Page 71 of Eight Years (The Trident Trilogy 1)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Mason

Virginia Beach, Virginia

2019

I got back to the base from Millie’s place in under three hours. I walk into the briefing room. All eyes turn to me, but no one dares say anything. The tension in the room is about to explode. Culver is just telling them that our deployment has been moved up, and we are wheels up to Afghanistan in three hours. He releases the team. They all look at me with concern on their faces as they walk out.

“Everything okay, man?” JJ asks as he follows the others out to get his gear. I nod and walk over to Culver.

“We can’t just go to Afghanistan. We need to go to Bosnia first. She’s going to be over there alone,” I say, knowing it’s not going to happen.

Culver asks the two analysts who are still in the room to leave. He hasn’t taken his eyes off me since I walked in the door. I can’t tell if he’s about to hit me or fire me, or maybe even both.

“We’re not going to Bosnia. I’ve got that covered. Your assignment is in Afghanistan, and that’s where you’re going,” Culver says with a steely tone I haven’t heard before. At least I haven’t heard it directed at me.

“Look, I know you’re pissed.”

“Mason, I’m on another-level pissed off at you right now. I thought seriously about taking you off this deployment, and putting your ass on probation. I can’t believe the carelessness you’ve shown in the last day. What if we had an emergency? What if we were wheels up immediately? And, you’re fucking three hours away. You have broken so many rules that I don’t even know where to start. Get your ass to the ready room, and get on that fucking plane. I don’t want to hear anything more from you today. Raine can brief you separately on why our go-date has been moved up to today. I’ll tell her you’re back.”

He spins on his heels and walks briskly out of the room. I’m alone in the room now. My usually well-ordered brain is all over the place. I hear the door open and turn around to see Raine. She’s staring at me like she doesn’t know if it’s safe to come in or not. I try to get control of my thoughts.

“What do you have for me?” I ask, looking at her like everything is normal. She takes a deep breath and dives into the briefing on a few HVTs that have been identified in Afghanistan. They want us over there early to get up to speed before our other team leaves the area. I force myself to concentrate. I need to get my mind back in the game. This is my job, and other lives depend on me being at a hundred percent.

We’re about an hour into the flight. I can’t sleep as usual. I grab the book I’ve been trying to read for about a year out of my backpack. I notice something sticking out of it. I open it to find an envelope with my name on it. It looks like a woman’s writing. There’s a letter inside. I scroll down to the signature. It’s from Millie. She must have put it in my backpack before she left for D.C. I’m not sure I even want to read it, but I know I’m not going to be able to concentrate until I do.

Mason -

I haven’t told you everything. But, you already know that. I wanted to tell you. I almost did so many times. I didn’t know any of this until I was seventeen. I overheard my dad’s best friend telling his wife about who I really am, and Amar Petrovic finally confirmed it for me that night in Sarajevo when you found me alone in the room with him. I still don’t know everything and that’s the main reason I haven’t told you. Or anyone. I have to find out the truth, and I have to do it on my own. I know you would have tried to stop me.

I think my mother was a woman my dad met when he was deployed in Bosnia. I’m almost sure of it now. But, I need to hear it from the only person who can tell me for sure. I’ve been looking for him for eight years, and I can’t rest until I find him. I’m sure you’ve figured out who it is by now, but I can’t tell you until I know for sure.

Since my dad died, I didn’t think anyone could take care of me the way he did. I was wrong. You can. You have. But, I can’t let you in on this one. I’m so sorry, Mason, but I started this alone. I have to finish it alone.

Millie

I’m sure it must be a joke. The entire letter. It just must be some bizarre joke that I’m not understanding right now. I read it a few more times. Is she talking about Sayid Custovic? Is that who she thinks can clear up the mystery for her? I grab the satellite phone and try to call her. It goes right to voicemail. Her phone must be turned off. I try again, and it just rings. This doesn’t make any sense. She never turns off her phone.

I bound up the stairs to the plane’s upper deck, where the analysts are working. “Clark, track Millie’s cell phone,” I demand.

“Track her cell phone? What, are you stalking her now? Don’t think I don’t see the way you look at her.” Her smile quickly goes away when she turns around and sees my face.

“Charlotte, track her cell phone. Now.”

She jumps over to her computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

“Well, that doesn’t make sense.” She’s making a circle on the screen with her finger. I walk up behind her to see what she’s seeing. Her finger is circling a mountain pass just southeast of Sarajevo.

“Culver said she was going to Sarajevo, but why would her phone be up here? And it looks like it’s moving. Let me see if I can get a clearer image. Maybe she’s just taking a drive in the mountains,” she says as I’m already bounding down the stairs to find Culver.

Culver sees me coming at him full speed.

“Millie’s gone after Custovic. I had Clark track her cell phone, and it’s pinging up in the mountains around Sarajevo. Something is off.”

“I told you I had that covered, Mason,” he says, now sounding a little unsure. “You said her phone is pinging in the mountains?”

“Yeah, man, I know you’re pissed at me for being with her, but I can feel it. I can feel something’s off. We’ve got to do something.”

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