More coffins were gently laid on the tarmac. More memories surged through Gordian’s mind. He owed these people. He owed them more than he could ever repay.
It was time to build monuments in their memory.
He would rebuild that Russian ground station and others like it, and use them to make sure that information would flow freely across the steppes and all the world. If anything could keep this from happening again, could stop the violence before it started, it would be that. He was in a position to make it happen. He would keep pressing on.
But somehow, it wasn’t enough.
Again, the picture of Elaine and Arthur as he’d last seen them flashed across his mind. No longer young, they had the memories of a long, rich, shared past to bind them together; they’d been holding hands like teenagers, walking through a field scattered with the first bounty of spring flowers. Their love had been palpable.
That, too, was a monument.
He knew what they’d have wished for him.
It was time to call Ashley and work things out.
He loved her. She loved him. That was too beautiful a gift to waste. Like Arthur with Elaine, he needed to learn to cherish his wife. He owed it to himself and the Steiners to give his marriage a real chance.
Tonight, he thought. I’ll call her tonight.
And I’ll make it so.
As the last coffin was placed on the runway, as the last light of day faded from the scene and the white splash of arc lights replaced it, Roger Gordian signaled the beginning of the ceremony he’d arranged. The world, he thought, would never forget what had happened to them all.
Neither would he.
It was time to forge the new beginnings his people had died to bring about.
He owed it to them all to see it through.
A drumroll sounded as the ceremony for his people began.
Roger Gordian took a step forward to take responsibility for the precious cargo.
And as he took the step, he realized his journey was just beginning.
Roger Gordian opened his heart to embrace the future.
