Where the Ghosts Lie

Chapter Two

Nolan woke up in a Virginia medical center. He'd been out for 42 hours and had been treated for head trauma, a spinal abrasion, and flesh wounds.

The memories were what jolted him awake. Waking or sleeping, all he saw was visions of the fire, the bodies...the faces. He heard the explosions and the chaos and the screams, everything replaying itself like a movie stuck on repeat. Even after the first psychiatrist came, it hardly stopped. The memories were still there.

It didn't seem fair. The one man that had survived was the one man who deserved it the least. As he lay in the hospital bed, every time a nurse moved a heavy cart or rearranged furniture in another room, that low rumbling sound made chills break out over Nolan's skin. Sometimes he heard the explosions ringing in his head or thought he saw an unusual object under a visitor's jacket. He'd always heard of soldiers coming back from war with post-traumatic stress, but always figured it was just a problem for weak men who couldn't handle bloodshed. But the visions Nolan saw in his mind's eye made him regret that form of thinking.

And then there was the guilt. He'd been the one who made the decision to leave his squad and set off the first bomber. He'd killed his team. The weight of that thought alone made Nolan hate himself more and more each day. If only he could have taken any of their places...

After a two weeks of recovery, Nolan was able to get up and walk around the facility. Therapists came in and helped him move easily, although he rarely did the exercises they told him to do in his free time.

One day a nurse came in with a letter addressed to him. Nolan cautiously opened it and read He scanned it once. Twice. It was a warrant for his arrest. What had he done? The letter states that upon his release from the hospital, he would be placed in federal custody.

He sank to the bed, dumbfounded. He'd expected to be discharged from the military, but arrested? There had to be some misunderstanding. He tried to put it off in his mind, knowing that it would get sorted out. He couldn't possibly be in trouble with the law for what he did on the cargo ship.

Two days later, as Nolan was packing his things to leave the hospital, he noticed a tension in the air around him when a police officer came into his room. "Mr. Clay." He said Nolan set down a small bag of supplies he was packing and straightened as much as he could with his injured spine. "Yes, sir?"

"I'm warrant officer Bertram. I'm placing you under arrest."

"So I heard. But this is a mistake, I haven't done anything wrong."

"Your case is being investigated currently, so for now it's just temporary."

"But what am I being arrested for?" The officer stepped forward and placed handcuffs around Nolan's wrists.

"I don't currently have the authority to disclose that information."

"Who said that?"

"Captain John Davis of the US Navy SEALs."

Nolan was numb as he was led out of the hospital and placed in a police vehicle. He sat rigidly in the back seat, completely shocked.

He was being arrested.

For what?

He looked down at the metal cuffs around his wrists. Two weeks ago he was fleeing an exploding ship, and now he was being locked up in jail.

He cast his gaze out the metal-grated window and watched as the beautiful Virginian landscape passed by. They were encircled by snowy peaks that nearly touched low-hanging clouds.