Warrior's Second Chance

Their first stop was the World War II Iwo Jima Memorial. As their group circled it, Barbara realized she hadn’t expected it to be so large…or to feel so moved by the heroic depiction. As their guide identified the soldiers involved in planting the flag, her attention slipped away, toward trying to identify another in their group who had cause to harm them. Then they were back on the bus and headed for the Jefferson Memorial.

She wandered there beneath the glorious dome, impressed by the gleaming, almost eerily glowing pillars that revealed peekaboo glimpses of the cherry-blossom-lined Potomac and a distant Monticello. While others drifted down to the air-conditioned gift shop, she remained on the pristine marble steps, anxious and obvious in her search of the surroundings.

“You won’t see him unless he wants you to,” came McGee’s quiet comment. He stood on the opposite side of one of the pillars, just a tourist absorbed by the view. Or at least that’s what any casual observer would think. “This is too wide-open for him to make a move. Relax.”