In a daze, she felt herself being dragged out of the vehicle.
Sand on her cheek, she now lay on her side. Cracks of gunfire in the distance. Her eyes open but not seeing much. Then her vision shifted into focus and she saw a white man wearing a black dive suit standing over her father, who lay dead next to her.
They were taking pictures and checking his vitals.
Then Chase’s face hovered above her own.
She wanted to say something. That she was sorry. But she didn’t have the energy. Her breaths grew short.
He leaned down and whispered into her ear, “I’ll take care of our boy. He’ll have a good life. I’ll make sure of it.”
She felt at peace, and closed her eyes for the last time.
45
Chase stood next to his brother as David turned over the barbeque chicken on his grill. They stood before an expansive view of green lawn and distant Blue Ridge Mountains on a sunny afternoon in rural Virginia. A few colleges were starting to play football again, a first since the war ended. Some of the games would even be televised tonight. The brothers sipped cold beers, smiling as the three kids played on the swing set in the backyard.
“Lindsay, can I help with anything?” Chase asked.
David’s wife was setting the outdoor table. A glass jar of lemonade over a red-and-white tablecloth. Paper plates and corn on the cob. Salad and freshly baked bread from the new neighborhood bakery. The stores were opening again, too.
“Just get the kids to the table, please.”
Chase called the three children. David’s two, and his boy.
“Arthur, come on. Hey, buddy. Come on, you can sit up here in the kids’ seat. Want me to chop that up for you?”
David smiled at his brother. “You’re getting the hang of this dad thing.”
“I kind of have to.”
“Yeah… tell me about it.”
They sat down and ate. Nothing but the sounds of crickets and cicadas and kids playing and crying. The conversation was light. Victoria was returning to sea next week. Her first command of a ship. Well, the other one didn’t count, they figured.
“You gonna apply for that job?” David asked his brother.
“Yeah. I think so. I think being a cop would suit me.”
Victoria sat in the captain’s chair of the USS Essex. She had just come up to the bridge to get some fresh air after reading Plug’s email to her.
The war was over, and Plug had switched over to the reserves. He had also just accepted a civilian job as a helicopter air ambulance pilot.
“Captain Manning, good evening.”
The command master chief stood next to her. He usually didn’t come up here. “I happened to see a message from BUPERS just now. Thought you might be interested.”
She stood from her chair, nodding for him to join her outside on the bridge wing. “What’d you see, Master Chief?”
“I saw your name on the list for admiral. You’ll put it on next year.”
Victoria shook her head. It was crazy to think about. “That so?”
“I thought you’d be a bit more excited than that, ma’am. Isn’t that every officer’s dream?”
She looked at him. “You know me well enough by now, Master Chief.”
He nodded. “I guess I do, ma’am.” He held out a box of cigars. “Still…”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”
She stuck her head into the bridge. “Officer of the Deck. Please announce that the smoking lamp is on the starboard side bridge wing.” The men and women on watch looked on approvingly.
“Aye, ma’am.”
The CMC and Victoria smoked their cigars in silence as the ship steamed north. They spoke of life and career. And then a bit about the war.
“Do you think it is really over?” he asked quietly.
She nodded. “I do. But we must never forget it, so it won’t happen again.”
About the Author
Andrew Watts graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2003 and served as a naval officer and helicopter pilot until 2013. During that time, he flew counter-narcotic missions in the Eastern Pacific and counter-piracy missions off the Horn of Africa. He was a flight instructor in Pensacola, FL, and helped to run ship and flight operations while embarked on a nuclear aircraft carrier deployed in the Middle East.
Today, he lives with his family in Ohio.
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Also by Andrew Watts
The War Planners
The War Stage
Pawns of the Pacific
The Elephant Game
Overwhelming Force
Global Strike
Glidepath
The Oshkosh Connection