Operation Zulu Redemption: Act of Treason - Part 4 Read Online Free PDF Page B

what are you doing here, Katie?” The wind riffled his dark brown hair that hung longer than the men she was keeping company with lately. Trace and Boone had short-cropped hair. Rusty, a little longer but not by much. And Majid. . .
    No, not him. She wouldn’t think about him now.
    “I hoped we could talk,” Téya said as she walked toward him.
    “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
    “David,” she said with a nervous laugh, skating a look around to make sure nobody heard them talking, heard his harsh disdain. “I’ve never heard you talk to friends like that before.”
    “I
don’t
talk to friends like that.” His words carried the blade of a dagger, right into her chest.
    She wet her lips. She ached for the kindness he’d always shown her. For the reassurance that life would be okay.
    “Who was the man in the truck?”
    Téya started.
    “Maggie saw you ride into town with him,” David said, referring to his sister-in-law.
    “He’s a friend—just a man I work with. I don’t own a car, so he agreed to bring me.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was a close variant. As close as she could give to David. And that hurt, too. “David,” she said, stepping up to him and taking his hand.
    He stiffened, his jaw tightening. “Release me.”
    Shaken at his tone, at the disgust she saw in his eyes and heard in his voice, she stepped back. “What. . .what is wrong?”
    David cut his narrowed eyes to her. “Mrs. Gerig told me you’re a soldier.”
    Téya straightened, her lips parting in surprise as she pulled back.
    “It’s true, then?”
    “Dav—”
    “Leave us, Katie! Or whoever you are. Leave and don’t come back.”
    “David, you have to listen to me,” she said, abandoning the hope of his love. The hope that he’d still smile at her and tell her everything would be okay. “There are dangerous men after me.”
    “Yes, they nearly killed your grandmother and me, then came back to try to finish me off.” He started back to the house, hobbling awkwardly on his still-healing leg.
    “David, I’m sorry.” Her throat felt raw, thick. “I never thought I’d have to go back.”
    “It’s better this way,” David said, stumbling as he moved quicker on his bad leg. “You don’t belong here, Katie.”
    Hurt and anger writhed in her chest. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this! This place, my grandmother—
you
were supposed to be my life. I
wanted
that. Can’t you see I loved you?”
    He stopped, the pebbles crunching angrily beneath his feet. With a shift, the rocks groaning beneath him, he held her gaze. “Loved?”
    Had she said that? “No,
love
.”
    “You said
loved
. Past tense.” He squared his jaw. “Go back to your warring. To your fighting, Katie. You don’t belong here.” His eyes seemed to blur with unshed tears. “I could never marry a woman who killed people.”
    Those last words thrust the dagger deeper, twisting. Killing any hope of love and happiness she had left. Chin trembling, she backstepped. Tears blurred her vision. She wiped at them angrily, not wanting to lose sight of David. “Take care of her, please—my
grossmammi
. Please promise me that much!”
    He slowed but didn’t look back. Instead, his gaze went to the ground next to him. “Bleak Pond takes care of its own. Without weapons and violence.” His shoulders rose and fell as his voice trembled. “We use a more powerful weapon—love.”

Annie
Lucketts, Virginia
11 June – 0900 Hours
    Beneath a mighty oak, Zulu had laid Keeley to rest. Annie and Nuala hooked arms with Téya as they stood next to the gaping hole in the earth, the one that mirrored the hole in their lives. In Zulu. Bible in hand, Boone read from the twenty-third Psalm, determined to give Keeley a “decent” sending off. He’d chosen to place her remains here on his property to keep her close, but also because she’d been buried once already. In a family plot back in Nebraska. The coffin her parents had placed in the ground