel Brand’s prediction had made me feel, and his eyes tightened. I sunk back into my seat, crimson splashing across my cheeks.
Claire took a walk down the colorless hallway, giving Jared the perfect chance to scold me. Before he could get the chance, my cell phone buzzed in my jacket pocket.
“Hello?”
“Grant is out sick, you’re gone, and the Japan firm is on line two asking questions I don’t know the answers to,” Beth barked in her southern accent. “I don’t understand half of what he says, Nina. Is there some way to patch you through?”
I smiled. “Just tell him I’m out of town, and I will call him tomorrow.”
“He said he’s been waiting on a return phone call from Grant for a week.”
“Then he can wait one more day,” I said.
“Where are you? I only have a billion documents for you to sign, and the billing on the Peterman account is messed up.”
“Ask an intern. They know the software better than the accountants.”
“Nigh,” she sighed.“Where are you?”
“Checking on an old friend,” I said. “I have to go, Beth. Oh, and…don’t ask Sasha for help. It will give her the mistaken impression that she’s needed.”
“The friend wouldn’t be Kim, would it?”
“No. Why?”
“She’s MIA, too. Again,” Beth grumbled.
“You can wing it until I get back. I have faith in you,” I said, hanging up the phone.
“What?” Jared asked.
“Beth said Kim hasn’t been around. She doesn’t know where she is. Kim’s been doing that a lot lately,” I said with a frown.
Jared squirmed in his seat, and then looked away.
“Jared?” I asked in an accusatory tone. He didn’t look at me. “Do you know anything about that?”
Jared didn’t meet my eyes for several moments, and then finally turned to face me. After a long puff of air, he took a deep breath, and then intertwined his fingers. His expression was exactly as it as the night he told me the truth.
I looked at him from under my brows. “Is it bad?”
Jared shook his head. “It’s dangerous. I won’t lie to you, so please let it go.”
“We’re talking about Kim, right? Lanky, goofy Kim?”
“Let it go, Nina.”
My knee bounced up and down as I made the decision, but it had already been made. I was only stalling. Jared looked away again with a sigh, knowing what would happen next.
He closed his eyes, and with one last effort he begged. “Don’t….”
My knuckles turned white as I gripped the edge of my seat, preparing myself for what he would say. Jared had told me more unbelievable truths in the last two years than even I could believe, and I had seen most of it with my own eyes. Regardless, Kim had been keeping something from me — something Jared knew, and I didn't — I had to ask.
“Jared?” He stiffened the second I uttered his name. Although knowing the truth had never been comforting before, I couldn’t stop myself. “What do you know about Kim?”
Chapter Six
Witch
“That’s not actually his secret to tell,” Kim said, strolling into the waiting room.
It took me a moment to process that she was really there, and that I hadn’t conjured her from my wild imagination.
Kim paused for a moment to acknowledge Jared. When he nodded in
her direction, she took a seat next to me. She was in a white t-shirt and jeans, sporting black and white checkered Vans, and smelled of cigarettes. Her big, brown eyes didn’t falter. She didn’t seem nervous or out of place at all.
“What on earth are you doing here, Kim?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I could ask you the same question.”
“So go ahead. You seem to know all the right questions to ask, anyway,” I said, defiant.
“Kim’s just here to help,” Jared said.
“Help how? How did she know?” I looked at Kim, then. “How did you know to come?”
“How did you know?” she asked. She was purposefully goading me, and I wanted to reach out, lace my fingers around her long neck and shake her with the tightest grip I could muster.
“You’re not funny,” I snapped.
Kim grinned, clearly enjoying the fact that she had me in such a tizzy. “No, but you are.”
I stood up, crossing my arms. If she wouldn’t cooperate, I would corner Jared. I pointed at Kim. “How did she know Ryan was hurt, Jared? How did she get here?”
“Plane,” Kim answered flatly.
“Shut up!” I growled.
The corners of Jared’s mouth turned up slightly, but when he felt my temper rising, he straightened his expression. “Kim is helping us. Finally,” he said, shooting an annoyed glance in her direction.
“Bite me,” Kim said without emotion, chewing her thumb nail.
His jaws flitted under his skin. “She has been keeping an eye on our situation…what?” he said, frowning.
I stared at him. “I’m just waiting for you to make sense.”
Jared returned my expression, and Kim laughed once. “Welcome to my world. He’s one big riddle book, isn’t he? He just does it to make himself feel important. He wants you to drag it out of him.”
Claire walked in, and stopped in her tracks. “What is the witch doing here?” she said with venom in her voice.
Kim smiled slightly, but her eyes were devoid of emotion. “Blessed Be. Heard about what happened. Good job, G.I. Barbie.”
“Move aside, Nina,” Claire said in a frightening, low tone. I was too afraid to move, seeing that she was poised to pounce.
Requiem p-2 Page 8
