Page 52 of Jasper

“You were friends, then?”

“He was part of my unit.”

Of course. The Marine Corps built them to think of each other as extended family. He considered his own unit his brothers.

“I…uh…” His tongue suddenly felt like sandpaper, his resolve fleeing.

“Your brother served his country well and honorably, Jasper. He was a good man and one I was proud to serve alongside.”

Jasper brushed at the wetness on his cheeks. He needed to hear that more than he realized. And it gave him the courage to say what he needed to say to Conner.

“I need to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? What the fuck for?”

“I blamed you for living when he died.” The phone went deathly quiet, and he rushed on. “I know it wasn’t fair of me and that you weren’t to blame for living when the others died. I didn’t even realize how much I blamed you until recently, and someone told me in order for me to get better, to move past all this anger, I had to forgive myself, but I can’t do that until I apologize to you.”

“I blame myself for his death.”

Jasper sucked in a breath, not expecting that.

“I couldn’t save him, and that will be with me until the day I die, but I promise you one thing, Jasper. They paid for his death. Every single person who was responsible for what happened to him paid for it.”

Jasper wasn’t quite sure what to make of those words. The mission was classified, so he hadn’t gotten a lot of information. They’d told him most of the insurgents who held them captive were already dead when they arrived, but he assumed it had been from the strategic bombing they’d done before they swarmed the compound.

But there was something there in Conner’s voice, something so dark it made Jasper shiver. Now he wondered how many of those deaths were due to the bomb and how many were due to the man on the other end of the line.

“I’m going to tell you something that’s classified, but you deserve to know it. Henry would have wanted you to know.”

“You’re going to trust me with classified information?”

“Yes.”

Well. “Okay.”

“The unit was new, an experiment that pulled together the best of the best from across the military divisions. If asked, no one will ever admit to its existence.”

“Something like the Army’s elite unit?”

“It was more elite than that and very classified. ‘People who asked too many questions disappeared’ classified.”

Well, damn.

“The unit was having problems bonding, and that led to what happened to your brother. Some of the men told a few of the insurgents your brother was gay. They used it against him, against me.”

“You?”

“Yes.”

Jasper sat back, his mind reeling from the implications of that.

“It didn’t do them any good to tell our captors that. It didn’t stop their torture.”

“His own unit turned on him?”

“Yes.”

He slammed his hand into the ground, ignoring the sharp pain. The bastards used the fact Henry was gay against him. They tried to barter their relief with it.

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