part0037

Hatch drove the Land Rover Talon had lent her. It was much like the other two, one swallowed by the river, the other swallowed by the land.

Hatch thought of Taylor and finding his twisted body, the image still fresh by its recentness. The Taylor situation made her think of that day in Afghanistan. The one that forever changed her life, the lives of everyone there, and the lives of those who weren't, like the wife and daughter who awaited a father’s homecoming that never came.

Hatch knew the scar of that day was far deeper and far more twisted; an old wound that needed closing, and she planned to do it when she got back. Can't move forward if you’re stuck in the past , her father had said. It was her father’s memory that kept her trapped for twenty years. She had avenged his wrongful death and released its burden, but quickly found after there were still many demons left.

She tuned out the noise in her head by turning up the volume on the radio. She found a news station that had just come back from commercial break and was updating the audience on what had transpired the day before. Hatch let the over-exaggerated ramblings of the radioman’s delivery dampen her mind's wanderings.

"Incredible news out of Breakneck, Alaska. Not less than two days ago, a shooting that left one Marshal dead and the other wounded and kidnapped ended in a blaze of fire. Reports are coming in that while in captivity, the series of earthquakes that shook the ground over the twenty-four-hour period had somehow…” The broadcast cut to static before returning. “It appears the cafeteria at Camp Hope had been turned into a crystal meth laboratory.

“And during the tumultuous ground activity, a fire broke out and eventually caused the entire cafeteria to explode. Miraculously though, Deputy U.S. Marshal Calvin Lawson survived. Although having been shot the day before and beaten and mutilated during his captivity, the deputy will recover.

“In an even stranger turn of events, law enforcement said that a couple hikers who happened to be in the area came across the fire and found Lawson. A male and female managed to get him across a crevasse and over to the safety of the FBI. If that wasn’t enough for you folks, you’ve got to tune into the TV and see a rescue that took place during one of the attempts to recover the kidnapped Lawson.

“I'm watching it again right now. You wouldn’t believe what I’m saying if you haven’t seen it already. A female FBI agent, Laura Babiarz, climbed down into a helicopter where the ground split, hanging on by the grace of God. And guess what she did, folks? She brought the commander out. Carried him out on her back. I've watched this thing a hundred times. But people like this FBI agent and whoever those two anonymous hikers were, gives this old reporter hope.”

Hatch turned the radio off, followed the GPS location to the pin up ahead on the right. She parked the Land Rover in front of a two-story colonial with a detached garage. She wasn't looking for the homeowner. Hatch walked around the side of the house to where a ladder extended to the second-floor window. She looked up at the man at the top, using a wide flat metal scraper to remove the old paint from the wood lathing.

"She’s a pretty good ladder." Hatch’s voice startled the man.

Burton Hill came down the ladder like a kid on Christmas morning. "I didn't think I was gonna get to see you again."

"I'm trying to do a better job of making my peace before I depart," Hatch said.

"Pretty good rule of thumb," Hill responded.

"I just wanted to stop by and thank you for what you did at the river and on the mountain."

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat if you'd ask."

"I know you would. That friend of mine you helped me save, he wanted to thank you too."

Hatch watched as Burton Hill's chest swelled up with pride.

"I wanted to give you something. Something I’ve held onto for too long."

Hill cocked an eyebrow as Hatch reached inside her front pocket to fish it out. She opened her palm and handed it to him.

As he held up the circular patch in front of his face, Hatch said, "I figured maybe you could find room for one more."

"What is it? I’ve never seen this unit before. Is that an eagle?"

"No, it’s a banshee. You haven’t seen it because it never existed."

His thumb ran across the burn mark, across its center. Then he looked at her arm and he nodded without speaking. Both let the silence hang in the air for a moment before Hill broke it.

"The corner of everywhere and nowhere."

Hill laughed and didn’t ask for any explanation. She reached out a hand and Hill instead rose to a salute in perfect form. Hatch snapped her heels together, locked her body into the position of attention, and delivered Aerographer's Mate Third Class Burton Hill his proper return.

Hatch then turned and walked back towards the Land Rover. "You take care of yourself. The world needs good men like you."

"It also needs good women like you, and that FBI agent."

As Hatch was about to shut the door, Hill caught it with his hand as he rushed up. "I almost forgot to tell you," he said between breaths. "I don’t know what she meant by it, but Wendy told me that aftershock was just for you."

Hatch smiled at Hill as she sat in the Rover. She stuck the key in the ignition and took one last look around before she drove away.