Now that man was long gone.

 

The monster was all that was left.

 

And the monster had one more thing to do.

 

Chapter 6

 

PULLER SAT IN the chair and stared over at his father, who was still sleeping.

 

Colonel Shorr and Agent Hull had been gone for a while.

 

The VA hospital they were in was quiet, all activity ratcheting down as everyone

tucked in for the night. Puller had come back here and sat down and stared at

his father because he couldn’t think of what else to do.

 

When his father had first come here his moments of lucidity had been fairly

frequent. Not enough to allow him to live by himself. He might have burned his

house down by putting a metal can of soup in the microwave or using the gas

stove to heat his kitchen.

 

Puller had acted out a game with his father in those earlier days.

 

He’d been his father’s XO, or second in command. He would report in for duty and

let his father order him around. He’d felt like an idiot for doing so, but the