Chapter 7
Doc sat next to Grover in the bleachers and studied Ember.
He hadn’t been able to watch her compete in her other events today, but there was no way he was going to miss the laser-run.
It was the last event for the day…and his heart hurt for her.
Looking at the starting lineup of the athletes for this event made it clear Ember hadn’t had a good day.
She was starting in twenty-ninth place. Sixth place from last.
He felt horrible. He knew, no matter how much she’d tried to downplay her injury, that he’d been the one to derail her Olympic dreams. He hadn’t meant to haul her around as roughly as he obviously had, but at the time, he was more interested in getting her to safety than being gentle.
“I’m impressed she was even able to swim at all,” Grover said quietly.
Doc nodded. He’d thought about that too.
The horse jumping probably didn’t feel great on her shoulder, same with the fencing, but she could’ve muddled through those events all right.
But swimming? Yeah, that had to have hurt like hell.
And it was obvious she’d struggled, if her current starting position was any indication.
“Trigger called me right before we met up and updated me about the shit that went down last night.”
“Yeah?” Doc said distractedly.
“The Japanese Red Army has already claimed responsibility.”
Doc sighed. The JRA had been highly active in the early seventies but was currently making a comeback.
He knew they were a community militant group whose goal was to overthrow the Japanese government and the monarchy.
They also wanted to start a world revolution, which made their attack on the Olympics make much more sense.
Grover went on. “A few weeks ago, a man with apparent ties to the Red Army was arrested in Japan, and he had documents on his computer detailing plans to disrupt the Olympics.”
That got Doc’s attention. “Are you shitting me? How come we weren’t informed?”
“I guess the powers that be in Seoul either didn’t take the threat seriously, or they didn’t want to risk anyone pulling out of the Games or have their ticket sales tank.”
Doc could only shake his head at the idiocy of that decision.
Grover went on. “Trigger also said that by some miracle, there were only two people killed in the explosions, not including the terrorists. But if that van had managed to break through the gate, the authorities think there may have been as many as two dozen Japanese Red Army sympathizers ready to storm through behind it and kill as many people as they could.”
“How come they didn’t start shooting when the bombs went off? Or try to take out me and Ember?” Doc asked.
Grover shrugged. “No clue. Maybe they were told to wait and conserve their ammunition until they were inside the gates so they could take out athletes, instead of wasting the bullets on civilians?”
Doc growled. “Fuckers. Where are these sympathizers now?” Doc asked, glancing at Grover.
“When they saw the van wasn’t able to break the gate, we assume they bolted. They’re probably back in whatever holes they’d crawled out of.”
“So we should expect more trouble?”
“Trigger and the others don’t think so. They think this was their big plan, something they’d spent months organizing.
At least now the security will be much tighter.
Better late than never I suppose. The South Korean police and military have shut down all traffic within half a mile of every venue and the Olympic Village itself.
And no one is allowed into the athletic venues without going through two metal detectors.
The last thing the government wants is an athlete being assassinated on their watch. ”
Doc nodded. All that was good and he was relieved.
But he was still upset for Ember’s sake.
There was no doubt he’d been in the right place at the right time, but he hated that she’d gotten hurt in the process.
She’d sacrificed so much over the years to be here, and because of him, she’d been in the thick of things last night.
“Trigger and the others are monitoring the internet for videos of what happened, and luckily most of them are from quite a distance. You aren’t recognized at all.”
“Good. What about Ember?”
“With the shitty videos, she should be in the clear too.”
Doc breathed out a sigh of relief. He’d been worried about that.
“Also,” Grover went on, his voice lowering, “you might be interested to know that the medical examiner finished his autopsy of the driver of the van. He was killed by a bullet to the head.”
Doc nodded, not surprised.
“You gave Ember your backup pistol, right?” Grover asked. “The one without the hollow-point bullets?”
Doc nodded. “Yeah. Why?”
“It was her bullet that took him out,” Grover said quietly. “He had plenty of your bullets in him too, but the one that stopped him—dead center of the forehead—wasn’t yours.”
Doc stared intently at his teammate. “No one tells her that. Ever. The last thing she needs on her conscience is the knowledge that she killed a man. Even if it was someone hell-bent on murdering innocent people. Understand?”
Grover nodded solemnly. “Trigger figured you’d feel that way. He’s already taking care of the report on our side so it doesn’t accidentally get out.”
“He’s changing the report?” Doc asked in surprise.
“Only about which gun had the hollow-point bullets,” Grover said.
Doc was surprised. Their team leader was a stickler for the rules and sticking to the facts in his reports. Saying it was always better to be honest than to try to sweep anything under the rug. He owed him for this. Big time.
“With South Korea flooding the Olympic grounds with more of their military, we’re also being sent home a bit early.”
“How early?” Doc asked, not happy about that news at all.
“Just a couple days. We leave in four more days instead of six.”
Doc nodded. He knew from talking with Ember that she’d be heading home the day after tomorrow anyway, so he wouldn’t miss much time with her. The fact that she was his biggest concern said a lot.
“So…Devyn’s been getting my mail while I’ve been gone,” Grover said.
Confused about his friend’s odd change of topic, Doc said, “Yeah?”
“Yeah. She said I got a letter. From Sierra.”
“The contractor from Afghanistan? That’s great! We thought she may’ve been kidnapped. If she wrote you, she’s obviously okay.”
“It was post-marked almost a year ago,” Grover continued in a flat tone.
Doc wasn’t sure what to say that. “Wow. That was around the time you last saw her, right?”
“Yeah. I didn’t ask my sister to open it, but I can’t stop thinking about it. We both know the mail from overseas isn’t reliable, so it’s possible it got lost in the system.”
“For a year?” Doc asked skeptically.
“Yeah, I know, it seems unlikely. But for the sake of argument, let’s just say it was lost in some overwhelmed or disorganized foreign mail service.
Then someone found it and sent it along…
I can’t stop thinking about what she might’ve said.
Maybe whatever’s in that letter explains why no one has heard from her in so long. ”
Doc nodded. Grover had been increasingly concerned about the woman he’d met in the chow hall when they’d been in Afghanistan a year ago.
Even with a somewhat rocky start, they’d agreed to keep in touch.
Grover had emailed her but never heard back…
and the entire team knew how much it had bothered their friend.
Even more worrisome were the reports of contractors allegedly being kidnapped by Shahzada, the worst terrorist the area had seen in over a decade.
He was ruthless and very vocal in his hatred for Westerners.
He’d been gaining more and more power since their last mission in Afghanistan, and it was obvious he’d have to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
“We’ll be home soon and you can read it and see what’s up with her yourself,” Doc said, trying to reassure his friend.
Grover nodded. “You know, a lot has changed for our team recently, and at first I was kinda upset about it. Afraid it would change the dynamic between us. But I couldn’t be happier for the others. And you.”
“Me?” Doc asked.
Grover chuckled. “Yeah, you. Look at us, man. We’re sitting in a half-empty stadium watching the modern pentathlon instead of attending the basketball game. Before we got here, we hadn’t even heard of this event.”
Doc chuckled. His friend had a point.
“For the record, we all really like Ember. It’s a given you’d be focused when that van was barreling toward you…
but she was pretty fucking impressive, standing behind you, her legs apart, arm outstretched, completely focused on the van.
I know you’ve mentioned wanting to find a woman who’s happy to fade into the background with you.
Someone content to hang out at home and live the quiet life.
But that’s not what you need. You need someone who will force you out of your comfort zone.
Who will challenge you, make you laugh, and drive you crazy at the same time. ”
“And…what? You think Ember is that woman? Grover, she lives in Beverly Hills. Has more money than I could ever imagine having. She’s practically internet royalty. Besides, we’ve only known each other for a few days.”
“You know as well as I do that sometimes that’s all it takes.
You’ve seen it firsthand with our friends.
When you click with someone, you click. And you and Ember have definitely clicked.
I know I’m probably the worst one of our team to give you advice, since I’m still single, but don’t let her slip out of your grasp, Doc.
She needs you as much as you need her. Do you honestly think she’s happy living in her gilded cage? ”