I didn’t return it immediately. For one second, I wasn’t in that stadium anymore. I was back in heat, dust, smoke, and shouting. Back where that leather band had first been pressed into my palm.
Finally, I raised my hand and returned the salute.
Mercer lowered his hand and asked, “Sir, where did you get Sergeant Holloway’s rescue band?”
The name hit me like a door opening in a house I had tried to leave behind.
Holloway.
I had not heard it spoken aloud in years.
“General,” I said quietly, “I didn’t get it from him.”
Mercer went still.
“I was there when he gave it away.”
Emma stared at me as if she had never fully seen me before.
“What was your name then?” Mercer asked.
I swallowed.
“Carter,” I said. “Staff Sergeant Michael Carter.”
Mercer’s face lost color. His aide looked sharply at the folder.
“You were listed as missing in the final extraction report,” Mercer said.
Emma touched my sleeve.
“Missing?” she whispered.
