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January 11
A gentle knock sounded on the door. Suki was already awake. Awake and exhausted. The base doctor had given her a sleeping pill the previous night. She’d waited too long to take it and then woken up after just a few hours of rest.
Another tap at the door. Suki sighed, rolled off the bed, and walked to the door, scrunching her nose and rubbing her eyes. When she opened it, she saw Jordan Scott standing in the opening. His military clothes were gone, replaced by civilian attire—light brown Levi’s and a blue denim shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing tattoos down his right arm. He had on a white T-shirt underneath, and she saw a necklace with dog tags.
He leaned against the doorway. “I do a lot for your family, Suki, but waking up a teenager isn’t part of my job description.”
“I was awake. Chill.”
“You look like crap.”
“Thanks, I guess. Where’d you get the new clothes?”
“They have a NEX here at Gitmo.”
“Was that even in English?”
“A NEX is like Costco for the military. Your dad asked me to see if you were awake. They’re going to call FBI headquarters soon, and it’ll be your first chance to talk to your mom and the twins. I miss those guys.”
“I’m coming. Do I get a change of clothes too?”
Jordan shrugged. “Your dad is wearing nurse scrubs. You can have some of those if you want.”
“I’m good,” Suki said. “I need a shower really bad, but I’d rather talk to my mom.”
“Follow me, then.”
She reached into her pocket and felt the flat piece of quartz still there. It was about half the size of her cell phone and just as slim. Jorge had told her it worked best when it was totally dark, so she’d tried it out after getting to the base. With it, she could see other places. It was a temporary gift, and she’d have to return it when asked for it. She’d used it to see Brice, her boyfriend. He’d been watching a Studio Ghibli movie on his couch in his theater room, squeezing a plush plague doctor pillow she’d given him for Christmas. He’d looked . . . pretty simp.
She’d also used the crystal to try to find Jacob Calakmul. She was pretty sure Angélica’s dagger had killed him, but she’d needed confirmation. She’d found him in a mass grave with Maya warriors who’d been shot up by Jordan and the other soldiers. That was pretty gruesome, so she’d moved past it. She’d looked up her mom and brothers and Jane Louise—and found them asleep in a hotel room.
Her dad was in a conference room with some military woman. He wore teal-colored scrubs, and his hair was freshly washed. When she hugged him tight, she smelled bodywash. No more introvert hugs. She was so glad he was alive.
“You look like you just came off a movie set after kicking some alien’s butt,” he teased her.
“I think it was the alien that was kicking everyone’s butts,” Suki said.
“I took out the jaguar priest who hurt me earlier,” Jordan cut in. “That was my kill.”
“I tranked Jacob Calakmul,” Roth said. “Do I get points for that?”
“That was pretty epic, Dad,” Suki said. “Almost as much as defeating Sans in the boss fight in the genocide run.”
“I have no idea what that means,” Roth said, chuckling.
“Wait. You’ve beaten Sans?” Jordan asked Suki, impressed.
“Wait, you’ve played Undertale? I took you for more of a Super Smash Bros. kind of guy.”
“Game on, girl. Whenever you dare.”
“Okay, you two,” Roth interrupted. “Let’s talk to Mom and the boys. This is Petty Officer Brown, she’s our liaison officer working with Quantico. Thanks for doing this.”
“Are we just talking to Mom and the boys, or do we have to talk to the big people?” Suki asked.
“Jordan and I talked to them last night when we got here. Along with Captain Rose. We talked for, what . . . two hours?”
“Yeah,” Jordan said. “At least. This is just family time.”
