Missing Pieces - Chapter 50
Tyler
Friday
My stomach was twisted in knots. I was terrified.
But for the first time since I had enlisted, I felt a small amount of excitement too.
The reasons I had signed up were real. I wanted my grandfather to be proud of me.
I wanted my dad to be proud of the person that I had become.
I could do all that here. Even though a piece of me was in Indiana, I needed to do this.
I didn't regret my choice to enlist. And I could survive this.
I would fight and I would come home. For Hails. For my mom. For myself.
I took a deep breath and pushed through the front doors. There were a few men sitting behind a desk along the far side of the wall. I looked around the room. No one else was in sight. I walked over to them.
"Name?" one of them asked without looking up. He started thumbing through his clipboard.
"Tyler Stevens."
He immediately looked up at me and glanced at the man sitting next to him.
He cleared his throat and set the clipboard down on top of the desk.
"Right, we've been expecting you." He opened up a drawer in the desk and pulled out a file with my name on it.
"Follow me, please." He stood up and started walking down a hallway.
I almost had to jog to keep up with him.
He opened up a door and gestured for me to go inside. "If you don't mind taking a seat, someone will be right with you."
"Of course." I stepped inside.
The man immediately closed the door and I swear I heard it lock.
I grabbed the handle and, sure enough, it wouldn't budge.
I looked back at the room. There was an empty metal desk in the middle of the room and two chairs, one on either side of it.
If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was in an interrogation room.
Maybe I was. Maybe this was their way of intimidating recruits or something.
I should have done some research this morning about what to expect.
Instead I had spent the day trying to remind myself that I had made the right decision.
Or maybe I was just trying to convince myself that I hadn't made the biggest mistake of my life.
After a few minutes of standing by the door, I walked over to one of the chairs and sat down.
***
"Tyler Stevens?"
I lifted my head off the desk. I had completely lost all sense of time. But my neck hurt and my back was stiff. I must have fallen asleep. I cleared my throat. "Yes?" This wasn't what I had been expecting at all. I immediately stood up when he didn't respond. I'm supposed to do that, right?
He eyed me coolly. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel John Williams."
I thought he might shake my hand but he continued to size me up. I just stood there awkwardly.
"Please, sit down."
I guess I wasn't supposed to stand. I sat back down in the metal chair under his scrutiny.
He opened up the file with my name on it. "Tyler Stevens." His eyes darted across the page. "Current residence of New York City. You grew up in Delaware. One living parent. No siblings. Not in a relationship. You are the perfect candidate for the Marine Corps."
Why did he sound so angry? "That's good, right?"
"It would be. Except for the fact that we obviously do background checks." He ripped the file with my name on it in half and tossed it into the trash as he sat down across from me at the table.
"What are you talking about?"
"Many people that enlist are trying to escape from their problems. We help people find themselves. We help them discover their full potential. But not criminals."
"I'm not a criminal."
"You have a warrant out for your arrest. For your refusal to appear for your questioning in regards to the ongoing investigation of James Hunter's shooting. With immediate request to be transferred to New York City."
"It's not ongoing. They just arrested Isabella Hunter for that. She was behind everything."
He lowered his eyebrows. "Isabella Hunter is dead. She died at 0200 Eastern Standard Time. The investigation is being reopened. And your original charges are being reinstated."
Isabella was dead? I wasn't sure what time it was, but I had just talked to Penny. Everything was fine. What the hell had happened? "Original charges?"
"You have been officially un-enlisted from the United States Marine Corps effective immediately."
"What original charges?"
Lieutenant Colonel John Williams stood up as a police officer walked into the room.
Shit. What the hell was happening?
The police officer grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to my feet. "Tyler Stevens, you are under arrest for blackmail and conspiracy to commit murder. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
I drowned out the rest of his words. Blackmail? Conspiracy to commit murder? What the fuck?
He pushed me against the wall and cuffed my hands behind my back.