Jared placed his hand on ours. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re both alive.”

“Ryan's company was conducting a raid to extract two contractors that had been missing for a few days. I made a lot of mistakes today, Jared. They were ambushed. I should have seen it coming. I should have heard the snipers get into position, but my mind was full of complaints and resentment.” She stared at the floor, deep in thought. “They always raid at night. Everything was off, and I missed it.”

Jared grabbed Claire's jaw in his hands. “You know better than to beat yourself up about this. What were you telling me in the waiting room in Providence? He’s alive, Claire. No one else could have gotten him here with a chance.”

She pulled away from him, and looked out the window. In her mind, she was still on that street corner, watching the extermination of Ryan's company in real time. “It was like Shock and Awe out there—one explosion after another,” she snapped her eyes shut. The memory replayed in her mind. “I could hear him, but I couldn’t see,” her eyebrows pulled in, “I couldn’t see.”

Her eyes popped open, and she immediately wiped away her tears. “My first glimpse of Ryan didn’t surprise me: He was sprinting from the debris cloud with Tommy on his back.” She smiled. “Of course it would be Tommy. Ryan's only saved his hide three times already.” Her smiled faded. “They were close. Closer than the others. Ryan felt responsible for him.”

Jared stood, and walked to the other side of the room. He rubbed the back of his neck; the worry and memories were clearly overwhelming him.

“That was when I decided to move in,”” Claire explained, “but a sniper clicked on his sights.” Claire laughed once. “The jerkface got one off after I severed his brain stem with one bullet, Jared. That shit only happens in the movies.”

“So Ryan was hit?” I prodded. My mind raced with where the story would end. I had no idea what injuries Ryan had sustained, and with the vivid detail of bombs and bullets, I needed her to get to the point.

“Twice. A bullet ricocheted off a rock, and clipped his right lung; the other blew straight through his shoulder. It was fate. Both injuries are going to send him packing.”

Jared glanced at me, and then returned to his seat. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “That was when you evac’d?”

Claire sniffed. “He wouldn’t let Tommy go. I had to pry all ten of his fingers from the guy’s flak jacket.”

“Figures,” Jared grumbled.

“Ryan’s whole unit was wiped out in three seconds. He needed to save one of them. It didn’t matter that Tommy was dead ten meters from the explosions…Ryan was going to carry him home.”