Free Operation Zulu Redemption: Collateral Damage - Part 1 by Ronie Kendig Page B

up to be the handler for two of the girls? It hit Boone then—Candice had been Rusty’s “student.” He’d trained her, mentored her, just as Boone had trained and mentored Jessie and Nuala. As Trace had done with Téya and Annie. “Did it get personal for you and one of the girls?”
    Rusty snorted. “Intensely—we lived and breathed war with them for the six months they were Zulu. Since then, I’ve lived, breathed, dreamed, eaten that tragedy. It’s with me, everywhere I turn. Every snooze I take.” He scratched the side of his face. “I’m not looking to add ammo to the nightmares, y’know?”
    Boone knew. He knew very well. But leaving the team. . .abandoning them in their time of need. . .it just seemed wrong.
    “Don’t give me that look,” Rusty said.
    Boone held up his hands. “Hey. Your call.”
    “But you think it’s wrong.”
    “You don’t want or need me to answer that.” Boone grunted. “Do what you have to, but thank you for holding out till Keeley is better. I can focus on the team, on figuring out what’s happening knowing you’re here with her.”
    “Did it get personal, Boone-Dawg?”
    He smirked at Rusty for throwing the question back at him. After giving him a backhanded swat on the shoulder, Boone said, “Get some rest.”
    Alone with his thoughts and Keeley, Boone moved the chair to the side of the bed. Pressing his knuckles against the mattress, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Hey, beautiful. You can come back to me any day now, ya hear?”
    He settled into the chair, lifted the book from where he’d tucked it into the small of his back beneath his belt and jeans, and started reading—but not before double-checking that nobody was listening. If this got back to Trace. . .
    Boone cleared his throat and flipped to chapter five. “ ‘In the course of time, Mr. Earnshaw began to fail. He had been active and healthy. . . .’ ”—Boone shot a furtive glance to the windows, then to Keeley. “Can we skip the death and failing stuff?”
    Probably not. Keeley was fastidious. Attentive to detail. Just as Jessie had been with that crazy data wall. Had Jess figured out anything? He sure hadn’t, and that was the burr under his saddle. Someone had found the girls despite meticulous, laborious efforts to hide them. And he and Trace weren’t any closer to figuring out who was behind it all.
    “ ‘. . .he grew grievously irritable. A nothing vexed him. . . .’ ” Boone grunted. “You and me both, Earnshaw.”

Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington County, Virginia
10 May – 0615 Hours
    Sunlight stretched over the rows of headstones, caressing the arched tops with loving warmth as it reached for the two men standing on the road that wrapped through the countless rows of heroes’ headstones.
    “The world is a different place. Our country is a different place today than when I signed up forty years ago, Haym.” Wistful and soft, the voice of the four-star general settled quietly amid the thick dew covering the field of green.
    Haym Solomon nodded. “Changes every day.” His gaze trailed a sleek black sedan gliding along a road, slowly. Solemnly. As it should be. “But one thing remains the same.”
    The four-star grunted. “The hearts of the warriors willing to defend this great country.”
    Hands folded behind his back in a sign of respect and, in a way, submission.
    “We chose this as our meeting ground for a reason.” The man glanced to his right and met Haym’s gaze. “Remember?”
    “I do.”
    Chest drawn up, the four-star let out a long breath. “So we never forget that we are dealing with lives. With heroes’ lives. So that we remember every time we consider sending them out, they might not return to the homes that sent them off.” He gave a nod to the fields that dignified the lives of those who’d made the ultimate sacrifice. “They could end up here.”
    Somber and depressing. Frustrating. Would that he could put a defensive shield