Chapter 19 - WHAT GHOST REALLY LEFT BEHINDMaya refused to begin another secret war.
That surprised Morrison.
“You aren't going after the seventh founder?”
“No.”
“They may be dangerous.”
“Then they'll make a mistake.”
Morrison stared.
Maya had spent years chasing ghosts.
She was finished allowing secrets to determine how she lived.
Instead she focused on the training center.
The first class graduated.
Families filled the stands.
American flags moved in the warm Carolina wind.
Ethan Cole graduated near the top.
Maya personally handed him his certificate.
He looked at his father's photograph afterward.
“Do you think he'd be proud?”
Maya answered immediately.
“Yes.”
Ethan swallowed.
“How do you know?”
“Because he was proud of people before they earned it.”
Ethan laughed.
“That sounds like Dad.”
Maya smiled.
“It was.”
Marcus stood nearby.
Daniel joined him.
For years the brothers had barely touched.
Now Daniel placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder.
Neither spoke.
They didn't need to.
Maya's mother watched from beneath the shade.
Maya sat beside her.
“You knew this would happen?”
Her mother smiled.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why good?”
“I'm tired of everyone predicting me.”
Her mother laughed.
Then became serious.
“Your father would have loved this.”
Maya looked across the field.
Young soldiers helping one another over obstacles.
Nobody cared who finished first.
They cared who returned for someone who had fallen.
Maya touched Thomas's pendant.
Ghost hadn't survived through secrecy.
It had survived through behavior.
That evening Maya entered her office.
An envelope waited on her desk.
No one had seen it delivered.
Inside was a photograph of Thomas taken years earlier.
On the back:
HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU.
Below that was a date.
Tomorrow.
And coordinates.
Marcus appeared behind her.
“You're going, aren't you?”
Maya looked at him.
“No.”
Marcus blinked.
“No?”
May you like
She smiled.
“We're going.”
