Page 130 of After 5

“Thanks, Ace,” I said. “It was a risk for you to come.”

He squeezed me back, then released me.

“Did things work out with the general?” he twisted his lips in an I’ve got a story demeanor.

“You found him?” I asked. “I wasn’t sure how he made it back to Gettysburg.”

“He fancied himself drinks with your cousin.”

“You met Darryl?”

Ace grinned ear to ear. “The bloke has stories. He could make a few quid selling them. Thankfully, Darryl agreed to let me tuck the general in bed. By the amount of moonshine left in the bottle, I’ll be surprised if either one of them remembers what happened.”

“The general arrived at exactly the right moment in time.”

“Brilliant. It was a bloody battle forcing the man to sit in the outhouse. I chased ’im around your garden a few times, finally had to knock ’im on his bum.”

I snorted at the image Ace conjured.

“I’m glad you’re home safe and sound.” He glanced at the bandage on my leg. “What’s that?”

“My first gunshot wound, or in this case grapeshot.”

“Gurl, you need to think about what you fight for. Staying on base has its perks. I don’t have any of those wounds. Just sayin’.”

“I’m fighting for freedom, to be considered an equal.”

“Didn’t Gettysburg teach you anything?”

“Yes, to be strong, brave, and fight for what you believe in.”

“Bloody ’ell, you’ve been drinking the Civil War Kool-Aid. You’ll have the transporters assigned to our own missions before you’re done.”

“You think that’s a possibility?” I asked, hopeful.

“Gurl.” He looped an arm around my shoulders, and we headed for the debriefing.

All the teams were present in the blue room, making it standing room only.

The Russian team leaned against the wall. Fredericka scrolled through her phone as I passed. Her glittering black fingernails tapped against her screen. She paused and gave me a thumbs up.

The other teams gathered around the conference table. General Potts sat at the head like the stoic Queen Bee waiting for the hive to bring news of the world. He hadn’t visited the blue room often since I joined the WTF. Gettysburg was a big deal.

I took the open seat next to Gertie, who was in the middle of describing the horrible conditions the soldiers dealt with in the field hospitals.

General Potts turned a light shade of green when she gave a detailed account of the way grapeshot from a canister artillery took a man’s privates clean off.

Jake asked a few questions, and Gertie and I took turns answering.

I explained my part, describing Victory and revealing to them she was pregnant, but leaving out the part about Caiyan being the father.

General Potts coughed into his hand. “As you know, Agent McGregor received a serious wound in Gettysburg. He’s returned to our team, but for the sake of rescuing the seer from the Mafusos, I am pronouncing him dead.”

“He’s always been dead to me,” Gerry spouted off.

It took a minute for General Potts’s words to sink in. Wait? what? We are supposed to fake Caiyan’s death? And the seer doesn’t need to be rescued. She agreed to go with them.

Jake noticed my uneasiness with General Potts’s statement and shook his head. My instincts told me to keep my mouth shut.

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