“Just … take it easy,” the corpsman said, and moved off to one of the jump seats that lined the interior of the plane’s cargo bay. I gave it a look around; it looked like a C-130 Hercules, a plane I’d become intimately acquainted with back when I was in government service. The toilet was a curtain and a hole, and smelled like you’d expect an open latrine to smell.
Quincy nodded me over, and I took it as a sign of respect coupled with a reasonable attempt to keep danger close in his sights. I wandered his way, watching the SEALs watch me. Not a one of them didn’t have a weapon close at hand, which, let’s face it, was smart.
“You had quite a day,” Quincy said. He was wearing a headset that was plugged into a jack behind him, but apparently could hear me just fine through it.
“Yeah, but I didn’t get shot in the leg and nearly plummet off a cliff,” I said, “so congrats to you for surviving, too.”
He broke into a smile. Very definitely different than how he’d appeared when we’d squared off back in January. “Respect, Nealon.” And he raised his hand.
I fist bumped him. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to test you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
I shook my head. “Nah. I’ll go quietly.”
He just stared. Nodded. “Good. Have a seat.”
I drew a long breath, then sat down next to him. He fiddled with his headset, then handed it over to me.
“What?” I asked, looking at it. “I can hear fine. Ish. Still a slight ringing. Or maybe that’s the engine noise—”
“Put it on.”
I eyed the headset. “If there’s N’Sync playing on this, all that stuff I said about going quietly is out the window—along with you.”
He cackled. “Put it on.”
I did.
“Nealon, are you online?” came the static, slightly crackling voice of Bruno Passerini.
“Hammer,” I said, “uh, I mean—Mr. Secretary. Sir.”
“I think you’ve earned the privilege of calling me ‘Hammer’ if you want,” Passerini said. He had that same tired, been-through-a-war tone that I probably did. “How are you feeling?”
“Like hell.”
“Lot of that going around,” he said. “But at least you aren’t feeling like you’re in hell.”
“Well, if you want to go by the somewhat literal definition,” I said, “being that I did spend this last day in Hades’s kingdom … I kind of have been through hell today.”
Passerini chuckled. “You’ve got a way about you, Nealon. You going to be all right? Do I need to have the crew put in at Ramstein for medical care?”
I pondered what he meant by that. Was it, maybe, a veiled offer to get me on the ground, where I could escape to safety? I had a fleeting vision of disappearing over a barbed wire fence, of wearing my hood up as I wandered down the streets of Europe—
And I’d never see home again, not even for a minute.
I’d always be looking over my shoulder. For the rest of my life.
Ugh. Prison again. I could only hope the damned Cube had been utterly destroyed in that little riot I’d caused.
“No, I’ll be fine,” I said, letting go of that idea. I’d done the running thing. I’d done the fighting thing. Hell, I’d just done a shitload of the killing thing.
No more.
“I’m having them direct your flight to return to Joint Base Andrews straightaway, then. You’ll refuel in mid-air.”
“First class service,” I said. “Except the toilets on these Herky-birds suck ass. You really ought to do something about that, you know, as SecDef.”
He laughed again. “I don’t think even I have power over that. But … I have been ordered to get you back to Washington ASAP.”
“I figured as much,” I said, feeling that slow creep of resignation run over my scalp. “And I told Quincy here—I won’t fight. My running days are done.”
“That’s good,” Passerini said, “because I need a hole in that plane like I need a hole in my budget for next year. And I’d hate for my last act as Secretary of Defense to be tainted by such an inauspicious end as that when it could be … a little more triumphant.”
I tried to parse what he said, but gave up after a couple attempts. “No idea what you’re talking about there.”
“You really don’t, do you?” Passerini asked. “Well, in that case … let me spell it out. These are my orders,” and his voice changed to a slightly more serious timbre. “‘Deliver Sienna Nealon to the White House, Washington, DC, with all haste for immediate commendation. Details of her clemency to be worked out later. Signed, Richard Gondry,’ and well … you know the rest.”
“Wait,” I said, “… what … what did you just say? Was that …” I couldn’t hear right, could I? My ears had taken some pretty severe damage today, after all, hadn’t they?
He hadn’t said ‘clemency.’ Or ‘commendation.’ Those were just engine noise. Ringing in the ears.
Weren’t they?
The man who’d gone most of his professional life being known as ‘Hammer’ laughed on the other end of the connection. “You heard it just fine.” He turned serious again, but in a different way, one that was more … heartfelt. “Congratulations, Sienna.
“You’re coming home a hero.”
Sienna Nealon Returns in
FLASHBACK
The Girl in the Box, Book 33
(Out of the Box 22)
AVAILABLE NOW!
GET IT HERE!
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thanks for reading! If you want to know immediately when future books become available, take sixty seconds and sign up for my NEW RELEASE EMAIL ALERTS by CLICKING HERE. I don’t sell your information and I only send out emails when I have a new book out. The reason you should sign up for this is because I don’t always set release dates, and even if you’re following me on Facebook (robertJcrane (Author)), join my Facebook reader group (Team RJC) or Twitter (@robertJcrane), it’s easy to miss my book announcements because … well, because social media is an imprecise thing.
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Cheers,
Robert J. Crane
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
The Girl in the Box
(and Out of the Box)
Contemporary Urban Fantasy
Alone
Untouched
Soulless
Family
Omega
Broken
Enemies
Legacy
Destiny
Power
Limitless
In the Wind
Ruthless
Grounded
Tormented
Vengeful
Sea Change
Painkiller
Masks
Unyielding
Hollow
Toxicity
Small Things
Hunters
Badder
Nemesis
Apex
Time
Driven
Remember
Hero
Flashback
Cold
Blood Ties
Music
Dragon* (Coming October 2, 2019!)
Control* (Coming December 2019!)
World of Sanctuary
Epic Fantasy
(in best reading order)
Defender (Volume 1)
Avenger (Volume 2)
Champion (Volume 3)
Crusader (Volume 4)
Sanctuary Tales (Volume 4.25)
Thy Father’s Shadow (Volume 4.5)
Master (Volume 5)
Fated in Darkness (Volume 5.5)
Warlord (Volume 6)
Heretic (Volume 7)
Legend (Volume 8)
Ghosts of Sanctuary (Volume 9)
Call of the Hero (Volume 10)* (Coming September 2, 2019!)
The Scourge of Despair (V
olume 11)* Coming in 2020!
Ashes of Luukessia
A Sanctuary Trilogy
(with Michael Winstone)
A Haven in Ash (Ashes of Luukessia #1)
A Respite From Storms (Ashes of Luukessia #2)
A Home in the Hills (Ashes of Luukessia #3)
Liars and Vampires
YA Urban Fantasy
(with Lauren Harper)
No One Will Believe You
Someone Should Save Her
You Can’t Go Home Again
Lies in the Dark
Her Lying Days Are Done
Heir of the Dog
Hit You Where You Live* (Coming Late 2019!)
Her Endless Night* (Coming in 2020!)
Burned Me* (Coming in 2020!)
Something In That Vein* (Coming in 2020!)
Southern Watch
Dark Contemporary Fantasy/Horror
Called
Depths
Corrupted
Unearthed
Legion
Starling
Forsaken
Hallowed* (Coming in 2020!)
Enflamed* (Coming in 2021!)
The Mira Brand Adventures
YA Modern Fantasy
(Series Complete)
The World Beneath
The Tide of Ages
The City of Lies
The King of the Skies
The Best of Us
We Aimless Few
The Gang of Legend
The Antecessor Conundrum
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Editing was handled expertly by Sarah Barbour as per usual, with Jeff Bryan and Jo Evans batting cleanup. Many thanks to all of them.
Once again, the illustrious illustrator Karri Klawiter produced the cover. artbykarri.com is where you can find her amazing works.
Nick once again provided the formatting that turned this into an actual book and ebook.
And thanks as always to my family – wife, parents, in-laws and occasionally my kids, for keeping a lid on the craziness so I can do this job.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Teaser
Author's Note
Other Works by Robert J. Crane
Acknowledgments