Peña added.“In the real world, I know you always have our back, Jerry Maguire.Usually from a klick away in your nest.But when you’re on point.the lives of the hostage and the team depend on your rapid assessment and judgement.”
Jerry felt a muscle tick in his jaw.“Yes, sir,” he said.“Small point of order, though, Colada.In today’s scenario, the team members are all alive, and the doer is very much unalive.”
“Fair point,” Peña conceded.“So D minus, not F.”
“Distracted by a certain redhead?”Waller asked with a grin.“Trust me, I’ve been there.”
“Shut up, Bourbon,” Jerry explained.He could hear the teasing in his friend’s voice, but he didn’t want to leave the impression this morning’s momentary lapse represented some kind of ongoing control issue, especially when it mattered.
Major Norton, with hair just as crimson as his freckles, raised a single red eyebrow and ran his fingers over his ginger beard.“Thinking of me, Jerry Macquire?Did I have you at hello?”
“Sir?”Jerry answered.“You complete me.”
That immediately diffused the tension.A barked laugh escaped Norton’s throat.“Miss me already, Jerry?”
Jerry answered, “Sir, when you get called from on high to go entertain the top brass somewhere near the five-sided puzzle palace on the Potomac, you will be missed.”
Norton’s face didn’t change except for a slight slitting of his eyelids.“Yeah, sooner than we realize.”
Peña stepped forward.“Let’s get loaded up.We have to make chow, then run at least six more exercises before dark.”He pointed at Fisher.“Trout, clear our tech, secure sensitive items, and pull the recordings.I want to debrief back at the treehouse before we run the next scenario.”
“Yes, sir,” Fisher said, playfully nudging Jerry to the side as he jogged back into the building.
After everyone else disbursed, Chandler pulled him aside.“Anything you need to talk about?”
He shook his head.“No, First Sergeant.I assumed he was the target.He could have been another hostage the bad actors had there as a strawman.Anything’s possible.I simply had not made a ‘zero doubt’ assessment before he blinded me.”
“So, just thinking like a Bravo Four, not a door kicker?”Bravo Four was the additional skill identifier enjoyed by US Army qualified snipers.Wade Chandler, the highest-ranking enlisted man on the Team, had no condemnation in his voice.
“That’s it, Top.Nothing more to it.”
“Got it.”Quick, single, nod.“We’ll try to keep you from being our door kicker in the real world unless we absolutely can’t help it.”
Norton interjected.“That’s for the best.”He met Jerry’s eyes.“You’re probably the best sniper I’ve ever seen.”
“Your wife would know, sir.”
Norton grinned an ironic grin, acknowledging that Jerry recognized his personal bias.In Katangela, Jerry had taken out a terrorist while he held Norton’s wife at gunpoint from more than a kilometer away.“That she does.”
Turning back to meet Chandler’s steady gaze, Jerry said, “I assure you, in a real-world scenario, I don’t think I would hesitate.Vivere militare est.”
Life is warfare.
Chandler nodded, “Enough said, Jerry.All good.”
Clarksville Memorial Hospital, Tennessee
Olive came out of Clarksville Memorial’s front door and looked up at the gray December sky.Last week had been warm enough that it didn’t feel like December at all.But that changed overnight, and she was glad she’d had her sweater with her.
Her shift had thankfully ended on time, but she had definitely clocked overtime this week.She looked forward to the next three days off.
She glanced at the incoming text displayed on her smart watch.Seeing Jerry’s name erased her fatigue and made a smile stretch her cheeks.Even though his unit had gone to central Tennessee to train for two weeks, she got texts from him most mornings and evenings.
Jerry: Buy you a coffee?
She kept walking, looking through her bag for her silent phone.She didn’t look up until she needed to cross the parking lot to her car.There, leaning against the door, stood Jerry McBride, a cup of coffee in one hand and a white paper bag in the other.She grinned and trotted toward him.
“Good morning,” she said.She found it ridiculous how happy seeing him made her.“For me?You shouldn’t have.”
