Three days later, John and Ray, each with a beer in their hand, stood over a fire pit in Ray's backyard. Above the two on the deck to Ray's house, Kate and gathered friends spoke and laughed loudly around candlelit tables, enjoying the crisp autumn night. John looked up at the gathering on the deck and then pointed toward the other side of the fire pit so they could face the others above while they spoke. The two sat down in wicker chairs facing the deck, making sure all from the party were together in one spot.
"After all the contact we made with the people in the past, no disaster followed us home," Ray quietly said.
"Rydel was right, Ray."
"The two chips left over?"
John shrugged his shoulders. "Gone. No surveillance of a break-in. They're just gone."
"I have to be in Afghanistan the day after tomorrow," Ray said after a moment.
"I know. I'm flying there tonight."
John reached out to Ray, and the two shook hands. An odd expression crossed over Ray's face as the two clasped hands. John leaned in closer, whispering to Ray.
"Coming into contact with the Other made me believe, Ray. Just wanted you to know that. I'll see you in Afghanistan, my brother."
John stood up and walked toward the backyard gate. The area underlit, Ray could only hear the sound of the gate opening and closing without actually seeing John leave. After a moment by the fire alone, Ray joined the others on the deck and had half-conversations with guests from the party, most picking up that Ray was distant, looking a little tired.
With the party winding down, and after saying his good-byes, Ray headed back to the fire pit and waited for Kate to join him.
Kate sat down in the wicker chair next to Ray, unhooked her bra under her T-shirt, and leaned in close, her brown eyes looking up at Ray affectionately, lovingly. "Your wife would like to take advantage of you upstairs, if you're up for it. How many beers did you and John take down out here talking alone?"
"One."
"Mmm…"
"I noticed you weren't drinking tonight either."
"No, not tonight."
"I love you, Kate. And I know I've told you I can't talk about the missions that I go out on. But my next mission is different. I'm going back to—"
"Don't! Don't you dare tell me! Never! Each time out you've never talked about anything with me, and you've always come back safe. We're gonna keep it that way. Okay?"
Ray started to speak but then stopped and nodded. Maybe she's right, he thought.
"Come to bed with me, Ray. Oh…do I have a surprise for you."
__
Twenty-three hours later, Ray sat in the back of a civilian Humvee driven by a uniformed soldier, maybe twenty-four or twenty-six years old. Ray turned his head and glanced out the window beside him at a black lake lit by a full moon. He opened his hand and looked down at one of the last two Placement chips that had disappeared from the lab, handed to him by John at the backyard party. The soldier driving the Humvee looked in the rearview mirror at Ray.
"Going back to the Middle East, sir?"
Ray met the eyes of the soldier staring back at him in the rearview mirror and answered the young man honestly.
"Yes, I am."
THE END