The plane hit turbulence, and a bit of bouncing evolved into what felt like a several-hundred-foot drop. As I gripped the arm rest, Gabe turned to me once again.

“Listen.”

“I can’t listen if there’s nothing to hear!”

“Listen,” he repeated.

The plane fell again, causing the overhead storage bins to vomit various items, and the already dim lights flickered violently until they surrendered, and the fuselage turned dark.

I jerked awake, and Jared sat where Gabe had been. The lights were on, and the floors were clear of debris.

“It’s you,” I said, relieved.

“Yes,” he said with a confused smile, “who did you think it would be?”

After a short pause, I shook my head. “No one. Just forgot where I was for a second.”

Jared nodded, and then rested his hand on my knee. “We’ll be there in two hours.”

He spent the remainder of our flight on his cell phone. He made arrangements for a car to pick us up at the airport, and for a friend, Colonel Jason Brand to meet us at Landstuhl with visitor identification.

Upon arrival, the pace accelerated. The second the plane came to a stop, Jared had the few things we brought with us in hand, and he held out my jacket.

“It’s chilly,” he said, helping me twist into the sleeves.

Descending the stairs of the plane, it was clear why Jared had to make so many phone calls. Pilots walked to and from their jets, crew chiefs were parking and marshelling out jets, while others were busy with flight inspections. Jet engines screamed as they prepared for takeoff.

We had landed at Ramstein air base. Jared’s connections spanned farther than I had imagined.

We rushed off the tarmac to the waiting car. The driver was a stranger to me. He spoke fluent German to Jared, so I was unsure if he was just a local or someone Jared had met before. He looked about Jared’s age. Light blonde hair peeked from his dark green ball cap, but his eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses.

“Warum gehen Sie nach Landstuhl?” the driver said.

“Claire’s Taleh ist verletzt worden,” Jared said.

The driver’s eyebrows pulled in. He was a friend. Jared mentioning Claire’s Taleh could even mean that he was a Hybrid, and by the features I could see, he was.

“Gutes Glück zu Ihnen, Freund,” he said, shaking his head.

“Danke,” Jared frowned. He leaned toward me, then. “He was asking why we’re here. I told him, and he wished us luck,” he whispered against my cheek.

Nodding, I hugged Jared’s arm to me. Landstuhl was just three miles from the West Gate of the base. The soldier guarding the gate seemed to know the driver, and after checking out his identification, let us through quickly.

An officer in a blue decorated dress uniform waited at the front entrance of the hospital.