by Reagan James
Twenty-Seven
Axel
I awoke before Hannah to the sound of an English-speaking voice. I couldn’t exactly pin point an accent but a man was saying the same word over and over again, “Walker! Walker!”
Relief washed over me as I realized what was happening.
“Hannah,” I whispered, “it’s time to go home.”
She rubbed her eyes and looked up at me with a sleepy but happy grin.
“I told you to stay brave,” she teased me.
How could such a little girl be such a courageous soul, I thought. She reminded me of Honor. So brave and honest, beautiful and sweet. As the voice grew louder I allowed my mind to drift to thoughts of Honor; she would be back in my arms soon enough and all of this would be over. I wasn’t going to waste any time. Honor was the love of my life and I hoped she would understand why I couldn’t be in the Elite Force Protectors anymore. As long as I stayed part of the EFP, Honor was at risk. I just prayed she would understand and I prayed she would love me for who I was—well the real me.
“Walker!”
All of a sudden I recognized the voice. It was Ty Powers, a fellow Elite Force Protector and my best friend. Ty had clearly been called in to rescue us. I almost laughed out loud, the boys were never going to let me live this one down.
“Walker, you useless fuck, where are you?”
“Hey!” I called back, “there’s a child here. Watch your mouth!”
“Oh shit,” Ty laughed. “Sorry!”
“That’s okay,” said Hannah. “I won’t tell.”
“You’re the best, Soldier Girl,” I said as I started to get up, still suffering badly from the effects of a head wound and multiple fractures in my leg from where the concrete had fallen. But I said nothing about it to Hannah. I had to keep her calm and focused. I still had no idea how long we’d been down there… my guess was two weeks, three maybe… we’d run out of rations at least four days ago, or was it five? It didn’t matter. It was all over now. We were going to be back in the Green Zone in a matter of hours.
Ty finally appeared at the top of a huge pile of rubble. Beside him stood two local soldiers—the good guys—they were young but much more serious looking than Ty, which was not all that hard to be, to be honest. Ty was as wild as they came.
Guns, women, explosive devices, that’s pretty much all Ty cared about. He was the most experienced detonation expert I’d ever met. And he was completely nuts. Which I think probably came in handy—you’ve got to be a little crazy to want to diffuse bombs for a living.
“Walker you stupid fuck why did you fall down that hole?” Ty yelled again, “We’re going to have to get a helicopter over the site, drop a rope, then air lift you out, k?”
“Language, Powers!” we always called each other by our last names.
“Fuck, sorry,” Ty shrugged and winked. “Hey princess, we’re going to get you out of there.”
“I’m okay,” Hannah waved.
“I was talking to your dumb soldier friend,” Ty said and laughed as he pulled out a walkie-talkie and started barking commands. He motioned to the two local soldiers to follow him.
Hannah burst out laughing and turned to me, “I told you everything was going to be okay.”
I smiled back, “you were right, Soldier Girl.”
Twenty minutes later a helicopter hovered high above us and I could see a yellow ladder slowly lowering down towards where we stood. Ty held on tight to the ladder as he approached us and smiled a huge “I’m never going to let you forget that I rescued you” smile. I chuckled to myself. Yes I had been a warrior and a ruthless soldier at one point, hell I just took out eight Fear Division rebels so I think that stands for something. But I was done. I was ready to go home and wrap the woman I loved up in my arms and walk away from this life. It was time to head back to the ranch and rebuild what my family lost. Time to start my own family, too.
“Well hello there,” said Ty as he jumped the last four or so feet down to meet us. He gave me a bear hug and whapped me on the back, then he turned to Hannah, “what do you say I take you back home?”
Hannah giggled, “I’d like that!”
“Okay, kiddo,” said Ty, “now you just hold on to me tight and we’re going to go up, up and away.”
Hannah’s smile immediately faded, “what about Axe?”
Ty dropped to one knee and looked at her square in the eyes, “Hmm do you think we should take him too?”
Hannah nodded sweetly.
“Okay here’s the deal, Hannah,” said Ty as he picked her up easily and put one foot in the lowest rung of the ladder, looping his free arm around another rung. “We are going to get you in that helicopter and then I’m going to throw the ladder back down to Axe, sound good?”
Hannah seemed nervous to leave me but I nodded that it was okay so she conceded and wrapped her arms around Ty, “sounds good.”
Ty gave the thumbs up to the pilot and the two local soldiers, who were now on board the helicopter, began to heave the ladder up to safety. I couldn’t help but stare at the local soldiers as they frantically pulled the ladder up… something was off.
And then it hit me, just as Ty and Hannah approached the helicopter, one of the soldiers smiled at me, his mouth full of jagged shards of gold. He was The Fear Division kidnapper I had shot in the shoulder when I rescued Hannah!
“Ty!” I screamed. “Abort!”
Even from fifty feet below I could see the blood drain from Ty’s face as the realization of what was happening washed over him.
Twenty-Eight
Honor
“Walker, come here!” I ran with my arms outstretched to my man, he smiled as he ran towards me too, “oh my gosh I love you so much!”
He just smiled in return. It was our little morning routine. And it was all I needed.
“Now,” I started to say as I softly released myself from his embrace and turned towards the kitchen to fix my coffee. “What do you think we should get up to today?”
Again, he smiled in return. That smile melted my heart but of course it was bittersweet. We had been through so much together. So much had happened. I couldn’t believe we’d made it “out” okay. Our life together had been an adventure, that’s for sure, a wild ride. But the hard times were over now, hopefully, and sunny days were ahead. I had to believe that. I looked out over the kitchen towards the beautiful California ocean.
It was May and the weather was warm and breezy, perfect beach temp. I loved this time of year because I could open all the doors and let the fresh air flow through. This of course made it very tempting to indulge in lazy afternoons under the lattice awning in a hammock with my man. But I felt as though we should be more adventurous that day.
I had woken up before him that morning and managed to get through a couple hours of work. I missed my old job, sometimes, at the online news publication, but being a freelance photo editor afforded me so much more freedom so the trade-off was totally worth it. I could work when I wanted to and the pay was pretty good. It was actually the perfect job for someone like me.
I took a sip of my coffee and looked out over the ocean, I could never get enough of all that fresh air. I guess in many ways I was still recovering from that stifling, choking feeling of life in The Green Zone. Even though it was two years ago, those three months of relentless dry heat made me feel as though I could never really take a full deep breath of fresh air. I think that’s what had attracted me to this house when I returned. The openness of it. I needed a change, that’s for sure. The first step was to change jobs, which I did.
Next, I finally found a good use for my inheritance from my dad, which was modest but enough to put a down payment on an open concept bungalow built into the mountains just outside of Carmel. The town was a tiny, sleepy little beach community and I loved it. And since I was working from home, we could go visit my family and Libby in Santa Cruz anytime we wanted. Two years later, I felt as though I was truly healed from what happened in The Green Zone. I
realized I had zoned out just then and Walker brought me back to the present moment.
“Sorry, love, I guess I lost myself in thought there for a moment. Now, let’s make some fun plans for today! I would really like to… I would love to…”
I couldn’t help it, I suddenly became overwhelmed, as I did often, by the way he looked at me. A little tear began to well up and I tried hard to stop it but it rolled down my cheek anyway.
“Walker,” I sniffed.
He cocked his head to the side, seemingly unaware of why my mood had changed all of a sudden.
“I’m sorry baby, it’s not you. You just look so much like your Daddy when you smile.”
“Mamaaaa,” he garbled.
“That’s right, love,” I smiled through bittersweet tears, “I’m your Mama.”
Twenty-Nine
Axel
“Thank you so much for seeing me, sir,” I shook Mr. Powers’ hand as he welcomed me into his home.
I had never met Ty’s father but I knew that he would appreciate my visit. Especially after everything that had happened and especially since Mr. Powers was himself, a retired member of the Elite Force Protectors. Of course, I never knew exactly what Ty’s father did in the force but I knew he was a legend. All the harder then, I imagined, for the Powers family to deal with what happened to their son.
Just a month after the helicopter incident Mr. and Mrs. Powers had been personally visited by the Vice President and thanked profusely for Ty’s part in the safe return of his granddaughter as well as for his bravery in fighting The Fear Division. Public acknowledgement of any kind was, of course, impossible due to the secret nature of the Elite Force Protectors but Mr. Powers was well-aware of this and very proud of his son.
“Please, come in Axel,” said Ty’s mother as she ushered me into the family’s living room. I sat down on an big tan couch and accepted her offer of coffee. “I’ll be right back,” she said with a kind smile.
Ty’s father sat down in a red and gold wingback chair directly in front of me and nodded again in my direction. Sometimes I couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at how us military guys spend so much time being formal and obeying “the rules” that we miss out on how to be natural and normal. I nodded back awkwardly. What was there to say? It’s not as though I truly knew these people. I just felt it was the right thing to do. Thankfully Mrs. Powers entered the room again with a tray of coffee and round chocolate balls. I couldn’t help but stare at them. It seemed like a weird treat to offer a guest.
“They’re called chocolate bombs,” Mrs. Powers laughed softly, “I invented them for Ty. Ever since he was a boy he loved things that go boom. This was his calling, to be in the military. He’s the most talented explosives expert and the military is lucky to have him.”
“Was,” Mr. Powers corrected her. “Was lucky to have him.”
“I know,” she said, her face saddened. “I know.”
We all stared at the ground for a moment.
I spent the next twenty minutes or so paying my respects before excusing myself. I knew it wasn’t going to be a comfortable visit but that’s what EFP brothers do. Still, I couldn’t help but feel his parents’ eyes on me as though they thought, why him and not you? Plus there was the fact that it had been two years and I just showed up at their home completely unannounced, after all this time. It must have brought back a lot of emotions for Ty’s parents. Eventually I had stayed long enough and politely let them know I had to leave.
“So, where you off to now?” said Mr. Powers as I stood in the doorway and thanked him for his hospitality one last time.
“Well, sir, I’ve spent the last two years in forced hiding due to The Fear Division’s bounty on my head and the head of anyone related or known to me closely. To say I’ve felt like a caged animal is quite the understatement. I’ve got some family business to attend to and some personal matters as well.”
“So you’re finished with the military then?”
“Not exactly, Mr. Powers,” I said. “I’ll be moved into a different role after I take a short leave and breathe some much needed fresh air.”
“Well listen, son, thank you for your visit, I know Ty appreciates it. Tell him his mother misses him very much.”
What?
Oh no.
Was Mr. Powers in real denial about Ty’s death? His mother had made that slip up when we were talking but I didn’t realize Mr. Powers actually denied Ty’s death so fervently. I mean, it’s not as though I saw Ty die with my own eyes but c’mon. There’s no way he survived. The last time I laid eyes on Ty he was dropping Hannah into my arms and being hoisted up into a helicopter by two Fear Division rebels. There’s no way he survived. Hell, we barely did.
It was a treacherous three week trek out of that desert shit hole. A few local people took mercy on Hannah and me along the way and sheltered us during the day as well as provided food and water to keep us sustained throughout the night. It wasn’t as though we could call for help. There was no one to call. The Fear Division rebels were everywhere and I couldn’t risk them tapping into my satellite phone. Finally, after three weeks we reached an interim safe zone set up by the Swiss government and we were home within 24 hours.
During my debriefing I learned that I would be “quarantined” for an undisclosed amount of time—until it was deemed safe for me to resurface—I also learned that there was no word from Ty. That was obviously not a good sign. Of course it was common for EFP’s to go off grid for a short amount of time but a month later, still nothing. As a team we mourned Ty Powers, he was a great soldier and he was our brother, he really was my best friend.
I spent those two years doing nothing but working—I had to make the time pass until I could get back to Honor, she was all I thought about—so I joined a team of counter-terrorist specialists and we worked day and night to monitor and plan attacks against The Fear Division. We’d been successful on many occasions, too, if I wasn’t so focused on the love of my life I would have been ready to jump back into the field and take down these fuckers myself. But they’d robbed enough of my life from me. It was time to get back to my girl. I just hoped she hadn’t forgotten all about me. Or worse, moved on.
Even though I was anxious to get back to Honor, my first stop was to pay respects to my fallen brother and his family. I just couldn’t believe that I was now standing in front of a father so stricken with grief that he would not accept his son’s death even two years later.
Mr. Powers shook my hand again, patted me on the back and then leaned in so that his wife couldn’t hear, “take care, son, and don’t forget to tell Ty that I am proud of him.”
“I will, sir,” I said awkwardly and turned away as quickly as I could.
Poor guy, I thought. I made my way to my Chevy pickup with my head hung low; it was sad to think that Ty’s dad was still in denial after all this time, he just couldn’t accept his death. My thoughts were interrupted by a white piece of paper on my windshield. I’d gotten a parking ticket while visiting the Powers.
“Dammit,” I breathed out.
I reached out to pick it off the windshield and realized that it wasn’t a ticket after all but a note. I opened it and smiled, “If you hit on my sister while you were at my house I will punch you in the dick. TP.”
“He made it,” I beamed as I looked up to the sky and smiled, a small tear of joy welled up in my eye. “I can’t believe it. He made it.”
Thirty
Honor
“Walker what d’ya say we head to the beach?”
My handsome boy, with his blue-grey eyes, just like his daddy, smiled and clapped in agreement. He was already fourteen months old and although he had only had mastered a few words I felt as though we communicated perfectly.
He was my little sidekick and I was with him practically all the time so there was no need for words—I smiled at that thought, it had been the same with me and Axe, there was no need for words. I suppose at some point I was going to have to let go of the dream that he
was coming home. Sometimes I lay awake at night trying to imagine what had happened to him. Then there were the nights when those thoughts were just too much of a nightmare to handle.
Of course, because of Axe’s position in the Elite Force Protectors, there was no public announcement of his death, or his capture, or whatever had happened to him. There was nothing, no closure, just emptiness punctuated with unanswered questions. And sooner or later the friends and family stopped asking “are you okay” because they’d moved on with their lives and after all, they didn’t even know Axel. Everyone was just eager to throw me baby showers and pat my belly. After a while, the world just doesn’t want to hear about your broken heart anymore…
So I tucked it away. Besides, Walker needed me to be strong. So after months and months of torturing myself with horrible scenarios of what might have happened to the father of my child, I resigned myself to the fact that he just wasn’t here anymore. He was a hero that I knew for a brief time and that was that. There was no sense in delving deeper and besides, Walker was the most important man in my life now and I had to focus on that.
We walked the long way down to the beach with Walker tripping over his feet but loving every step of the way. I held his bucket and shovel plus snacks and a huge beach towel as Walker clutched his water toy, a frog he called WaWa, as he babbled to himself happily. Finally we reached the water’s edge and I straightened his sun-hat before letting him roam just a little along the tide with WaWa.
“Don’t go too far, Walker,” I said as I sat down and pulled out a magazine to flip through. I knew he was much too young to be left unattended so I looked up about every two seconds to keep an eye on my little guy as he squealed at the gentle lapping waves on his toes.