Page 6 of Forged in Deception

“Hello?”

“Hey, John,” she said. “I can’t talk long. It’s super windy here and I have to get back to the lab, but I wanted to hear the verdict.”

The line was quiet for several long seconds.

She listened to the howl of a coyote from across the expanse of reddish sand, tufts of dry grass, and the occasional prickly pear cactus.

Still, John said nothing.

“Can you hear me? Should I try and go back inside?”

A sigh cut through the rustling wind.

“It’s not that, sis.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t like having to give you bad news.”

Karlin’s heart sank.

“Just spit it out.”

“I’ve been praying hard for this service dog. I really thought it was going to go through this time. But no. The Veteran’s Freedom Society won’t cover the cost. That was my last stop for finding funding. Maybe I read the signs wrong. Maybe it’s not God’s plan right now.”

Karlin gritted her teeth before she told her little brother what she thought of God’s opinion. Namely, that He should have intervened back in Afghanistan.

“Forget the VFS, the VA, all the rest. I’m gonna figure out a way to get that dog if it’s the last thing I do,” she said instead.

“Chill, Karl. It’s fine. I’ve managed this long without one.”

His words made her feel sick. He had notmanaged. Not at all. But she didn’t think reminding him of his lowest point would do him any good. Not to mention that it would only drag up yet another unpleasant memory that she was desperate to forget.

“I thought you’d agreed that nickname was dead at last,” she said breezily, hoping he couldn’t sense the hidden sadness and anger beneath her words. “You need to let me help you. You’ve been doing better. You haven’t drunk in what, five months? You’ve even been going to the gym again! I don’t want you to stop making progress.”

“I won’t. But a dog trained to assist with PTSD costs thousands of dollars. Therapy is expensive enough, not to mention the loony bin bill–”

“Don’t call it that.”

“Whatever I call it, you’re still paying for it, sis. Honestly, it makes me feel like a pathetic loser working part-time. I need to find a better job and pay my own way again.”

The wind was picking up, and this time, Karlin was thankful for the noise. They’d had this fight too many times already. John was trying to battle his demons, but mental health improvement took time, and it also took energy. Energy he wouldn't have if he pushed himself harder at work than he was capable of right now.

“I gotta go, sorry, I can’t hear you,” Karlin nearly shouted into the phone as another helpful gust of wind whipped dust along the side of the building. “I’ll talk to you later! Bye!”

Without waiting for a reply, she hung up and shoved the phone back into her pocket before turning to head back inside.

If she could focus for another forty-five minutes, she could let herself call it a night. She’d gotten a lot done today, anyway. Maybe she could lay out the lab prep for tomorrow, that would give her a–

She stopped just short of the doorway.

“Ms. McKenna,” Dr. Daman Bajwa said mildly, pushing the glass door open for her with seemingly no effort. “Why are you out here in the cold? I need to talk to you.”

CHAPTER

FOUR

KARLIN

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