“The incinerator is about to fire up,” Chris said.
Mordet’s voice became unsteady. “You cannot destroy me!” Mordet’s voice trembled. “I am as physically and mentally strong as you!”
“Your strength is in hell,” Chris said.
A missile hatch opened next to Professor Mordet.
Chris ran to the side of the ship. The air scorched his feet as he jumped over the rail. Professor Mordet squealed like a wild boar being roasted alive. Chris dove into Mother Ocean and swam underwater. The roar of the missile melted Mordet’s squeal.
As Chris swam underwater, Ron Hickok’s words echoed inside his head: Son, Flash-Kill is no technique; it’s a way of life. All your believing can take you far — without believing, you’re finished before you begin — but even mighty beliefs alone can’t take you all the way. The universe has a positive flow to it, and if you go against that flow, it’s a toss-up as to whether you’ll win or lose, but if you find that flow, follow it, and apply your undying belief, you can’t fail.
Chris had found that flow — it’d helped him find Mordet — and he had applied his undying belief to stopping him, but it hadn’t been enough. Many thousands of people were still going to die. Why?
Chris broke the surface and inhaled. Helos swept in, and a SEAL Team fast-roped onto the USS Normandy—surprise, speed, and violence of action. As his brothers assaulted the ship, he swam to shore. Within minutes, he climbed up onto the bank and lay there haggard — physically and mentally spent.
Chris reached into his pocket, retrieved his phone, unzipped it from its waterproof bag, and turned it on. He wanted to call Young, but he didn’t want to hear the bad news: either the president and everyone in the White House had died, or eighty-five thousand people had died. Numb, he watched the ship takedown.
His phone vibrated: Young. Chris just stared at it. It rang twice more before he mustered the courage to answer.
“We did it!” Young exclaimed.
“Did what?” Chris asked.
“Stopped the launch of the first Tomahawk.”
Chris was too stunned by the good news to rejoice. “Really?”
“Yes!”
“But the second one launched,” Chris said.
“Yes, but during the missile’s midcourse phase, I was able to break into the command guidance and give the Tomahawk a new GPS coordinate — far out in the Atlantic Ocean.”
Chris exhaled long and hard, his shoulders unwound, and he looked up at the clouds in the sky. “Thank you.” He closed his eyes. “Mordet is history, and a SEAL Team is securing the ship as we speak.”
“Thank you, too,” Young said.
“Have you heard anything about Hannah?” Chris asked.
“Just a minute.”
As Chris waited, the stiffness in his shoulders returned and spread to his neck.
“She’s okay,” Young said. “Just had a mild concussion and already checked out of the hospital.”
Chris’s neck and shoulders became loose again. As a preacher and an atheist, their relationship didn’t seem to stand a chance beyond being colleagues and friends, and both were too strong-willed to change, but in spite of the odds, part of him hoped that someday, in some way, they could become more.
42
The next day, Chris stepped off a hospital elevator, turned right, and walked down the hall. He opened the second door on the left and entered without knocking.
Inside lay Sonny.
“Wake up, Sunshine,” Chris said.
Sonny slowly opened his eyes. “I must be in Hell already.”
“How’s your spine?”
“The paralysis was temporary. I can walk, and soon I’ll be running again.”
“That’s hallelujah great!”
Sonny smirked. “You know me. That’s how I roll.”
A knock came at the door.
“Who is it?” Chris asked.
“The Swedish massage therapist,” a female voice said with a Swedish accent.
Chris drew his pistol and held it down to his side. He turned to Sonny. “Did you order a Swedish massage?”
“No,” Sonny answered. “But I’ll take one.”
The door opened and Hannah appeared.
Relieved, Chris returned his pistol to its holster and gave her a hug. When he relaxed his embrace, she was still hugging him. Without thinking, he kissed her.
“After I lost you in the mall, what happened?” he asked. “And later, when I saw the police and all the yellow tape and blood stains—”
“You worried about me?”
“Yes,” he said.
She smiled. “One of Little Kale’s shots blew out a piece of wall that hit me in the head and knocked me out.”
“Are you okay?” Chris asked.
“Just a mild concussion. I’m fine now.”
“How’d you know I was here?”
“Young,” she said. “I told him I wanted to surprise you.”
“Hey, what about my massage?” Sonny shouted.
Hannah chuckled. “The massage isn’t for you, silly.”
“Well, okay.” Chris separated from Hannah and gave Sonny’s shoulder a massage.
Sonny grimaced. “Not cool.”
Chris stopped.
Hannah gave Sonny a hug.
He looked like he’d just won the lottery. “We should get together more often. Friends of mine are asking about us. Want a piece of the action. But I told them to suck eggs.”
“There’s certainly more work to be done,” Hannah said. “New terrorists replace the old ones. Al Qaeda is growing again…”
“And?” Chris said.
“And there’s a new storm on the horizon,” she said.
“Is this a new mission for the three of us?” Sonny asked.
“If it isn’t tomorrow, it will be soon,” she said.
Chris thought for a moment. “I have to get back to my congregation.”
“Will you help us again?” Hannah asked.
Chris thought some more. “The duties of a SEAL and a pastor tear at me from opposite directions, but this mission validated both. And I can’t think of two finer warriors I’d rather fight alongside. You just say when.”
She grinned.
Chris smiled. “Sonny, you ready to bust out of this joint and get some real food?”
Sonny stirred in his bed. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chris and Hannah walked over to Sonny’s bed to help him out of it, but he refused, batting their hands away. He was slow, and it caused him pain if he moved the wrong way, but he made his way off the bed. Together they walked out of the hospital.
GLOSSARY
AK: Abbreviated form of AK-47 and its variants.
AK-47: Contraction of Russian, Automat Kalashnikova abraztsa 1947 goda (Kalishnikov’s 1947 automatic rifle). Holds thirty rounds of .308 (7.62 × 39 mm) ammunition.
Bint: Arabic for girl or daughter.
BUD/S training: Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training. Where all prospective SEALs must begin training, located in Coronado, California.
C&D: Command and Decision, the brains of a weapon control system, which includes missiles.
Delta Force: US Army’s Special Forces Operational Detachment — Delta. Has used cover name of Combat Applications Group (CAG) and Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), but its men simply refer to it as the Unit. Recruits mostly from top performing Army Rangers and Green Berets. Similar to SEAL Team Six, Delta Force is the Army’s Tier One unit that conducts counter-insurgency and counterterrorism operations. For the most sensitive operations, they also work under the CIA’s umbrella of Special Operations Group (SOG).