Jed nodded and took a pull from his Corona. He loved his brothers more than anything in the world. Maybe he was making a mistake. What kind of life could he ever have apart from these men? Then a parade of faces marched past his mind’s eye—the brothers lost and the lives he had taken. The same faces that harassed him in his dreams every night.

Jed sighed. No, it’s time.

“What are you gonna do, Jed?” the younger SEAL asked.

“Still working on that,” Jed said and looked away, not sure what else to say.

“My offer stands, Jed,” Captain Jared said. “I have a lot of friends at the Agency and others working in contracting jobs. One quick call and I can have you in a six-figure job doing what you do best .”

“I appreciate that, sir,” he said, feeling uncomfortable now. “I may take you up on it, but I need to look around a little first. My whole life has been Navy. . . . I just need to see what else is out there.”

Jared nodded. “Completely understandable. Look around and see what your options are. Just know I’m a phone call away if you need me .”

Jed’s phone vibrated and then rang in his pocket, giving him a perfectly timed out. He retrieved the phone and checked the caller ID but didn’t recognize the number. Nonetheless, he’d take a call from the devil himself to get out of questions about what he planned to do with his life now that he was a former Navy SEAL.

“Excuse me a moment, sir,” Jed said to Captain Jared and slid off his stool. He walked quickly to the door and stepped outside before pressing the green button on the screen.

“Hello?”

The relative quiet of the outside was shattered by the roar of an F/A-18 fighter jet screaming in from the ocean and then breaking in a ninety-degree turn directly over him before heading toward the runway at Naval Air Station Oceana a few miles away. When the vibration stopped and the ringing in his ears eased, he tried again.

“Say again,” he began. “I couldn’t hear you.”

“I’m sorry. Maybe I have the wrong number?” The voice on the line sounded tight and strained. The owner was clearly under stress—maybe even duress—and Jed looked again at the screen, hoping the seemingly random string of numbers would become enlightening.

He put the phone back to his ear. “Who’s calling?”

“Is this Jed?” the voice asked, and Jed suddenly felt something familiar about the voice, but he couldn’t place it.

“This is Senior Chief Jedidiah Johnson,” he said coolly. “Now who is this?”

“It’s David,” the trembling voice replied. He thought the man on the other end of the line might even be crying.

“David who?” he demanded.