Excerpt

Captain Reese Simon stood in the hospital hallway, listening to a phone conversation. He didn't want to interrupt, but the man in the bed had asked to speak to him.

The man sighed over the phone. "Becky, don't be angry, please? I'll be home as soon as I can, if I can."

Captain Simon hobbled into the hospital room from where he'd been listening. He and Private First Class Robert Lewis were both patients in the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. They called his underling PFC Bob—but that was before he was flown to Germany along with most of their unit. There was no need to change that nickname now. He was still the same man as before, even though the guy's injuries indicated otherwise.

"I'll leave," Captain Simon whispered to PFC Bob, since the man was still on the phone.

As Captain Simon inched away on his crutches, PFC Bob motioned for him to come back into the room. "Talk to my C.O.—uh, commanding officer," he said, over the phone. "His name's Captain Reese Simon."

Captain Simon stepped closer to the bed, grabbed the phone held out for him, and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Who am I really speakin' to?" The woman's voice sounded tough, with a soft southern accent. Bob didn't have an accent. Maybe he wasn't from the south, where they'd initially been stationed.

"This is Captain Reese Simon," he said. "Who is this?"

"My name's Becky Lewis. Tell me about my husband, Bob's, injuries?"

Captain Simon raked his eyes down the bed to where Bob's legs should have been. "He'll live. It'll take some time for him to come home, though."

"Will he walk?"

Captain Simon froze. "What did he tell you, exactly?"

"He said he lost his legs, but won't tell me how or any of his other injuries. He's called me every day for three days, but won't tell me anything else."

"That's confidential right now, until we can talk to our superiors, ma'am. Just you hang tight and we'll get Bob home to you in no time."

"Considerin' he hasn't been here for years, that'll be a first." She sighed, and Captain Simon heard a child crying. "I have to go. Tell him I'll call him tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am. I hope that child stops crying, too."

"Don't you worry about my kids. They just miss a father they barely know. Goodbye, Captain Simon."

"Goodbye." He hung up the phone and addressed the man lying in front of him. "PFC Bob. I think we have a problem."