Read Operation Zulu Redemption: Act of Treason - Part 4 for Free Online

was empty. The pine box being placed in the ground now, was not.
    A somber mood hung over the group. Boone for having lost Keeley. Zulu for also having lost a sister-in-arms. Something had happened to Téya when she went to check on her family back in Pennsylvania, though she hadn’t spoken of it since. And Annie bore a new grief, having witnessed flight 5792 out of Dulles at 4:15 that morning. Seated in seat 5F—Samuel Caliguari.
    Boone and Rusty shoveled the dirt over the casket in silence, each thump of dirt hitting the box sounding like a clap of thunder against their souls. She was gone. Keeley was gone. Jessie and Candice, too. Half the team. Annie couldn’t help but wonder who would be next. Her?
    While Rusty and Boone finished filling the grave site, Annie and the others went in and set up a small brunch. Nobody would send flowers. Nobody would bring meals.
    “He blames himself,” Nuala said softly as she set out napkins.
    “They both do,” Annie agreed. “Somehow, even I feel guilty.”
    “I was so stupid to think being a Special Forces soldier was a good thing. So hung up on myself, I never considered—”
    “What was there to consider?” Annie asked. “It was an opportunity. We could not know then what would happen a year later. We could not know how upside down things would become.”
    “So, that’s it? We just live with upside-down lives?” Téya’s eyes blazed with anger.
    “No, we fight it.” She considered her friend, surprised at the outrage in her voice and body language. “Téya, what happened in Bleak Pond?”
    Her friend stilled, her chest rising and falling unevenly. “Nothing.” She batted her hand. “Where’s Trace? Why wasn’t he at the funeral?”
    Annie shook her head, mostly at the way her friend dismissed her, but also to shed her own surprise that Trace hadn’t come. “It’s not like him.”
    “I’m sure he had a good reason.” Nuala, ever the optimist.
    The vault-like door groaned open and Boone stormed in, a phone pressed to his ear. Behind him came Rusty, dusting off his hands.
    Boone said nothing. Didn’t look at them. Just stalked to the briefing area and closed the door.
    “Someday, they’ll actually act in accordance with their words, that we’re on equal ground.”
    “We’re all soldiers,” Rusty said as he washed his hands at the sink in the little kitchen. “But Boone and the commander are our team leaders. There’s a reason the Army has a chain of command.”
    “We’re not in the Army anymore,” Téya bit out.
    “Actually, we are.” Rusty picked up a plate and started piling brisket on it.
    “Want to explain that?” Annie folded her arms over her chest, watching him move on as though he had not a care. “We’ve lived civilian lives for the last five years.”
    He pointed a fork at her. “Lived a civilian life is one thing. You lived it, but you were and still are owned by the U.S. government. Think about it: Who’re you taking orders from?”
    “All right,” Boone’s voice bounced off the cement walls. “Eat up, pack up. We head out late tonight.”
    “Head out for where?” Annie spun toward him, her mind whirling.
    “England. We’re going to find Berg Ballenger.”

Trace
Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
11 June – 1130 Hours
    Yawning into his glass of water, Trace had been ready for a lunch break for the last two hours. Honestly, since he’d arrived. Listening to a recounting of endless hours of testimony felt more like being stuck in a time warp. Or watching that movie
Groundhog Day
over and over and over. And over.
    There wasn’t anything new here. Nothing new to discover. At least, not about him. He’d been there. He’d led Zulu. But this hearing had nothing on him. Nothing they could pin that would cause the devastation they wanted.
    Another yawn pulled at him.
    “Are we boring you, Colonel Weston?”
    Straightening in his seat, Trace felt the heat of embarrassment reach the tips of his ears. He didn’t answer the