Page 3 of The Fourth Option
“It’s me.”
Walker snapped the phone shut, set it down, and lifted his pistol. He pressed it to the underside of his chin, pushed down on the thumb safety,and set his finger on the trigger. The doctors had said his head was broken. They were right.
Outside, amid the swishing branches and crashing skies, Paladin howled as had his ancestors, wolves that had once hunted these very lands.
Walker closed his eyes, telling himself it was a fitting send-off. Paladin had seen a lot of death. He would understand. Time to…
Bleep-bleep.
Walker removed his finger from the trigger. What the hell was that? An irritating little sound that did not blend with the natural rhythms of the storm.
My death has to be in rhythm.
He glanced at the phone and saw a flashing light.
Fuck it. Doesn’t matter. Do it, Chris.
Bleep-bleep.
He closed his eyes tighter than before, willing the unnatural sound away, sliding his finger back into place on the trigger.
Ignore it and press.
Do it!
Bleep-bleep.
His heart was racing.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Arrhythmic.
Bleep-bleep.
Fuck!
Walker engaged the thumb safety and lowered the gun to his lap, sucking in deep breaths, the religion and philosophy texts on his shelf coming back into focus. The sound was a text indicator and a message was on the phone’s outer LCD screen.
Hey Chris, it’s Leigh Ann Staub. Hope you’re well. I’ve been calling you but not getting an answer. Trying this—hope it works. Please call me back as soon as you can. It’s important.
Walker stared at it in disbelief.
A message from Leigh Ann just as he was about to join her husband in Valhalla?
What kind of timing was that?
He looked back to the books.
John Staub, his master chief in the SEAL Teams whom he had followed into Ground Branch, was dead because of Walker. Now his wife just spared Walker’s life?
He fought to control his breathing as Paladin’s howls took on a pain he had not noticed before.
You trying to talk me out of this, buddy?
Thunder rumbled, more distant than it had been moments earlier.
Was the storm passing?
