The General’s Ex-Wife Is A Colonel He Can’t Have Chapter 15
The mission was even harder than I’d expected.
I spent seventeen days behind enemy lines, and nearly didn’t make it out several times.
The day I secured the intelligence, my position was compromised.
The enemy pinned me down in a mountain valley.
I was out of ammunition and had taken a bullet to the right shoulder. Blood had soaked through half my uniform.
Leaning against a boulder, I switched on my encrypted comms unit to transmit the intel.
While waiting for the signal to connect, my life flashed before my eyes.
I thought of the flickering streetlight outside the foster home.
I thought of Beau and me splitting a single can of food on Thanksgiving.
I thought of him sitting by my hospital bed, promising that from then on, it would only be me.
And finally, I thought of my parents.
And the words on their headstone.
They gave their lives to their country and their hearts to each other.
I hit send.
The moment the transmission went through, I could hear my pursuers closing in.
I tightened my grip on my last grenade, my finger hooking the pin.
And then I heard the roar of fighter jets overhead.
Our jets.
A second later, a burst of heavy gunfire erupted from behind me.
The quick reaction force had arrived.
Someone rushed over and hauled me up from the ground.
My consciousness was already fading, but I heard a voice shouting in my ear.
“Stay with us, Celine!”
“Command’s orders are to bring you home, no matter what!”
I smiled once, then closed my eyes.
This time, someone had come to take me home.
When I woke again, I was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
General Thompson was sitting beside my bed, his eyes red with exhaustion.
The moment he saw me awake, he leaned forward.
“You’re awake?”
“You scared the hell out of me, kid.”
I tried to speak, but no sound came out.
He put a hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t talk. Your airway was injured. The doctor said you need to rest.”
“The mission was a success. The intel was critical. The Joint Chiefs have already put you in for a medal.”
As he spoke, he took a medal from a box and placed it in my hand.
“It’s the same honor your parents received.”
“Celine, you did it.”
I looked down at the medal in my palm and said nothing.
Sunlight streamed through the window, falling across the white sheets.
For the first time, I felt like I had truly made it.