The Legend of Safehaven by R. A. Comunale Read Free Book Online Page B

that way.”
    Bachtin was a good noncom—none better. But no matter how hard Douglass tried, he couldn’t get the guy to learn what Castle repeatedly had drilled into his own head: Know your territory, know the people in it, and always be aware of what shouldn’t be there. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes’s dog that didn’t bark.
    He walked to the edge of the post perimeter and stared into the darkness: only a few house lights on and the usual sounds of activities after sundown. The odors of mealtime blended with crackling noises, as the ground slowly released the stored heat of the day.
    Then he heard a piano, just a smidgen out of tune. He had played trumpet in high school and could still remember the dissonance of the untalented and uninspired. But this … this came from the soul. Yes, Chopin himself would have been proud to play this way.
    He stood still, not wanting the music to stop, when he felt the vibrations through his boots. Something heavy, coming up slowly. It definitely did not belong here!
    “Bachtin, get the men on point. I think we’re getting a visitor to the ‘hood.”
    “Yes, sir. Just picked it up. Standard stop and search?”
    “No, I don’t want it getting near the post. Take the spot, shine it directly at them. See what they do.”
    The million-candlepower spotlight lit the darkness, outlining the old truck moving slowly toward them.
    “Truck bomb!” Douglass heard himself yell out as the magnesium-white explosion detonated. He felt himself blown backward by the moving front of superheated air. He couldn’t hear the sound, but his eyes witnessed in slow motion the collapse of the building that had stood in front of the truck. In an instant the music and the bakery were gone.
     
    “Sir, are you all right?”
    His ears were ringing, but he could make out Bachtin’s voice. He felt the hands of the men, as they picked him up slowly and carefully carried him back to the post perimeter. He felt the hands of the squad medic going over him inch by inch and then sighed in relief when he saw the young man give a thumbs-up. The rest of his men also showed relief, as their jaw muscles unclenched. From a distance he heard himself say, “Check for civilian casualties.”
    Then he passed out.
     
    “How many, Corporal?”
    “Sixteen, Sergeant.”
    Bachtin walked around the cloth-covered bodies of the neighborhood dead. He pulled back the sheet on the smallest one, saw the mutilated face of what had once been a young boy, and began to cry. He bent down to adjust the boy’s arms and jumped backward when one of them moved.
    “Corporal, get the medic!”
     
    “Captain Douglass, I appreciate how you feel, but it wasn’t your fault the boy’s family was killed.”
    The colonel considered Douglass the best man in his unit. He understood the young man’s feelings, but he also had to follow the rules.
    “Look, we’ll do what we can for the boy, but we can’t take him back with us.”
     
    The skin grafts had left his body a grotesque, Harlequin patchwork. He still could hear and feel, and his sense of taste and smell were slowly returning, but the darkness permeated him—mind and body. He raised his hands to his face, felt the contortion of burn scars, and then circled the former homes of what had once been penetrating brown eyes. Scarred lips opened in silent scream.
     
    Dearest Di,
    I don’t know what to do about the boy. You above all know my soul. I must help him, yet I am powerless against the rules and regulations. I can’t get this out of my mind.
    You are always with me.
    Lachlan
     
    Diana printed out a copy of the text message and went to the phone. She waited until a deep voice finally answered the call.
    “Sergeant Castle.”
     
    Ben drove the patrol car alone now, while his partner served a reserve stint in Iraq. He traveled the winding mountain roads always watching for the out of place. But when he saw the familiar driveway entrance, he slowed down and stopped just in front of