Shad stared upward at the building which took the worst hit and was now cast in floodlights. The boy told him the floor and flat.
“We’ll look for her, Connor. I promise.”
Minutes later, Sgt. Babb returned with a phasic drill. The cut did not take long, but reaching the boys and extracting them proved delicate. The Sergeant volunteered to go in, but Shad took the risk instead. He slipped through the hole with inches to spare.
The day did not end in defeat.
He pulled the brothers to safety. Shad’s heart lifted when he saw both in one piece. Trevor woke mere seconds out of the water.
Connor held Fritz against his chest while a medic took their vitals. A phasic scan showed no broken bones, although Trevor likely sustained a significant concussion. They suffered from mild hypothermia.
“Believe in miracles, Lieutenant?” Sgt. Babb asked. “Because they are a cudfrucking miracle.”
Connor sobbed as he begged Trevor to forgive him. The older brother said little as he was taken to the improvised medcamp.
“Thank you, Shad,” Connor said as the brothers disappeared into the night. “Thank you. Thank you.”
Shad gave Babb a new order.
“Beatrice Stallion,” he said. “I want her found. She lived up there.” He pointed to Obersson Tower 17. “Level 20. Suite 2035.”
The Sergeant rubbed the back of his neck.
“We’ll do our best, Lieutenant. But if she lived near the front ...”
“I know.”
Shad went about his business, coordinating the rescue operation with the necessary professional detachment. Two hours later, he’d almost stashed away the moment that ripped his heart out. Then he saw the Sergeant supervising retrieval and disposal of enemy soldiers.
“Any luck with the Stallion woman?”
“Sorry, sir. There was nothing left of her suite. The lifetechs have been collecting gene stamps. I would check in with them, sir.”
He did.
They found enough of Beatrice Stallion to make a positive ID.
Shad visited the medcamp against his best instinct. Amid the cots, he found the brothers and their dog. The side of Trevor’s scalp had been shaved and a bandage placed on his wound. He was awake but staring off into space. He paid Shad no mind.
Connor, however, jumped up and hugged the Lieutenant.
“You came back to check on us, Shad!”
“Of course. A courageous little soldier like you? I’d hate to leave without saying good-bye.”
“Did you find Mother?”
Naturally, the first question.
“Well, I ...”
Shad caught Trevor’s eyes, wide and empty. The older brother shook his head.
He knows. Connor doesn’t.
Shad bent down to the little one’s eye level.
“I’ve been so busy, Connor. I’m sure you’ll hear some news before long. Can you do me a huge favor?”
“Sure. Anything.”
“Listen to your brother. He’s the most important person in your life. You’ll have to be strong for each other.”
“OK, Shad. It’s a deal.”
Shad mussed the boy’s hair, nodded farewell to Trevor, and left the medcamp, certain he’d never see or hear of them again.
He had no idea; pieces soon fell into place.
“So long ago,” Shad reflected from the Captain’s suite aboard MX Transport Dalliance. “Every moment of that day is burned in my memory. Not as if it were twenty-four years ago but twenty-four hours. It stands out even above the day you were born, Son.”
His XO, Malik Abdelmani, sat pensive listening to his father’s tale. He shuffled with unease at the final remark. Malik massaged his busy mustache and set down his drink.
“I guess it would,” the son said. “You were ten light-years away when Mom had me.”
“I always regretted missing my first.”
Malik, wearing a green jumpsuit, ran an impatient hand through his frizzled brown hair.
