For him this represented the culmination of years of sweat and blood. It

represented the full force and effect of the United States Army, the greatest

fighting machine the world would ever likely see.

 

But now?

 

He fingered the wings of the fierce eagle, as though hoping its touch would

render all things clear.

 

It didn’t work.

 

He put his creds away and checked his M11.

 

He had a spare in a gun case in his bedroom. He rose and fetched it and slid it

into his rear holster. He felt a bit better being fully gunned up. But only a

bit.

 

There were not many things that unnerved John Puller.

 

When you’d been through hell and back, when you’d seen pretty much every way one

human being could kill another, it changed you in a way that was irreversible.

In some ways it made you far stronger, able to act with confidence when the need

arose, no matter the level of danger. People who were not so hardened became

paralyzed in such dire conditions.