Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting New York (Kindle Worlds Novella) (11 page)
Read Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting New York (Kindle Worlds Novella) Online
Authors: Lainey Reese
F
aulkner stepped
up to the podium to address the crowd. The press, the politicians, and most importantly, the community, had all turned out for today’s grand opening of Riverside’s new rec center for teens, Delgado’s Grotto.
“I should probably start off by thanking you all for coming today. This center holds a special place in my wife’s heart and mine. Six months ago, a young man, only seventeen years old, had been used and manipulated and twisted until he’d been turned into a living weapon. Then that weapon had been aimed directly at my wife and me. Not just us either, but law enforcement in general. I’m sure most of you have read the story of how he’d come to the city with explosives and a plan that had been drilled into him so relentlessly, he’d become brainwashed. And mass destruction was his mission.”
Emotion threatened to undermine his composure so he took a breath and his eyes fell on Shy, sitting whole and beautiful with their daughter on her knee. He and Shy were closer now than ever before; their experience in the club in New York had been more than he’d dared hoped for. They’d enjoyed it so much they had even made a couple visits to some of the local clubs as their horizons broadened and the trust they shared deepened. Looking at her now, surrounded by his SEAL team and their families in the front row, made a feeling bloom in his chest that was larger than he even had words for. They centered him, his family, his heart and soul, so after a moment he was able to continue.
“His was a story that is unfortunately all too common. Not to the extreme that he was driven, but common nonetheless. If he’d had a place like this center available to him growing up, a place filled with people who cared, would he have been driven to the same conclusions? We’ll never know now. But I like to think the answer to that is no. That he would have grown to be a man free of turmoil and would have found love and a family and would have lived a life he could have been proud of.”
He paused for effect, hoping that the
what ifs
settled into the crowd’s minds like a wakeup call.
“No child should be raised in anger and hate. With resources like this center, our hope is that Miguel’s story will never be played out in another child’s life. Miguel’s story
does
have a silver lining that you would’ve heard if you’ve heard anything about him. Without any outside influence, and against all the odds, Miguel became a hero. He changed his course of action all on his own and gave his life to stop the destruction he’d been used to implement. His last words were those of a hero, his only concern was for the safety of others and reversing the deadly chain of events he’d set in play.”
Looking over the people gathered, Faulkner saw tears on many of the solemn faces and hoped that they settled in deep enough to make a lasting impression, not one that would be easily forgotten when the monotony of daily life returned.
“With help from the Wellington/Marshall Foundation, Miguel’s story will live on in this center. But I’m going to let them tell you about that in a minute. First, I just wanna say something about that day. I looked in Miguel’s eyes that afternoon and I didn’t see a terrorist or a killer. I saw a scared and confused kid who was trying to right his wrongs. A kid who will never know that his sacrifice would ignite a nation and bring change to so many communities, not just his own. A kid who proved to us all, it’s never too late to do the right thing.”
He stepped back and motioned for Trevor to come forward and take over.
Trevor would fill them in on the state of the art arcade and the go-cart track, as well as all the other wonderland-like features the center had in store. He’d get the bigwigs in the audience stirred up and reaching deep into their pockets, which was a good thing since the center would run on donations.
Thanks to Miguel’s story, the center had already received more money than they’d even hoped for. Enough to fully fund the center and its staff for the next three years, but Trevor Wellington didn’t let that put a damper on his speech. He spoke with the enthusiasm of a Baptist preacher on Sunday, and today was no different. People were cheering and crying by turns as his strong voice rang with conviction. He had them eating out of the palm of his hand.
Faulkner looked to his wife again. The loss of the kid had hit them both hard, but it was even more so for her. It helped knowing that Miguel’s useless excuse of a mother was locked away.
Miguel had left behind a laptop in the grimy motel he’d stayed in while in New York. On it were two video files of confessions. The first, labeled
Vengeance is Mine,
had been incomplete. Miguel’s face had been covered in a ski mask and it was obviously a recording he’d intended to release after the bombing. He’d spewed propaganda about police brutality and the oppression of the poor, but already his conviction had waned. His voice had shaken and he’d stopped and restarted dozens of times. One failed attempt after another as he’d tried to spout the rhetoric that’d been drilled into him.
The second file had been titled
If I die.
There they’d seen the true Miguel. His face had been ravaged by tears as he’d looked into the camera and confessed. He’d told of his brothers and his childhood and weaved a story of abuse and torment that was hard to watch.
After he’d outlined the task that he’d been given and his harrowing journey to accomplish it, he’d confessed how he couldn’t go through with it. He’d known he was going to die and he’d believed it was the only way. He’d asked for forgiveness and signed off. The time stamp on that video was less than a half hour from when Shy and the others had stumbled upon him.
They hadn’t been able to save Miguel, but every day both Dude and Shy helped save others. It didn’t make his loss any easier, but
this
did, he thought as he looked at the building behind them. This sure as hell did. The boy’s death, though senseless, had brought
this
about—not just here but in cities across the nation, and by God, that was something. He hoped the kid knew somehow. He liked to think he did.
When Trevor finished with a rousing flurry of words that got the crowd to their feet, Faulkner made his way off the platform and to his family.
As he wrapped them in his arms, Faulkner thought again of what might have been if Miguel hadn’t found bravery within himself. The bombs he’d rigged and where he’d placed them couldn’t have toppled the entire building, but the destruction would have been massive and lives would have been lost for sure. Maybe even theirs.
So he held his family a little tighter, a little longer, and sent one more prayer of thanks to the heavens. He took it as a sign when Shy lifted her beautiful face and just as his lips met hers, the clouds parted. They were bathed in the warmth of a brilliant ray of sunshine while they shared a tender kiss and their daughter cooed happily between them.
L
ainey lives
in beautiful Washington State. She's the youngest of five and has always wanted to be a writer. Her first novel, A Table for Three, was nominated for best debut novel of 2010 by the Romance Review and marked a dream come true for Lainey.
With her third published release -Damaged Goods-, Lainey saw another of her dreams realized when she took a leap of faith to become a full-time author and left the safety net of a day job behind. Now she spends her days writing, with her dog at her feet and a cat curled in her lap, and asks herself a dozen times a day; how'd I ever get so lucky?
