Second Best: A Niki Finley Novel (A Niki Finley Thriller Book 2)
Page 19
Outside Ashville, Virginia
Two days later
NIKI HADN’T SLEPT IN two days. The tiredness detracted from the beauty of her face. Her eyes sunk deep in their sockets as heavy bags below them. She stood in the director’s office. Physically she was there, but mentally she felt lost and alone. It’s not that she didn’t try to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, the horrific scene, the flames bombarded her mind. She could still feel the heat on her face. She could still see their faces, each of them, starting with Fox, then the young woman, finally Winter. And every time she would see him, she’d open her eyes and scream. If only she’d listened to him sooner. If only they’d left the tent before the young woman arrived in the Jeep, he’d be alive. He and Fox. And the woman.
The director entered his office behind her, but he didn’t announce his arrival, and she didn’t see him, even though he sat in front of her. It wasn’t until he slammed his folder onto his desk that Niki was shaken from her stupor.
Black-and-white photos peeked out from the folder. Even upside down she could see what they were.
“What did I say?” He pressed his hands onto the desk’s surface and leaned in, glaring at Niki.
She kept her mouth shut.
“Didn’t I tell you? Didn’t Collar tell you? This was a reconnaissance mission. Your job was to gather information.” He pounded his fists on the wood to accentuate his point. “Information! No contact! Instead you went and got your entire team killed. Blown up.” He grabbed the folder and lifted the pictures. He swung around the desk and stood directly in front of her. He held out the first photo. It was a skull. Niki turned her head away. She couldn’t look.
“Look at them!” he screamed, as spit flew from his mouth and caught her on the cheek. “This is Winter.” He dropped the photo in front of her. “And Fox.” Again, he dropped the photo. “Some random woman,” he said, but she was anything but random to Niki. “Ah.” He stopped and lifted the photo up. “This one’s my favorite. Turns out, this one is Payne. We didn’t even get to question him for information. You allowed him to get killed by his own man. That’s something I’ve never seen before. Only some imbecile would allow that to happen. I can’t even fathom what your excuse will be.” He shrugged, then tossed the photo at Niki and moved to the back of his office, keeping his back to her.
She was silent as he kept his back turned to her for the better part of three minutes. Then he faced her and said, “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
She didn’t. She couldn’t. Emotion filled her gut and climbed to her throat as the feeling of nausea washed over her, but she swallowed the vomit back down.
“No, sir.”
“I didn’t think so. You are no longer a part of this unit. This team is shut down. Now get the hell out of my office.” He pointed to the door.
Niki dropped her head. This was her fault. She allowed this to happen. She failed the director, Collar, but most importantly herself. Without looking up, Niki spun and exited his office. She didn’t look up at all as she walked through the maze of hallways until finally reaching the elevator. She pressed the down button and waited. When the bell rang, the steel doors swung open and Collar was inside.
Niki entered but refused eye contact. She looked for the glowing L for the lobby. She pushed it in to shut the door. Collar didn’t speak. Neither did Niki. The silence grew awkward with each passing floor until they reached the lowest level of the building. When the doors opened, Niki waited for Collar to exit first, but she didn’t. When Niki stepped forward, she felt Collar grab for her arm. Instantly Niki’s defenses went up. If Collar made a move, Niki would retaliate, and in that moment nothing would stop her. She might have been in the first phase of grief, but sooner rather than later, anger, no rage, would rear its ugly head.
But Collar didn’t grab her looking for a fight. Her touch was lighter than that. Niki finally raised her head to look Collar in the eye.
“This wasn’t your fault,” Collar said.
Niki stared at her. Collar’s eyes were filled with remorse and truth.
“Yes it was.” Niki didn’t believe her. She pulled her arm, but Collar grabbed tighter still.
“No it wasn’t.” Collar wouldn’t let her leave. “I know you, Niki, you would have done nothing to sacrifice your team or the mission.”
What did she know? Niki knew the truth. She was the one who wasted time with Payne. To prove a point—just like he had proven a point in the village. She wanted to make him fear her. She wanted to lord her power over him. And truth was, she’d do it again if given the opportunity. “But I—”
“Stop right there,” Collar said, cutting her off. “You did what you thought was right at the time. You cannot go through life blaming yourself for every outcome.”
“But if we just would’ve left thirty seconds sooner—”
Again, Collar cut her off. “Then what? You’d have been in the vehicle too. Bullshit, Niki. You did what you had to do. And you saved a civilian. I’m sure Professor Lord and his family will be eternally grateful.”
“Lord’s life was hardly worth three others.”
“Enough, Niki. This is the life you chose. Sooner or later you will have to deal with that. And the sooner you can deal with those demons, the sooner you can come back to work with me.”
“Work with you? The director said I was done here.”
“Let me worry about the director.”
Niki breathed a sigh, not because she was relieved; truth was, she didn’t know if she could ever do work like this ever again.
She smiled weakly, and Collar finally let go. Niki exited and looked back to see if Collar followed, but she didn’t. Inside the elevator, Collar reached forward and pushed a button to go back up.
“Forget something?” Niki asked before the doors closed.
“Nope.” She shook her head. “We’ll be in touch.” She grinned.
Niki watched as the doors closed. She lingered for a moment, staring back at her own reflection in the cold steel doors. She didn’t recognize herself staring back. She had changed, and she knew she may never be the same again.
Thank You Reader
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Acknowledgments
TO GOD BE THE GLORY. Without him allowing me to use my gifts, none of this would be possible. To my wonderfully understanding wife, Connie—you have allowed me to chase my dreams all the while keeping things together with our family.
To my remarkable editor, Deb Hall—without you, none of this manuscript would make any sense. You have made this novel what it is today. To my beta readers—with your help, my story has begun to shine. To David Rupert—you’ve inspired me through our writers’ group to want to become a better writer. And finally, thank you to my fans.
About the Author
J.D. DUDYCHA BELIEVES the best stories are written with characters overcoming real life struggles and everyone deserves a shot a redemption. To get his debut novel for FREE, please visit his website: www.jddudycha.com
After a long stay in the baseball world, both as a player and a coach, J.D. has turned to his real passion, creating gritty, in-your-face characters who leap off the page and ooze practicality. You can’t help but continue to read because you don’t know where the story will take you next.
J.D. spends his time with his wife and children in the be
autiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. When he is able to step away from the world of writing fiction, he enjoys golf and fly fishing, and he never met a mountain he didn’t want to climb or an ocean he didn’t want to explore.
His inspiration is drawn from many different authors. Some of his favorites are C.S. Lewis, Clive Cussler, Lee Child, and Vince Flynn.
For more information visit:
www.jddudycha.com
Twitter: @JDDudycha
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/jddudycha