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Tabitha’s voice out of her mind and focus on the general’s words.
    “Even some of the nongraduating privates will be moving out with you today. Some of them will finish their training at other facilities, and some will finish in the field as time allows.”
    The people around Jack seemed surprised by this news, but he stared back at Aubrey and smiled again. Yesterday he said he didn’t know what was going to happen. Maybe something had changed during the night.
    “You’re young,” General Freeman said, turning slightly so he was addressing both the graduates and nongraduates. “And I know that this isn’t where many of you thought your lives would be going. But I promise you—the Lambda Program will make a decisive difference on the battlefield. Those are not simply words. We’ve seen what the Russians did with their equivalent of lambdas. We’re playing catch-up, but we also have something the Russians don’t have.”
    “Spirit!” Tabitha mocked. Her snark seemed to catalyze Aubrey and make her all the more attuned to the general’s words.
    “We’re defending our homes, our families, and our freedom. There isn’t a soldier here today who wouldn’t lay down his or her life for their country.”
    Aubrey felt the spark of patriotism rising in her, and it was easier to push away her panic.
    “We may have seemed hard on you,” General Freeman said. “But you’ll never regret the thousands of push-ups you did, the hundreds of rounds you fired, and the lifesaving skills you’ve learned.”
    “Ugh,” Tabitha said. “Let’s just go to war already.”
    “It will be my pleasure to serve alongside each and every one of you.” He nodded to the graduating company, and then to the nongraduates. “Thank you.”
     
    “You knew you weren’t staying for training?” Aubrey asked, hugging Jack tightly.
    “I’d heard something,” he said, holding her by the shoulders to look at her. “You outrank me now.”
    She grinned. “That’s right. You have to do what I say, Private.”
    “Sounds terrible,” he said with a wink.
    “So where are we going?” Aubrey asked.
    Jack shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    She punched him in the shoulder, and he recoiled. She’d exercised a lot in the last seven weeks.
    “Honestly, I don’t know,” he insisted. “If they’ve made the decision, they didn’t make it here, or I was paying attention to the wrong conversation. I have to sleep sometimes.”
    Aubrey felt a knot in her stomach. “I hope they keep us together,” she said, almost more to herself, and then instinctively reached for his hand before stopping herself.
    “Me too,” Jack said. “I bet they will. We have a proven track record.”
    “Will they think our”—she paused to choose the most deliberate word—“ relationship is a liability?”
    “I’ve never heard them say that. And I’ve been listening any time your name comes up.”
    “What else have they said?” She felt defeated, not knowing her future.
    “That you’re a good shot.”
    “The best,” she said.
    “The best in your platoon,” he replied. “There’s someone in third platoon who has you beat. Still, second place isn’t bad, especially for a girl with bad eyes.” He smiled at the last remark, and she moved to punch him again before, oddly, she wasn’t there anymore.
    She could see that it took him a second to realize what was going on—it was always confusing, no matter how many times she did it.
    A moment later she reappeared and watched him blink away the confusion muddling his brain.
    Her voice was quiet, so even the people standing a few feet away couldn’t hear the words she whispered in his ear. “I couldn’t let this day go by without a congratulations kiss.”
    “One day,” he said, shaking his head, “someone is going to be looking across the field at just the wrong time.”
    “I’ve got a hundred and forty yards. Unless they have binocular eyes like you, they wouldn’t be able to tell what that