There was a pause as the general turned to the young man. “We’re sure?”
“Yes, sir. We have multiple visual confirmations.”
The general seemed to deflate. He glanced to a tech seated by the side of the main computer screen. “Go ahead. Change them.”
With the press of a button, a large concentration of the Federal blue triangles to our south and east turned into the Union Jack of British forces. Throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania, what had been marked as Fed forces changed into the blue, white, and red of France. Other flags appeared in smaller numbers across the map. Israel. Spain. Brazil. Germany.
“Sir, we’re ready to confirm that a coalition of at least six different countries is currently operating within our eastern theater,” the general reported. “There are also indications of Russian forces attempting landings in California, and the Canadians breached the lines at Washington State.”
Another communications officer spoke up. “Sir, the Two-Three reports sightings of small team forces within our own fence line.”
The general pulled a red folder from a nearby case and held it out to Hill. “Are we ready, Mr. President?”
The room went silent. Hill stared at the red folder in the general’s hand but made no move to take it.
“Sir? They knew the consequences when they did this.”
“Have the men from Cormorant repel the coalition forces within Shrike’s perimeter,” Hill said quietly. “Commit everything else to Philadelphia.”
“But, sir—”
“Do it!” Hill snapped as he took the red folder out of the man’s hand. “I need to pray on this.”
Before anyone could say another word, Hill left the group and strode past me and through a door to an adjoining room. The officers looked from one to another while the blinking armies advanced and retreated behind them.
The door Hill went through opened with a soft click when I turned the knob. I stepped inside and closed the door. The small room was almost suffocatingly hot due to the dozens of candles that lined the desk and shelves, filling the place with a flickering glow.
Just inside the door, there was a desk made of darkly polished wood. A belt was draped across it, holding Hill’s holstered sidearm and his combat knife. His uniform was on a hook near the door.
Hill was across the room, kneeling with his back to me, in a nook where an altar had been set up. He was shirtless and barefoot. Waxy burn scars covered the whole of his back. The way the light hit them made them look like flames.
“Have a seat,” he said without turning. “I’ll be done soon.”
I crossed the room to a small couch. The red folder sat on a table in front of me. When Hill had finished his prayers, he stretched into a khaki T-shirt and sat across the table. He said nothing for a time, eyes locked on the folder.
“Sir, I wanted to talk to you about the girl who—”
“You’re from New York.”
“I… yes, sir.”
“But not the city.”
“Ithaca.”
“There’s a lake there,” he said. “Did you sail?”
I sat forward on the couch. “Sir, I’d like to—” Hill fixed me with his icy-blue eyes. “No, sir. I didn’t.”
“I sailed with my father,” he said. “He took me out on the water the day his store finally went under. Everyone told him he should just torch the place and collect the insurance money, but Dad said that when he started out in business, he promised himself he’d be honest. A man of his word. He wasn’t going back on that just because it made his life a little easier.”
“Sir, Nat—”
“Sergeant Parker made a report, Cal. The girl will be dealt with in the morning.”
“But if I could have a little more time with her, I could—”
“Your friend admitted to treason and refused to join the Path.”
“But the intelligence—”
“Was worthless,” he snapped. “Anything that girl knows is out of date. It’s over.”
I started to speak again but Hill was done. He reached for the red folder, drawing out the papers inside and regarding each carefully. A cord of tension inside of me evaporated and I fell back against the couch, feeling foolish for my whispered prayers. I imagined Nat in a cell somewhere within the base. Did she already know this was her last night?
“It’s terrifying, isn’t it? The things God requires of us.”
Hill had dealt the papers out across the table so they sat in a snowy line between us. He was regarding them carefully, his chin in his hand. I looked closer and saw the name of a city printed at the top of each paper — Moscow. Berlin. London. Paris. Ottawa. Madrid. Below each name was a map and a list of numbers. A chill went through me as I remembered something Grey had said about a promise Hill made to any country caught interfering.
This was a list of targets.
The cities were the capitals of each country joining the coalition against him. The numbers detailed the quantity of warheads, their yields, and the estimated casualties. The numbers in the last column ran into the hundreds of thousands for each city. There was one more piece of paper sitting in the folder. I reached across the table and drew it out.
At the top of the paper was one word: Philadelphia. I looked over the page to find Hill’s otherworldly blue eyes locked on me.
“God can’t want this,” I said.
“Why?”
James’s voice fell into my head. “Because he’s not cruel.”
A peaceful smile settled across Hill’s face, but his gaze didn’t falter. “When God does it, it isn’t cruel. It’s what’s meant to be.”
Hill leaned across the table.
“God brought you across the country and set you down in that room, at that time, and gave you the courage to save my life. Why? To ensure that his will was done.”
“Sir, you can’t—”
Hill swept the papers into the folder and crossed the room to his desk. He reached for the uniform hanging by the door.
“Don’t worry,” he said as he pulled on a shirt and laid a tie around his neck. “There’ll be a place for you after this. And for your brother too! Sergeant Rhames mentioned he was here. Kitchen help, I think.” Hill chuckled. “I’m guessing we can find something a little bit better for him than that.”
I watched Hill as he knotted his tie in crisp strokes. I thought of Alec pulling away from me out into the moonlit lake. Maybe he was right. Maybe the future was coming and there was nothing I could do about it. All I had to do was be still and let it come. James and I would be together and safe.
Hill slipped on his jacket and buttoned it. I saw Grey Solomon standing on the side of the road, and Nat, defiant, in the interrogation room, and a prayer started to unspool in my mind. It was a whispered voice growing stronger by the word.
I am on a glorious path. I will not turn from it even if it means my death.
Hill turned as I threw myself across the room, reaching for the sidearm that lay on his desk. My fingers grazed the belt, but Hill came at me in a blur. One fist slammed into my ribs and then his knee found my stomach. The air shot out of me and I hurtled into a shelf, shattering it. I rolled over, groaning, and saw Hill’s belt on the ground. The gun was gone but the combat knife was within reach. I snatched it out of its sheath and slashed at Hill as he reached for me again. The blade bit into his flesh, buying me the second I needed to get up and stumble out to the center of the room.
I staggered backward, swinging the knife in front of me to keep him away, but Hill was too fast. He glided in between swipes of the blade, taking my cast in both hands and slamming it onto a corner of the table. I screamed and then a backhand to my temple sent whatever energy I had pouring out of me. The knife fell out of my hand and I tumbled backward, crashing into his altar.