Page 62 of Destiny Reclaimed
This time, the vision was not in the third person to him. He saw it exactly as he’d lived it. The Huey quickly lowered from the sky. The swooshing air of the rotors kicked up the soil. He couldn’t wipe the grit from his eyes because his hands were occupied with carrying Gary Tebon, Gwennie’s brother, to the evacuation chopper, so he jerked to a pause to press his watery eye to his upper arm in the hope to clear his vision enough to make his way to the Huey.
Enemy fire sparked up.
“Keep moving!” the soldier helping him yelled.
Tebon’s drooped head lifted. The man’s eyes went wide. “Fuck me,” he whispered before his head fell forward.
Jack glanced to where Tebon had been looking. His heart slammed in his chest. A beefy U.S. soldier aimed at him. The man’s eyes glowed red like he imagined the devils would. Among all the chaos, a low, feral snarl hissed from that same direction as the gun fired. Jack pivoted his body, shielding the others. In that instant, a breath-stealing, sharp pain ripped through his shoulder. He fell forward into Gary and the other soldier, and they all tumbled to the ground.
Jack opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on his Protector. “It was Arthur. He shot me!”
Her eyes widened at his declaration.
He sprang from his chair and paced the tiny room like a wild animal in a cage, not knowing what to think—do. He ran the back of his hand over his forehead to wipe away the sweat.
His Protector was much calmer than he was about the fact his own cousin had tried to kill him. “Why?”
Gabriela stood and planted her hands on her narrow hips. Then she arched a brow.
He stopped pacing and stared at her. “To steal my life, my wife, and family.”
“Yes.”
Jack squeezed his eyes shut. Visions of his Purple Heart surfaced. He opened his eyes and in two quick steps, he was at the shelving unit in his living room. He plucked his wooden keepsake box from the surface and opened it. He stared at the Purple Heart he received for being injured in war. At the time, he didn’t know his injury came from a U.S. Troop, let alone his own relative. His heart pumped hard as if it pushed blood as thick as peanut butter through his veins. How could Arthur have done this to him?
He picked up the medal and ran his thumb over the surface. As realization set in, his heart beat faster and faster as if his blood had now thinned and his heart couldn’t get enough of it. Those medals of Arthur’s, the ones he could never stop bragging about weren’t his at all.
Jack snapped his head in Gabriela’s direction. “And, to steal my family’s decorated military history...” He almost choked on his words.
Her facial features softened with an understanding of how hard it was for him to accept this bizarre truth and altered reality.
She nodded. “Yes. Those medals, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Air Medal are yours, not his. They belong to the Cornelis line, not the Dupont lineage.”
“Oh my God.”
“It’s you, Jack. You are the war hero. Not him, nor his father or grandfather before him. The Cornelis lineage is rich with decorated military history. The heroic actions of you and your ancestors positively impacted so many lives through the years, but that all changed when Arthur stole your history. More importantly, there’s a future event that needs to occur in order to save the American people. That event is contingent upon your and Gwendoline’s great-grandson’s existence. And right now, he won’t exist.”
Jack swallowed audibly. “Gwennie and I have a great-grandson?” he replied in not much more than a whisper.
Gabriela averted her gaze.
“You’ve said too much?”
She returned her gaze to him. “As for your future, it’s not for me to divulge, it is yours to discover and experience one moment at a time.”
She smiled warmly for a moment before it dissipated, and her ocean-blue eyes darkened with trepidation “So yes, I’ve said too much, But, my role is to protect you as you preserve history, no matter the cost.
He wasn’t sure how to respond. It was his nature to protect people, but he had a feeling there wasn’t anything he could do for her now outside of not trying to change history back. She was in too deep and had revealed too much to reset the course. Still, he couldn’t accept that reality for her. He stiffened his spine. “I can’t let you do this.”
“You don’t have a choice in the matter. You have a bigger responsibility here other than just getting your life back and trying to save mine. The survival of the American people lies in your hands,” she replied sternly.
“But you’ll...”
She raised her hand, cutting off his words. “The mission to reset the course starts now.”
