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The ansas obvious Still, it needed to be said "What we ca else as well He felt at peace The decision was behind him now; he was free of it He wondered if this was how his father had felt the night before his final ride Watching the ceiling of the tent shaking in the wintry wind, Peter recalled Theo’s words that night in the power station, all of the shine Our father didn’t go out there to let it go Whoever thinks so doesn’t understand the first thing about him He went out there because he just couldn’t stand not knowing, not for one more minute of his life It was the peace of truth that Peter felt, and he was glad for it, down to his bones

Beyond the walls of the tent, Peter could hear the roar of the generators, the calls of Greer’s ht and all would be silent

"There’s not any way I can talk you out of this, is there?" Hollis asked

Peter shook his head "Just do me a favor"

"Whatever you want"

"Don’t follow me"

He found the major in the tent that once had been Vorhees’s Peter and Greer had barely spoken since Alicia’s return; a heaviness seemed to have come over the major since the abortive raid, and Peter had kept his distance It wason hi hours he had spent with the two rief Greer was feeling now, grief for his lost friend

A la in the tent

"Major Greer?"

"Enter"

Peter stepped through the flap The roo ar his ca at Vorhees’s desk, sorting through papers by lantern light An open locker, half full of various belongings, rested on the floor at his feet

"Jaxon I ondering when I’d hear from you" Greer leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes wearily "Come here and look at this"

A pile of loose papers lay on the desk On the top was a sheet bearing the ie was so precisely rendered that Peter thought at first he was looking at a photograph, so fro, rendered in charcoal A portrait, done fro The woirl, who couldn’t have been older than three, with a soft, baby-cheeked face, in her lap; the other, just a couple of years older than her sister, stood behind the two of thees froures, in an identical pose

"Vorhees did these?"

Greer nodded "Curt wasn’t a lifer, like most of us He had a whole life before the Expeditionary, a wife, two little girls He was a farmer, if you can believe that"

"What happened to the "What always happens, when it happens"

Peter bent to exa care of their creation, the force of concentration that lay behind each detail The woirl’s eyes, wide and refractive like her ht on a sudden breeze A bit of gray dust still floated on the surface of the paper, like ashes, pushed on this reuess he drew all these so he wouldn’t forget them," Greer said

Peter felt suddenly self-conscious-whatever these ieneral, Peter knew they were private "If you don’tthese to ether in a cardboard folder and placed them in the trunk at his feet "So as somebody remembers you Now you remember them, too" He sealed the locker with a key he took from around his neck and leaned back in his chair "But that’s not why you came to see me, is it? You’vein theexpected "All five, or just you?"

"Hollis and Sara are going with the evac Michael, too, though he may not know that yet"

"So, the two of you, then You and the ain "Amy" Peter waited for Greer to try to talk hiood horse, he won’t let you down I’ll leave word at the gate to let you pass You need weapons?"

"Whatever you can spare"

"I’ll leave that too, then"

"I appreciate that, sir Thank you for everything"

"Seearded his hands where they were folded in his lap "You know it’s probably suicide, don’t you? Going up that mountain alone like that I have to say it"

"Maybe so But it’s the best idea I’ve got"

A ht hoould oodbye then" Greer rose and offered his hand to shake "Look me up if you’re ever in Kerrville I want to kno it ends"

"Hohat ends?"

Thehand still wrapped around Peter’s "The drea inside the barracks; Peter could hearbehind the canvas walls There was no proper door, no way to knock But as he approached, a soldier appeared through the flap, drawing his parka around him The one they called Wilco; he was one of the oilers

"Jaxon" He gave a startled look "If you’re looking for Lugnut, he’s with so the last of the fuel off the tanker I was just going over there"