Page 118 of Reckoning
"I'm safe." Mara's eyes were already starting to close. The exhaustion and the medication and the relief all catching up with her. "Because you came for me. Just like I came for you."
"Always," Logan promised. "I'll always come for you."
She fell asleep holding his hand. Logan sat there watching her breathe, counting each rise and fall of her chest, reminding himself that she was alive and safe and here.
Nazari had escaped. The mission was technically incomplete. Command would have questions. There would be debriefs and reports and probably some uncomfortable conversations about operational security.
But none of that mattered right now.
Because Mara was safe. She'd survived. And she loved him.
Everything else would work itself out.
It had to.
TRUST
Fort Liberty, North Carolina - Two Weeks Later
Logan sat outside the company commander's office waiting to be called in. Bulldog was beside him, equally quiet. Down the hall, Hawk was already inside getting his own debriefing. Or more accurately, his own ass-chewing. The mission had been a success in terms of bringing Mara home, but command had questions. Lots of questions.
How did they know there was an American hostage at Nazari's compound? How did they develop that intelligence so quickly? Why did the tactical approach suggest coordination with an outside entity? And most importantly, how did Sergeant First Class Logan Reed end up with a personal relationship with the rescued hostage?
"You think they'll separate us?" Bulldog asked quietly.
"Maybe. Probably." Logan had been thinking about nothing else for two weeks. Ever since they'd returned stateside and the official investigation had started. "Conflict of interest. Compromised judgment. All the reasons they break up teams when personal relationships interfere with operational effectiveness."
"That's bullshit. You made the right calls. Got the hostage out. Everyone came home alive."
"Doesn't matter if the calls were right if the process was wrong." Logan looked at his hands. "I'd do it again. Every decision. Every risk. But that doesn't mean command has to accept it."
The door opened and Hawk emerged. His expression was carefully neutral but Logan could read the tension in his shoulders. "You're up, Steele."
Logan stood and walked into the office. The company commander sat behind his desk looking tired. He gestured to the chair across from him.
"Sergeant Reed. Have a seat."
Logan sat at attention, waiting.
"I've been reviewing the after-action reports from the Nazari operation. Both the official reports and the supplemental intelligence analysis." The commander pulled up files on his computer. "You want to tell me how you developed intelligence about an American hostage in less than two hours?"
"Ghost ran analysis on Nazari's patterns, sir. Cross-referenced with regional events. Made an educated guess based on available data."
"An educated guess that turned out to be completely accurate. That hostage was exactly where you said she'd be. In exactly the condition you prepared for." The commander's eyes were sharp. "That's either the best intelligence work I've ever seen or you had information you're not sharing."
Logan kept his expression neutral. "Ghost is very good at his job, sir."
"He is. Which is why I pulled him in first. Asked him the same questions. Got the same answers." The commander leaned back. "Here's what I think happened. I think you had outside communication with the hostage's team. I think you coordinatedthis rescue with a private military organization operating without authorization in Iraq. I think you used official resources to support an unauthorized operation."
"Sir—"
"I'm not done. I think you did all of that because someone you care about was in danger. And I think every man on your team was complicit because that's what teams do. They back each other up. Even when it bends the rules." The commander's expression softened slightly. "I also think you brought an American citizen home alive from enemy captivity. And that counts for something."
Logan didn't know what to say. The commander was right about all of it. But admitting it meant disciplinary action. Meant potentially ending his career.
"The official finding is that you acted on limited intelligence with good tactical instincts. The hostage rescue was a fortunate secondary outcome of the primary mission to interdict Nazari's arms shipment. The fact that you have a personal relationship with the rescued individual is noted but determined to be coincidental rather than causative." The commander pulled up another file. "However, that personal relationship does create complications going forward."
"I understand, sir."
