Drone Command

SEVENTY-ONE

The hearse from the funeral home pulled away as the shipping container containing Yamada’s remains was being carefully lifted into the cargo hold of the Pearce Systems jet.

Pearce’s grim face set the flight crew on edge. Myers, too. He’d been sullen since the president’s video conference at the embassy, no doubt distracted by the reality of his friend’s death and the need to transport the body back home. She was surprised when he asked her to join him at the airport. More so when he asked her to come with him to Hawaii for the interment.

“Of course.”

President Lane would no doubt want to brief them further before the trip to Beijing, but there was still plenty of time for that. Time for her friend Troy to process everything that had transpired in the last few days. For all of his tough talk about killing the enemy — and God alone knew how many of America’s enemies Pearce had sent to hell over the years — she also knew he valued life and that killing, no matter how righteous, took its psychic toll. She couldn’t fix that, but she could stand by his side and walk with him through it, no matter how long or how dark the valley set before him. He’d always been there for her. She would always be there for him.