Page 50 of Dead Ahead (Department of Defense)
Though I didn’t look, I could feel my brother eyeing me suspiciously, so I changed the subject.
“What did they find in the terrorist’s station?”
I’d spent much of the return trip holed up in the captain’s office, listening and watching the take-down of the terrorist’s base on the island where all this had started, only an hour’s walk from the research station. I’d seen the mission go down but had been unable to stay up any longer once the worst was over, and had gone to my bunk and slept until we’d pulled into port.
“They swept the building. They think one guy escaped, wounded, but it looks like they got everyone else and secured the area. Looks like they won’t be a problem anymore.”
At least that part of the cell, I muttered to myself, but didn’t say it out loud.
I didn’t want to think about it anymore.
When I arrived in San Diego, I had the urge to fall down and kiss the mainland US soil—a part of me had truly believed I’d never see it again.
The stop in Hawaii for a full debriefing had been no vacation, but I’d been fully relieved of my duties and given a very stern talking-to from my commander to take time off and recover from my physical and mental wounds.
For the first time, I was okay with that. My time on the island had changed something in me and given me a new perspective. What I wanted had changed over the span of the last week, the threat of death or being stranded on a deserted island for the rest of my life had given me a lot of time to think. And now I had some things I wanted to do.
I stopped, a jet roaring to life on the other side of the base fence as I pulled out a scrap of paper from my pocket. Herman had given it to me before I’d gotten on the transport from Hawaii, just dropped it into my hand without a word but a giant grin on his face before turning and heading towards the ride to his carrier.
For a moment, I hadn’t understood what I’d held; a name and address in his messy, barely legible scrawl. Then I’d felt a rush of excitement and anticipation when I finally understood. My only hope was that it was legible enough that I could correctly understand where I was supposed to go.
With my wallet and phone in my pocket, I rented a car and headed north along the California coast.
