“I am tired.”
“But you’re going to be all right?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m fit as a fiddle.”
“Goose…”
He waited. After all those years of marriage, he knew not to hurry her. She’d say what she wanted to when she got good and ready.
“I’ve asked for permission to bring civilians over there in support positions. Families here are going crazy with the need to do something for the soldiers stationed there. After reviewing the offer from those civilians, the general has agreed.”
“There’s no call to involve civilians in this situation. A lot of people have already gotten hurt. A lot more are gonna be. This isn’t a good place for civilians to be, Megan.”
“It’s not a good place for you, either.”
“No, it’s not.” Goose gazed unhappily at his injured leg. He’d never before felt so helpless. “ You’re going to be lucky if you can walk with a cane.” The words had cycled endlessly through his head and haunted his dreams.
“I’m coming too, Goose,” Megan told him. “Over there. As soon as we can set up a schedule.”
Fierce pride filled Goose as he heard her. From the time he’d known her, Megan had never backed down from a challenge. She’d never cut and run.
“Nothing to say?” she asked.
“I know when to steer clear of trouble,” Goose replied. “But I don’t like the thought of you being in this mess.”
“I don’t like the thought of you being over there. I guess we’re at a stalemate, First Sergeant. So if you can’t come to me, I guess I’m going to come to you.”
“Yes, ma’am.” But Goose hoped it wouldn’t be anytime soon or that the commanding officers would reconsider. He understood the sense of what Megan was proposing, and God knew they needed the help, but he didn’t want families on the firing line.
Megan interrupted his thoughts. “They’re telling me I have to keep this call short.”
“I understand.” Goose squeezed the phone more tightly than he’d intended. He didn’t want to surrender the contact he had with her. He wanted to feel her close to him. He wanted her to understand that he was going to walk again. More than that, he was going to soldier again. The doctor was wrong. He had to be wrong.
“I love you, Goose,” Megan said.
“I love you too.”
“God willing, I’ll see you soon.”
The broken connection clicked in Goose’s ear. He swallowed hard and struggled to keep his emotions in check. Then he folded the cell phone and handed it back to the waiting nurse.
“Sounds like you’ve got yourself a good woman, First Sergeant.”
“Yes, ma’am. One of the finest women I’ve ever met.”
“Excluding present company.”
Despite the fear that gripped him from the debilitating effects of his knee injury and the thought of Megan being anywhere on the ground in Turkey, Goose summoned a smile. “Of course, ma’am. Excluding present company.”
“You see if you can get some more rest, First Sergeant. If you need anything, just let me know.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Goose lay back and closed his eyes. Even though he felt certain sleep wouldn’t come, it took him under its wing so softly and suddenly he wasn’t even aware of it.
44
Downtown Sanliurfa
Sanliurfa Province, Turkey
Local Time 1931 Hours
Goose came awake feeling someone staring at him. He blinked against the thick darkness. For a moment, with the drugs coursing through his system, he was lost and thought he was in the field somewhere. He wasn’t sure if it was the Middle East or Africa or even one of the wilderness jaunts he’d been on in Eastern Europe.
Then he felt the bed beneath him and remembered he was in the medical facility in Sanliurfa. That realization wasn’t any more restful. For all he knew, one of the CIA’s assassins lurked in the room.
Out of years of habit, he reached for a weapon, but one wasn’t close to hand.
“At ease, First Sergeant,” Remington spoke out of the darkness.
“Yes, sir.” Goose started to get up but his leg remained in traction.
“I can’t get up, sir.”
“I knew that. You ready for the light?”
Goose squinted against the coming brightness. “Yes, sir.”
Remington turned the light on. The illumination stabbed into Goose’s eyes. Thankfully the dimmer muted the full strength, but the sudden brightness still gave him an instant headache.
“How are things out there, sir?”
Remington approached the bed. Despite the fatigue that clung to him, he appeared unstoppable. “We’ve held the enemy in abeyance. They’re still there, but we’ve convinced them that taking this city isn’t going to be as easy as they’d first thought.”
“That’s good, sir.”
“It’s good, but it’s not enough. The Syrians are still convinced they can get the job done.” Remington took in a breath and let it out. “Even with the UN reinforcements, our situation hasn’t improved enough to promise that we can hold the line here.”
“At least we’re not being run out of town on a rail in full rout, sir.”
A tight, humorless smile curved Remington’s lips. “That’s true. But I don’t like looking for how things could be worse. I want to concentrate on making them better.”
“Yes, sir.”
Remington studied Goose for a moment. “Your friend Icarus managed to disappear again.”
Goose heard and felt the bald accusation in Remington’s words. “That man’s not my friend, sir.”
“Yet the two of you seem to end up spending an inordinate amount of time together,” Remington countered.
“Not through any effort on my part, sir.”
Slowly Remington nodded. “I’d like to believe that.”
“It’s the truth, sir.” Goose had a feeling that whatever was going to happen with Icarus, the mysterious agent had disappeared from his life for good. He was in God’s hands now.
“Moving on,” Remington said. “You’ve noticed that we have reinforcements.”
“Couldn’t help but notice that on the way in, sir.”
“The secretarygeneral of the United Nations routed them to us.”
“Carpathia did that, sir?”
“Yes.” Remington studied Goose’s face. “Do you have a problem with that, First Sergeant?”
“No, sir.”
“That’s good, because without those men we wouldn’t have been here waiting when you finished your little trek through hostile territory.”
“Roger that, sir.”
“There’s been an interesting twist to come out of their arrival.”
Goose waited.
“SecretaryGeneral Carpathia wants to reorganize the world’s military forces. In light of everything that’s gone on, the secretarygeneral recognizes the need to combine those armies into one unit. Put all our toys in one box. With everything facing the world today, the confusion and chaos, I think it would be a good idea.”
