The Peacekeepers. Books 7 - 9 (The Peacekeepers Boxset Book 3)
Page 87
“Now that I can tell you,” Tim said. “I checked his ammo. He had Teflon coated steel core bullets. That improves penetration of ballistic protective equipment. In other words, they were armor piercing bullets. He had a lot of that ammunition in his pocket.”
***
The communications officer stepped outside one of the cabins aboard the Athens. He stopped and sighed. That was the first time he’d ever had to notify anyone about a death, and he hoped it would be his last. Through the door, he heard a heartbreaking wail of anguish and grief that was so loud a security man heard it and came running down the corridor. He intercepted the man and explained the situation as they walked back toward the control room.
The End
Epilogue
On the ground behind the gigantic battleship, twin rows of people stood at rigid attention. They were at Base 1, near the cemetery. A squadron of fighters hovered in the air to pay tribute to the departed peacekeeper, whose body was carried down the ramp by members of the ship’s strike team.
Mourners saluted the flag draped coffin, as the pallbearers carried the pine box coffin between the rows of the assembled peacekeepers and their families.
Slowly, the procession made their way to the open grave and the coffin was lowered into it. The captain of the ship gave the eulogy. Captain Bill Young praised the bravery and loyalty of Rose Hunter, the only peacekeeper to lose her life during the battle at the air raider base.
Richard Clifton, the Cook aboard the Athens, was beside himself with grief. He had been romantically involved with Rose when they had both served aboard the Constitution. He’d been an assistant cook there, but had been offered the job of cook aboard the Athens, which he had taken at Rose’s insistence. She had told him that the promotion was too good to pass up. She had promised to put in for a transfer to the Athens the moment that the sky raider campaign was laid to rest. Until then, she felt she owed it to Captain Young and the rest of the crew to stay with them.
When the eulogy concluded, the fighter squadron hovered over the gravesite for a moment. Then, the squadron leader executed G-Force accelerated away from the base as his fighter climbed into the afternoon sky. It flew to the east and disappeared from sight. Symbolically, the other fighters returned to their landing field and landed. The symbolism involved with the ceremony wasn’t lost on the adults, but a little boy who’d strayed away from his mother tugged on Evan’s hand and asked what the fighters were doing. Then, he asked Evan why he was in a chair with wheels.
Evan patiently explained that the fighter pilot who had flown away was representing the pilot who had died. Then he explained that he had been wounded and he couldn’t walk very far because Maggie would get mad. Of course, then he had to explain that Maggie was the doctor. By then, the little boy’s mother came forward to claim her son and apologized to Evan about her son bothering him.
“He didn’t bother me at all,” Evan said patiently.
Harvey came forward and asked Evan if he was ready to go. “Come on, Harvey, you won’t report me if I walk to the ship will you? This is embarrassing.”
“Do you really expect me to risk Maggie’s anger?”
“Are you forgetting I’m your captain?”
“Captain, no offense meant to you, but I’d prefer to have you mad at me rather than Maggie any day of the week.”
Evan laughed and said, “No offense taken. Get me back to the ship. I promised to visit Ralph in the infirmary after the funeral.”
“Lisa, let me hold Beth. I want to tell her I just met her future husband.”
As Lisa placed Beth in Evan’s arms, she asked, “You mean that inquisitive little boy?”
“Yep. I have a feeling their destinies are entwined.”
“What is the Peacekeeper doing?” Lisa asked as it landed in the shipyard.
“Tim is going to have a speed upgrade installed on the battleship module,” Evan explained. “Don’t worry. They can fix our ship while they work on the module. Pol said a different team does that work.”
“How long will we be down?” she asked.
“Long enough to reach that date you have circled on your calendar, so I’m saving up my energy,” Evan said with a grin.
“I’ll have to ask Mom if you’re well enough,” Lisa teased.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Evan said. “Would you?” he asked, causing Lisa to laugh. “I mean, the bullet passed through the fleshy part of my lower side. It didn’t hit anything important.”
“It almost made me a widow. What were you thinking?” Lisa asked as she walked beside him, and Evan could tell that this time she was being serious.
“I was thinking how much I owed Ralph. He took a bullet for you and the baby in Florida, and he took another, two days ago for Maggie and Beth. It seemed the least I could do was get the raider out of the infirmary so Maggie could try to save Ralph. I owed him that chance at life.”
“I’m not arguing that. I’m just upset about your methods, Love.”
“It’s what Pete would have done.”
“Mom said the same thing. I know he’d tell me I should be proud to have a man who isn’t afraid to act to save his friends when they need him. Above all else, Dad respected that, and so do I. Just be more careful in the future. Our little girl needs her father, and I need my husband.”
“Yes, Dear,” Evan said.