103- Protected for invisible forces

T here is very little currently going through my head. But a lot is happening in my heart. I feel confused, anxious and incredibly sad, all at the same time.
I try my hardest but it’s difficult not to steal glances at the quiet broken man in the back seat.
He isn’t looking at me anymore, not being bold, defiant, or even grumpy. He’s just mellow, as though his soul has been sucked out of him.
Grady has also remained watchful and quiet throughout this entire meeting and at first, my suspicion was that it was because he had a strained relationship with his father, but now I’m not sure if things are this simple.
“Where do you live?” he asks in a quiet voice. “Let’s get you home.”
I lift my gaze to the rear view mirror once again. “Not at all,” I reply waving my hands. “You’re the one we came to get, sir. We’ll get you home.”
He watches me long and hard, so I ask what I want to while his eyes are on me. “I’d also really love to hear some stories about my father. We never really heard stories about his time in the military, so to know that you worked with him is quite amazing.”
His gaze falters from mine as his hands intertwine on his lap. “Your father,” he says, “was a great man. But I failed him. I failed all of them. My ego took down fourteen great men and irreversibly, wounded their families. And I’m alive to bear the torment of that grief forever.”
Something grabs my heart at his words, and squeezes so hard that it becomes difficult to breathe. I turn to Grady, my gaze filled with questions that haven’t even yet been formed in my brain.
He is attentive and briefly returns the glance before his attention goes back on the road, however his expression is unreadable.
“What happened?” I ask.

His father doesn’t respond immediately, so I wait.
His countenance is dejected; his head hanging low and his shoulders drooping.
I can’t even believe that this is the same man I met just barely an hour earlier, hollering and cursing at everything and everyone.
“I was their commander,” he begins. I hang onto every word.
“Seal team five. They were on a special reconnaissance mission across a mountain range in Afghanistan at the time, to gather information about a Taliban leader that had been killing military men and refugees. These were the most dangerous types of missions because they could only go in small numbers so there were just four of them.” He inhales a deep, shaky breath and then his gaze turns to stare out of the window. He doesn’t speak for a few minutes, as though he is preoccupied with reliving every single second of the ordeal. “Simon- your dad, Eaton, Jack and Steve. Their team was experienced, with the highest rate of reconnaissance success we had seen in over half a century. They understood and trusted each other, so when they went out in the field, they were in perfect synch. But then Jack messed up. I don’t even remember what he did.” He laughs.
The tone in his laugh is so bitter that it sends a chill through my body.
“That’s what’s the most funny about this because I don’t even remember just exactly what he did but it pissed me off enough to replace him, the main sniper on the team with a twenty year old officer with barely any experience. I wanted to humiliate Jack and because of that, your father and fourteen others lost their lives.”
I’m trembling and don’t even realize it until I feel a hand cover mine. My hazy, tear filled eyes lift to meet Grady watching me again with that unreadable expression on his face.
I pull my hands away from his, uncomfortable and unhappy.
It is only then I realize that we have arrived. I look around me and see we are on an expansive plot, lined with trailers. Our vehicle is parked in front of one in particular with overgrown shrubs, and a pile of junk out in front. An abandoned, rotting car seat, rusted implements, and a broken trampoline.
The entire car is silent, and then his father speaks, “I’m sorry,” he says. “That because of what I did, you had to grow up without your father. And even though I don’t deserve it, seeing you work with Grady makes me breathe just a bit easier.”
Before I can say a word in response, he pulls the latch on the door open and gets out of the car.



he moment the door is pulled open, Allen’s face is filled with shock. “What are you doing here? On a Monday!”
“Well, you’re not at work,” I respond as I walk into his house, almost having to push him aside since he has forgotten to invite me in.
He shuts the door behind him and turns around to face me.
I’m a bit surprised by how different he looks from his usually suited appearance at the office. His hair is disheveled and caked with something white which I suspect is an incident from feeding time with his toddler. All he has on is a pair of shorts and a grey T-shirt. He’s barefoot, unshaven and his eyes seem bloodshot. He however looks relaxed and happy
For a moment, I envy him.
Suddenly, there’s a shriek resounding through the house and it startles him. With a groan, he turns to hurry towards the kitchen with a flap of his hand at me to come with him. “My master calls,” he says.
With a smile, I stroll behind him.
By the time I arrive in the kitchen, I see that he has settled down on one of the stools at the counter, and before him in a high chair is his pudgy, adorable baby, Hazel. I haven’t seen her in almost a year, so I take a seat on the stool beside him to watch her. Her cheeks are soaked with tears, while her mouth and bib are stained with the pudding like meal he is feeding her.
“Here we go,” he says in a playful voice, complete with sound effects and as a result, yet another spoonful is accepted into her mouth. He does this for about a minute and then places the spoon down to turn to me. “She’s been running a small fever since yesterday, so she’s been restless. But things are calming down now. What’s up? Everything okay?”
I nod in response.

He narrows his gaze at me before turning to pick up a small bottle of water to place in his daughter’s mouth. “I can’t have my full attention on you but I can listen,” he says
An easy silence floats across the room for a while before I speak up, “Blair didn’t come to work today.”
He glances at me, a bit surprised to hear this. “Why? Is everything okay?”
“I received her text this morning, and all she said was that she wasn’t feeling very well. But I doubt that she’ll come in tomorrow either.”