Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
The guard frowned. He knew something was up, but I was staff, not a prisoner, and he couldn’t prove anything. “C’mon, then, Kain, let’s go.”
Gabriel didn’t move. And I realized the problem: even hidden behind me, he hadn’t been able to get the handcuffs on again. The room was dead quiet and the guard would hear the metal rasp as the cuffs ratcheted closed.
I took a deep breath and then bent over, coughing as loudly as I could. I coughed so hard my throat hurt, so hard that tears came to my eyes. The guard stepped forward, concerned, but I waved him back: I’m fine, I’ll be okay in a second. I didn’t dare stop because I didn’t know if Gabriel had fixed the cuffs yet: was I making enough noise? What if the guard—
Gabriel stepped out from behind me and came around to the front. “You okay, Doc?”
Through watering eyes, I saw that his hands were neatly cuffed in front of him. I straightened up, my chest aching. “Yeah,” I croaked, wiping my lips. “Yes, thank you.”
The guard gave me one last suspicious look and then he led Gabriel away. Just as they left, Gabriel looked back over his shoulder at me. He looked surprised, impressed…and he gave me a little nod of gratitude. Then they were gone.
I tottered over to the wall and leaned there, cold sweat trickling down my spine. We’d so nearly gotten caught. Oh my God. I’d have been fired. Gabriel would have had his sentence extended.
That must never happen again. The safest thing would be for us to stay far, far apart. Part of me was already making plans to get Alicia to handle all of Gabriel’s visits from now on, or at the very least to be present whenever he was, so that there was no temptation.
But another part of me was remembering his hands on my shoulders and wondering what he’d been about to say.
The next morning, as I walked into the infirmary, sane, logical Olivia was back in control. This thing with Gabriel Kain was dangerous for both of us and it was over. I was going to forget all about him and—
There was a big manila envelope waiting for me in my mail tray. The address in the corner said it was from the United States Marine Corps Records Office.
I eyed that envelope all day, as I ran around doing my work. When my shift ended in the evening, I sat at my desk, debating. I could just toss the envelope in the trash. But I had to know.
I slid out the file. It was thick, stuffed with so many extra pages that the binding was stretched. I made a cup of coffee, opened the file, and started to read.
The top sheet was his basic information. Gabriel Elias Kain. Joined the Marine Corps at eighteen: there was a photo of him, fresh-faced and buzzcut, but still with that cocky, scheming intelligence glittering in his eyes. Then it got into his career and…
I lost myself reading for a full hour. He’d veered wildly between being a highly decorated Marine and almost being kicked out of the Corps. On one page, he’d be praised for coming up with some clever plan to infiltrate a village held by insurgents. On the next, he’d be reprimanded for smuggling thirteen cases of beer into a forward operating base. Just as he was about to be promoted, he’d be caught in bed with the General’s daughter. But just as he was about to be court-martialed over some mysteriously missing supplies, he was commended for negotiating peace with a local warlord. The Corps wasn’t sure if it loved him or hated him. They only knew they needed him.
He’d received a Purple Heart after being injured on the battlefield and two Silver Stars for volunteering for rescue missions to get back Marines trapped behind enemy lines. I’d been right: the man was a hero.
Later in his career, he’d joined the Marine Raiders and from then onwards, the rest of his file gradually became more and more redacted, until each page was just a mass of thick black lines with only the occasional word left teasingly intact. Right up until the last few pages.
The penultimate page informed me that Gabriel Kain was dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corps seven years ago. That was it: that was what had happened to knock him from his path in the Marine Corps—disreputable and always with some scheme, but an outstanding soldier—to the path of a professional thief, one who’d eventually gotten caught and wound up here. I turned the page, my heart in my mouth—
It was redacted. Completely redacted. They hadn’t even blacked out individual lines: the entire page apart from the first line was covered in a huge black block. All I could see was that it happened in Syria.