Page 109 of Salute, To Bravery
We work in silence for a while, the hum of the machine a steady rhythm.
“I never asked,” I mumble. “But I’ve been thinking about it since I got out. What happened during that mission? Why were you even there? Secondary teams don’t get called in unless something goes very wrong.”
She doesn’t answer at first. Her breathing shifts, shallow and deliberate.
“I’m not asking to hurt you,” I add. “But I need to understand.”
She sets her jaw, then exhales. “I was supposed to deliver information. That’s it. A quick exchange with one of the wives inside the compound. She never showed. So I went looking.”
Her voice starts to shake. “I found her strung up in an alley—already gone. I turned to get out, but I heard something and decided to investigate.” She closes her eyes. Her body goes rigid. “There were so many children,” she whispers. “Girls. Locked in a basement. Drugged. Broken. Lined up like… like a product sold at a market.”
Tears stream down her face, silent and unstoppable. I don’t interrupt.
“I couldn’t walk away. I knew the risk. I radioed for extraction, tried to get them out.” She swallows hard. “And everything fell apart.”
I nod slowly, waiting.
“Brandon followed me in. He wasn’t supposed to, but he did. He saved two of them before the blast hit. I got one out. The others…” Her voice cracks. “And you—you were hit during extraction because of the delay. Because of me.”
“No,” I say firmly. “Because ofthem.The people who made it happen. The people whoknew.”
She nods slowly, eyes burning. “I asked what the military planned to do next when we got back,” she says. “You know what they said?”
I do. But I wait for her to say it.
“‘It’s not our problem.’” Her lip curls in disgust. “They knew. And they chose to walk away. His death was for nothing.”
I rest a hand gently on her arm. “He gave his life for the person he loved the most. So don’t walk away, and find a way to help.”
She lifts her gaze to meet mine. Fire flickers behind the pain. She needs a mission to work towards, to give her pain meaning.
“You’ve been fighting your whole life,” I tell her. “Now fight for them. We never get to see the aftermath of the damage we cause. I think we all wonder what happens to the people when we leave. I have so many regrets, Rei. So many things I am ashamed of.”
We finish the first lines of the design just as the late afternoon sun begins to fade. Rei’s shoulders are sore, but there’s a calm in her eyes. The kind that only comes after bleeding something out of your soul and onto your skin.
“Jane would kill me if I didn’t invite you over for dinner, since you flew in this morning and all.” I set my tattoo gun down.
A small smirk pulls at her lips. “She’d killyou? I’m the one who’d have to dodge her passive-aggressive texts for the next six months.”
“Exactly. Save us both.”
She grabs her jacket, glancing around the studio one more time, like she’s leaving behind something more than just a room. “You’ve built a good thing here, you know.”
I nod, watching her quietly. “So have you.”
Chapter Sixteen.
Jane
The two pink lines on the pregnancy test stand out starkly against the sterile white background. My vision blurs as tears well up in my eyes, obscuring my view.
How in the hell did I get pregnant? I mean, I know the mechanics of it, but we’ve always been so careful.
I take a shaky breath and rush out of the bathroom, the test still clutched in my hand. I can hear muffled voices coming from the living room. The kids are staying at the in-laws’ house tonight, so he has to be back. My heart races as I step out onto the balcony, trying to ground myself before I fall apart. I grip the railing tightly, panic bubbling up in my chest.
“Craig Alexander Scott!” I call out, my voice louder than I mean it to be. It echoes through the open space, the urgency clear in my tone.
“Oh, she full-named you. I’m just gonna go pretend like I’m not listening in the kitchen,” Rei says, her voice light and teasing. She gives me a knowing smile and walks away from Craig.
