Page 66 of One Last Stand

He met Mitch’s eyes. “No. That’s why I got out of the military. I get enough adventure trying to extract people out of trouble. I don’t need to create it.” He leaned forward, ran his hands down his face. Wow, fatigue had crept up on him. Then he looked at Mitch. “I don’t want a life where I don’t know if I—or the person I love—will come home. I saw what that did to my parents when Jacey died, and I don’t want to live that way.”

“Maybe loving Laney requires living that way.”

“Or maybe that was someone else, from the past.”

“The past has found her.” Mitch sighed. “Can I be frank with you?”

“If this isn’t frank, then I’m bracing myself.”

Mitch smiled. “I can see why she likes you.”

Shep didn’t smile.

“I think she’s in over her head. I think that Tomas is not to be trusted?—”

“You think? My eyes are still burning.”

Mitch frowned.

“Never mind. Yes, I agree. Tomas is up to something.”

“We’re testing to see if the crypto virus is real. But Ziggy still hasn’t figured out who took the contract out on Delaney?—”

“Wasn’t it Drago Petrov?”

“Maybe. Probably. But someone else could have picked it up?—”

“So someone is still after her.”

“Montelena is known for its security—it has to be with all the cryptocurrency it handles every day. The exchange here has to be hackerproof. But outside these walls . . .”

Still on mission.The words reverberated through him.

Mitch sighed, got up, and walked to the window. “When I married Sofia, I knew she wanted a life overseas. She’d started her early days as an ESL teacher and had already lived in Japan and Nepal and Taiwan. She loved . . . an extraordinary life. And I knew that loving her meant giving up what I would call the standard American dream.” He drew in a breath, turned. “But I can honestly say that God knew me better than I knew myself. I’ve found great purpose in my life in the shadows of Sofia’s aspirations, and the reward is much greater than the cost.”

Now, in the silence, Mitch met his eyes. “I believe that God put you on that mountain, even with my directive, to save her life. And maybe that’s why you’re still in her life. Because like it or not, Shep, you’ve been given a mission, and yours isn’t to ask why. You can only accept, or walk away.”

Aw.“I don’t know what you want from me. I’m not a Ranger; I’m a medic. I don’t kill people or . . . whatever.”

“Keep her alive. Bring her home. That’s what you do, right?”

His mouth tightened.

“She can do the rest.”

That’s sort of what he was afraid of, and now a cold thread zipped through him.

Mitch walked back over, stood in front of the hearth. “God sometimes gives the hardest tasks to the ones he can count on the most. And if it was easy and didn’t require all of us, then we wouldn’t need God to complete it.”

Shep swallowed. “I didn’t realize you were a man of faith.”

“The world is not a safe place. It requires faith to keep the fears at bay.” He gave Shep a smile. “So, I ask again. Are you still on mission?”

* * *

Maybe it wasn’t the best day for a hike, but she had to get out of the embassy.

“My mother bought no less than thirteen dresses, and she had me trying them on all day. We finally got into a row. I don’t know why I feel like I’m thirteen as soon as she walks into the room.”

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