PART 2 — THE LETTER HE HID FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS
Elena felt as if the ground had tilted.
Chapter 2
PART 2: AT 0500 HOURS, PRIVATE ELENA MERCER’S HIDDEN TATTOO MADE A COLONEL FORGET HOW TO BREATHE
815 words
Miller stepped forward. “Sir, perhaps this should—”
“Dismiss the platoon.”
Miller hesitated.
“Sir?”
“Dismiss them.”
Within seconds, Third Platoon began moving away.
Gable glanced over his shoulder twice.
Harris noticed.
“Specialist.”
Gable froze.
“Yes, sir?”
“Whatever amusement you found in this situation is over.”
“Yes, sir.”
When the grinder finally emptied, Harris turned toward Elena.
“Walk with me.”
They crossed the base in silence.
Harris moved quickly despite his limp.
Elena kept pace.
“Where are we going?”
“My office.”
“Am I being disciplined?”
Harris looked at her.
“If what I think is true, discipline is the least important thing happening today.”
Inside headquarters, Harris locked the door.
He removed his patrol cap and stood behind his desk.
“Sit.”
Elena remained standing.
“With respect, sir, tell me what happened to my father.”
Harris studied her.
Then he opened a locked drawer.
From it he removed an old photograph.
Elena’s breath stopped.
Five soldiers stood in desert camouflage beneath a foreign sun.
One was Harris, twenty years younger.
Beside him stood Daniel Mercer.
Elena recognized him immediately.
Same dark eyes.
Same crooked smile from the framed photograph her mother kept above the fireplace.
Her knees weakened.
“That’s him.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
Harris sat slowly.
“We were attached to a classified advisory unit overseas. Officially, Daniel was never there.”
Elena shook her head.
“My mother said he was stateside.”
“She was supposed to believe that.”
“Why?”
“Because our mission went wrong.”
Harris stared at the photograph.
“We were moving civilians out of a village before an insurgent @tt/@ck. Intelligence said the road was clear.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No.”
His fingers tightened around the picture.
“The convoy was hit.”
Elena said nothing.
“There was bl/o/od everywhere. Vehicles burning. People screaming.”
Harris’s voice had become distant.
“Daniel pulled me out after I was injured. My
leg was torn open. I told him to leave me.”
Harris gave a humorless smile.
“He laughed.”
Elena’s eyes burned.
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘You’re too ugly to d/i/e here, Rich.’”
A tiny sound escaped Elena.
Her father used to call people ugly when he loved them.
Her mother had told her that.
Harris continued.
“He got me behind cover. Then he went back.”
“For what?”
“A child.”
Elena stared.
“There was a little girl trapped near one of the vehicles.”
Harris looked directly at her.
“Daniel saved her.”
“Then how did he—”
“He was hit afterward.”
The word required no embellishment.
Elena’s fingers curled.
Harris looked down.
“I held him.”
For several seconds neither spoke.
“He knew he wasn’t coming home,” Harris said. “He asked me to promise him something.”
“What?”
“To protect his family.”
Elena’s eyes hardened.
“You didn’t.”
The accusation struck harder than a shout.
Harris accepted it.
“No.”
“My mother worked two jobs.”
“I know.”
“We almost lost our house.”
“I know.”
“I grew up thinking nobody from the Army remembered him.”
Harris closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Elena stood abruptly.
“Then what kind of promise was that?”
“A failed one.”
She turned toward the door.
Harris said, “Elena.”
She stopped.
“He also gave me something.”
Slowly, Harris opened another compartment in his desk.
He removed a small sealed envelope.
Her name was written across the front.
ELENA.
The handwriting matched the tattoo.
Her knees almost gave out.
“You had that?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Seventeen years.”
She turned on him.
“You had a letter from my father for seventeen years?”
Harris stood.
“I was ordered not to contact your family.”
“You could have mailed a letter!”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
Harris looked toward the closed blinds.
“Because officially your father wasn’t d/e/@/d.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Harris’s face tightened.
“He was declared missing inside the classified system.”
“But you said he d/i/ed in your arms.”
“He did.”
“Then why—”
“Because someone needed Daniel Mercer to remain alive on paper.”
The room became very still.
Elena slowly sat.
Harris continued.
“The operation was compromised from inside.”
“Inside the Army?”
“Yes.”
“By who?”
“We never proved it.”
Elena looked at the letter.
“What does this have to do with my father?”
“He discovered money being funneled through reconstruction contracts. Millions of dollars. Someone was selling convoy routes.”
Elena felt cold despite the heated room.
“The @tt/@ck wasn’t random?”
“No.”
“It was set up?”
“Yes.”
“My father knew?”
“He realized it moments before we were hit.”
Harris handed her the envelope.
“He gave me this because he believed someone might come after you and your mother.”
Elena opened it.
Inside was not a letter.
It was a strip of thin paper with six handwritten numbers.
4-17-31-8-22-5.
“That’s it?”
Harris nodded.
“I never understood it.”
Elena stared at the sequence.
Then her expression changed.
Harris noticed.
“What?”
“These aren’t numbers.”
Click the blue “PART 3” below to read the next part: 👉 PART 3 👈
Chapter complete
You have reached the end of this chapter.
Continue reading
Find your next story
A few more worlds to get lost in after this chapter.