Chapter 17 - THE CAPTAIN AND THE CRASHCaptain Callahan came to my house alone.
No uniform.
Jeans.
Gray sweater.
Maya was at school.
I made coffee.
Neither of us drank much.
He brought a folder.
Inside were declassified mission summaries, old photographs, and one citation.
My name.
Technical Sergeant Marcus Vance.
Callahan said:
“Our transport helicopter went down after taking fire during a joint movement.”
I remembered more once he began.
Not everything.
His aircraft had made a hard landing in rough terrain.
Two crew members were badly injured.
Callahan had a fractured leg, facial lacerations, and internal bleeding.
Rescue forces reached them under intermittent fire.
I was part of the pararescue element.
Callahan said:
“You stayed with me after the others moved the most critical casualty.”
I shook my head.
“That was the job.”
“You were hit.”
My leg tightened.
Secondary blast.
Fragments.
Knee.
Hip.
“One of your team tried to move you.”
“I remember.”
“You refused until I was loaded.”
That sounded like me at twenty-six.
Stupid.
Committed.
Both.
Callahan slid the old report toward me.
“You kept pressure on my femoral bleed.”
I stared.
He touched the challenge coin.
“Your squadron commander gave coins to the recovery team after. Joint Venture 31. JV-31.”
May you like
The letters.
I finally understood why his face had changed.
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