The park, the trees, the birds, the sunlight, and the blue sky shimmered and then winked out. Junie was immediately back in her office at FreeTech. Rudy was still there, sitting now on a chair that seemed to fade out at the edges so that it had no legs and an incomplete back. He shimmered, too, but otherwise remained.

“ORB technology,” he said with a disdainful sniff. “Everyone else seems to love it, but I guess I’m like you. It disturbs my sense of order.”

“Rudy,” said Junie, diving right in, “I’ve called Mr. Church I don’t know how many times, and I always get the same answer. ‘Colonel Ledger is on an extended field op and has gone dark for security reasons.’ Or some variation on that.”

“Yes, I know,” said Rudy with a sigh.

“And now Toys is gone.”

“Gone?”

“He said he wanted to look into something and then, poof, he vanishes from the face of the earth. I tried to get in touch with Top and Bunny, but apparently, they’re on an operation, too. God, Rudy, you have to give me something. Like … since you’re there, can you talk to Church? I thought I was in the inner circle, but he, Scott Wilson, and the others have closed me out. It’s not right, and it’s not fair. I don’t need to know every detail, but at least someone should be able to tell me if Joe is all right.” Junie paused and looked into Rudy’s eyes. “Can you tell me something?”

Rudy looked uncomfortable, even pained.

“I can tell you some things I discussed with Church before I set up this call. And, quite frankly, I read him the riot act for closing you out like this. Church, as you know, is a man more concerned with fighting the war than dealing with the human emotions of the people on the field and—more to your point—on the sidelines.”

Junie leaned forward, her fists knotted together in her lap. “Rudy … is Joe alive?”

“Yes,” said Rudy, managing what looked like a careful smile. “He is alive.”

Junie closed her eyes for a long moment, taking very slow and very deep breaths.

“Is he hurt?” she asked, looking once more at him. “Is that what this is? Is Joe in some hospital somewhere with half his face torn off or a bullet in him? What is it this time? I can tell something’s wrong.”

“As far as I know, he is not injured. Not physically.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Then she paused. Two vertical lines appeared between her brows. “This is about Christmas Eve, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I’m afraid it is.”

“What is it, though? Some kind of PTSD because of what happened?”