The bored, thirty-year-old Sergeant on duty looks up as the screen door creaks open. An elderly man staggers into the room. The man's shoulders might once have been massive, but now they are stooped. For his apparent old age, the man is remarkably well built, still.

"Yeah, whasdaya want?" The Sergeant asks.

"My name is Douglas Danko, US Marine Corps, Colonel, Retired. I'd like to turn myself in."

"Yeah, right pops, how old are you anyways?"

"Eighty-four years, as of February."

"And you really expect me to believe you're the legendary outlaw Doug Danko?"

"Yes, I am."

"Yeah, right, Danko's been dead thirty years."

"Oh, really?" The old man remarks, a familiar glint coming to his eyes. "Check your computer....See if this sounds familiar. It all started back in '13...........

Aubree K. Warren, still possessed of her legendary beauty at the age of fifty-one, hangs up the phone in her quiet country home, having just completed a conversation with General (Ret.) Aaron "Valder" Fieldman, the one-time commander of the heroic Eagle Task Force, which has turns the tide of the last great war, World War III. He just called from his cellphone to tell her he is a little over two hours away.

Aubree sighs quietly to herself as she replaces the phone in it's cradle.

It'll be good to see Aaron again, she thinks to herself, It's been too long since the last time I sees him.

She first met Aaron in high school, and they kept in moderate touch as the two went on their separate paths.

Aubree become a model and an actress, and Aaron went to the 800 meter dash finals in the Olympics, and up through the rungs of the military. Aaron pinned on his Colonel rank the day before Aubree's last movie premiered. They has gone to the premier together. Then they went back to Aaron's mansion on Eagle Isle.

The next week the war has struck.

Aaron's team of Elite Eagles has been called to fight for the freedom they loved, and Aubree has ended up in the midst. The Eagles has played a pivotal role in WWIII.

The Eagles were disbanded by an Executive Order back in November of 2006, after their aerial demonstration team stint. Aubree has ridden backseat in Aaron's specially modified F-23B during that time period.

As she thinks of their history together, she thinks back to when she has first truly decided she loved the daredevil, almost nine years ago, during their immense popularity after the war, when they has spent much of their time together. Then there came the day she almost lost him.

Six years ago, Aubree has gone to the military test range at Nellis AFB to see Aaron, Matt, Ryan, and Wahren in the Military Hospital, where they has ended up after a freak accident during a dogfight.

Aubree still teases them about how macho they all has looked swathed in bandages.

All four of them almost died that year, she recalls.

But the old members are disappearing so quickly. She reminisces. Why, just last month, Kristine Vermes, Eveline Montgomery, Scott Barrister and Eric Wayne are killed when that C-5D stalled on landing and smashed into their planes at that airshow in Illinois. They even showed it live on TV. Kept replaying it, too.

Then, in 2012, Aaron has gotten a high government position from that popularity, and they has only seen each other intermittently.

As National Security Advisor, Aaron did not have that much time on his hands, and what little he did, he spent with her.

Aaron has, just two days before, walk into the Oval Office and resigned. Luckily, their friend Stacy Anrak is President, so not too much hell will be raised because of it.

As Aubree pulls her mind out of the near past and back into the present, she hears a light crunch near the front door. As she stands to go investigate, the door explodes inward, shattering into thousands of wooden slivers.

What the....? Aubree thinks, as she dives across the room and pulls, from the wall display case it is stored in, already loaded, the chrome-plated .45 that Aaron gave her for her thirtieth birthday while they are in Colorado together.

Five men storm in through the shattered doorway.

Large and brutish, four of the men look like the stereotype for hired hooligans from a James Bond movie. In fact, Aubree is pretty sure none of them are under six feet tall. The fifth man, however, is an exception.

Tall, wiry, and looking so frail as not to be able to run a hundred yards without fainting, this man appears to be the leader of the group.

Aubree drops to the floor and rolls, firing as she does so, just as she learned from watching Aaron, Mitch, Doug and Wahren storm buildings back in the Eagles' freelance days.

One of the larger thugs falls dead with a bullet through his adam's apple.

Nice to see the aim is still good, Aubree remarks mentally, as she fires again, winging the leader in the lower bicep. Blood spurts, covering a poster of the ETF that has been made for promotion of their airshow days.

Aubree holds the three brutes still standing at bay with the .45 as she slowly backs towards her bedroom. As she passes her living room window, it shatters, her right wrist is torn by the sniper's bullet, and her .45 goes skittering out of her hand and across the floor.

The three lackeys converge on Aubree as her gun spins to a stop at the feet of their leader.

Unarmed, Aubree is almost as dangerous as she is armed.

The guys didn't used to call her "Gumby" for nothing.

As the largest of the goons approaches, Aubree spins into a roundhouse kick that has little effect, besides making her foot sore when it connects with the man's massive shoulder. As the goon comes closer, Aubree does one of her cheerleading kicks, which connects beautifully, sending the big man's nose into the top of his head and through his brain. He, too, falls dead.

A sharp retort echoes through the room, and Aubree feels a scorching pain as a bullet from her .45 grazes her cheekbone. Aubree whirls to find the leader holding the .45 steady on her.

The two remaining goons close in and drag Aubree into her bedroom, where they tie her to the bed. The don't escape without tooth and nail marks however.

The leader bends down until he is face-to-face with Aubree.

"Nothing personal, Honey, just orders." He whispers, his breath reeking of garlic and onions.

"Fuck you, Asshole." Aubree snaps at him.

"I believe it is I who shall fuck you." The leader replies, and rips open her shirt, then, with a darting motion, bends towards he left breast, caressing it with his tongue.

With the strength of rage and desperation, Aubree rips a hand free from it's bonds and grabs her ten inch Stiletto from it's ankle sheath. The idiots has forgotten to search her.

She slashes the Stiletto upwards with lightning speed, and it bites deep into the leader's face, ending in his right eye, before one of the slugs smashes Aubree's nose with a ham-fist.

Much later, she is awakened with smelling salts by the now scarred leader. Aubree finds she is completely naked as the three men close in. As she struggles to free herself from her bonds, she catches a glimpse of her fate in the trees outside her bedroom window. In the large sycamore sits the sniper who has shot her .45 from her hand.

Aubree's attention is quickly reverted back to the men in the room as the leader again bends over her, this time lower, with her Stiletto in his fist.

A high pitched Soprano scream splits the still night air.

Then a second.

A third.

Finally a forth scream slices the stillness like a knife, but this one ends with the crack of a high powered rifle, the shattering of glass, and, finally, a low gurgling sound.

After a while the screams stop echoing off the nearby mountains and reverberating through the valley.

And all is still and quiet once more.

* * * *

One of the remaining three men eases the 2008 white Toyota Celica slowly to a stop at the top of a hill overlooking the railroad tracks near Aubree's home.

The other two men manhandle Aubree's inert form into the front seat of her Celica, making sure her hands grip the wheel.

A train whistle blows in the distance. One of the men slips the Celica into neutral.

The chugging of the train can begin to be heard in the distance as the train rounds the corner some ten miles down the tracks.

All three men push the Celica over the crest of the hill, and, as it starts to roll, they pile into their black Lexus coupe.

Aubree's Celica rolls to a stop across the tracks at the bottom of the hill.

The Lexus is slipped into gear and roars down the dirt road, around the outskirts of Braemar.

The train comes around the bend and into the clearing a few moments later.

The driver of the big locomotive doesn't see the car on the tracks until it is to late.

The Celica is hit broadside and flips into the air, crashing to earth thirty feet farther along the tracks, where it is hit again by the still moving train.

This time the Celica explodes in a gigantic fireball, the almost-full gas tank igniting quickly, and taking part of the train's first engine with it.

* * * *

Aaron applies pressure to the brake, downshifts, and slows the huge, black 1995 V-10 3500 Dodge Ram dually Club Cab to a halt. As the Ram's large all weather radials crunch slowly to a stop on the winding dirt road, Aaron reaches up and flips on the overhead map light. Another car slows to a halt behind the Ram, it's headlights reflecting off the Dodge's chromed bumper.

Aaron slowly opens the door of the Ram, and steps quietly down onto the road, trying not to wake Suzanne Wagner, who has fallen asleep in the passenger seat three hours ago, or, for that matter, John "Wizard" Terrance, who drives during the day. John is asleep in the truck's bed, protected from the weather by the Ram's streamlined, but still massive, topper.

Aaron walks slowly back to the car behind him, an antique blue 1965 Mustang GT belonging to Aaron's longtime partner in crime Wahren Morast.

As Aaron reaches the driver's door of the Mustang, it opens and Wahren steps out, whispering.

"What's the matter Whizzo, lost again?" Wahren quips.

"Naw, my pilot just led me astray." Aaron replies absently, slipping easily back into memories of their days as partners in the F-15E during the war.

"So, what's really up?" Wahren asks.

"Just wondering if we should pull into a hotel for the night, so as not to wake Aubree this late, er, early."

Wahren grimaces. "I'd rather sleep in my car, if it's all the same to you." he replies, "Remember the last time we stopped at a hotel?"

A low groan answers from the passenger side of the Mustang, almost as if Doug Danko, their "Cavalry" leader from the war, and Wahren's day driver, has heard them.

Aaron groans also.

Wahren grins. "Yep, you remember all right. Mornin' 'Suz." Wahren finishes as Suzanne steps out of the Ram's passenger side.

"From the looks on your faces, I'm guessing you're trying to decide whether or not to pull into a hotel, right?"

Aaron and Wahren mumble agreement.

"Well, why don't we just pull out the tents from the truck, that's why we brought them, isn't it?"

Wahren turns back to Aaron. "I hate it when she's right. Why didn't we think of that?"

"Common sense." Suzanne responds, "It's a woman's gift."

"I always wondered why we brought her along." Aaron mumbles to Wahren, "but I guess now I know. To set up the tents, like she suggested."

Suzanne, however, seems to have superhuman hearing when she wants to, and appears to have heard them. She glares mockingly at Aaron.

"Only one problem with that idea, smartass." Suzanne retorts, "John is sleeping.."

"...On the tents, which is why Daphne's ideas never seem to fully work. There's always a glitch." Wahren interrupts and finishes for her.

At just that moment, their argument is interrupted as a large Lexus luxury coupe screams around the outskirts of Braemar and towards them at well over 100 mph.

Just as the Lexus tops the hill they are on, an explosion lights up the night sky somewhere to the East of Braemar. A sinking feeling attaches itself to Aaron's stomach as the Lexus roars past.

Wahren has the same feeling, and leaps into his Mustang, spitting dirt from the tires as he guns the engine and spins his car into pursuit. Suzanne and Aaron pile into the Ram, and Aaron guns the big engine, heading in the opposite direction, racing into Braemar. He turns on his police scanner and hears the distressing news, vectoring towards the train tracks to the east of town.

Aaron's stomach sinks almost through his toes as he pulls up near the train tracks, beating the Police cruisers by a good five seconds. Out from under the front of a monstrous locomotive juts the rear end of a still burning white Toyota Celica.

Aaron takes one look at the Celica's license plate and hangs his head. The Police cruisers arrive. Suzanne looks over at Aaron, and as his head raises, She notices a fire in his eyes. Aaron looks at her and says two words.

"Get Out."

Suzanne takes another look into his eyes and decides not to argue.

Before the passenger door of the big Ram even closes, Aaron pops the clutch and jams the gas pedal to the floor, kicking up a huge dust cloud, and turning the big truck back towards the direction from whence they has come.

* * * *

After a couple of minutes, Wahren has gotten onto the tail of the Lexus, his lights off so as to be undetected, and glances at his speedometer. 95mph. The two cars scream down the dirt road, heading west out of town. The C.B. radio on Wahren's dash crackles to life.

"Wolf, this is Valder, state your position." Aaron's voice comes over.

"We're on the same access road, ten miles west of town, doing about 95." Wahren reports.

"I'm engaging." is the only response Wahren gets. In response to this statement, Wahren backs off to a hundred feet behind the fleeing Lexus, instead of just thirty.

* * * *

Aaron roars past the spot the group left from, glancing quickly at his digital speedometer as he does so. He is doing a good 122 miles per hour, and still accelerating the massive truck. Clearly, he intends to catch the fleeing car. After that, who knows what he intends.

Aaron is momentarily startled as John's voice speaks up over his shoulder.

"How fast are we going, Aaron?" He asks.

Aaron looks ahead to a sharp turn in the road.

"Too fast to take that corner, Wizard, hold on...." Aaron answers as the massive truck roars over the shoulder and up a small hill, becoming airborne. The Ram lands hard, smashing into the grass. Terrance is thrown into the front of the Ram with the force of the landing.

"Nice to see I can join you up here." he quips as he rights himself in the Ram's passenger seat.

* * * *

Wahren's radio suddenly crackles to life as he reaches thirty miles outside of Braemar.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1......" Aaron's voice comes over the radio.

Suddenly, from behind a hill a quarter mile ahead of the fleeing Lexus, Wahren sees the sky brighten somewhat. The Lexus starts up the hill as Wahren slams on his brakes.

Just as the Lexus reaches the crest of the hill, so does Aaron's Ram. The Ram is considerably larger, and moving faster, as it collides with the Lexus. The Ram is also airborne.

A rending crunch fills the air as the two vehicles collide. Aaron's Ram leaves skidmarks on the roof and trunk of the Lexus as it clears the hill.

As the Ram lands, Aaron slams on the brakes and throws the steering wheel to the left, spinning the big truck in a 180 degree turn. Aaron guns his big V-10 engine and churns up a cloud of dust as the huge tires grip the road.

Wahren peels out in his Mustang, tearing off after Aaron, who is just disappearing back over the hill in pursuit of the fleeing luxury sedan.

Wahren sticks to Aaron's bumper as the two vehicles blaze down the road after the Lexus. As the Ram and Mustang close on their prey, Aaron reaches behind his seat and unholsters the ..45 caliber Colt pistol from his early private detective years. He looks at it in disgust and tosses it on the floor of the cab near Terrance's feet.

I really need to clean behind this seat more often, he thinks. The Colt is a tagging pistol, designed to fire tracking paint pellets.

Aaron reaches back again and pulls out his trusty 9mm Beretta, which has seen him through numerous crises during the war. He chambers a round and flicks off the safety. He then looks over at Terrance in the passenger's seat.

"Hold on." Aaron mutters. John turns his ever-present ball cap around backwards and tightens his seatbelt. He looks back at Aaron.

"Hit it." He responds.

Aaron reaches over and grabs the stick, slips the clutch in, and drops the big Ram down into fourth gear. The truck leaps ahead of Wahren's Mustang, and quickly closes the gap between it and the Lexus.

Both men are pressed deep into the Ram's bucket seats by the tremendous acceleration. The tachometer starts to read in the red as Aaron shifts back into fifth gear. He looks at the speedometer as the Ram flies by the Lexus.

130 mph.

Damn....both men think.

Aaron gets ahead of the Lexus by a good mile, then hits the brakes and throws the big Dodge into a skid, blocking the road as they come to rest across it.

Aaron opens his door and stands out of it, sighting at the Lexus over the cab.

The driver of the Lexus sees the truck stopped across the road and tries to turn out of the way. The Lexus, traveling at almost 100 mph, flips as its driver tries to turn too hard, too fast.

The Lexus rolls over four times before smashing into a large conifer and exploding.

Aaron slams his fist into the roof of the cab, denting it in his frustration. We won't get any answers out of them....he chides himself.

By this time, Wahren has caught up, having opted to trail the Lexus. He skids his Mustang to a stop beside the Ram.

As he does so, Aaron starts sprinting towards the blazing luxury car in the distance. Wahren throws open the door of his Mustang and follows suit, pulling his Desert Eagle out of its webbing behind his seat as he leaves the Ford.

John turns on the Citizen Band radio in the Ram, calling in the accident site and circumstances to the Braemar police, and, through them, contacting Suzanne and Doug back at the train site.

As the duo sprint towards the Lexus, it goes into a secondary explosion.

Aaron and Wahren are thrown off their feet by the shockwave as they near the inferno. They stagger back to their feet, and continue towards the Lexus, realizing not much can be living within the deathtrap, seatbelts or no.

They are right. All the two men find are corpses slowly boiling away in the intense heat of the luxury car.

* * * * * *

For some reason, a song sprang into his mind, a song he has not heard in years. The words seemed to fit the occasion.

"....and touch my tears...with your lips. Touch my world, with your fingertips. Then we can have forever....." Aaron mumbles silently in the dark, and, though the heater has been left as always, strangely cold, house that has belonged to Aubree. The lines are from an old Queen song, "Who Wants to Live Forever."

Aaron is alone in the house, with only his thinkss, emotions, and memories to both comfort and chill him. He has begged off staying in the hotel with the rest of his party, saying he needed time alone. No one has argued with him.

Aaron walks across the living room in a silent reverie, feeling with every step a tremendous loss, and seeing with every breath visions from the past flit through his mind. They assaulted him from all sides. The day he and Aubree has met, the Track and Cross Country meets, the Homecoming game, the early Drama productions, their infrequent meetings throughout college, his leaving for Lebanon, her first movie, the first date, the night the war has begun, the war, the airshow years, everything they has ever done together kept flashing through his mind.

Aaron manages to push the memories away for a moment, as his eye catches a glint of moonlight on glass. He looks at the picture on the floor that caused the reflection. He walks over to it and bends down to pick it up. His heart fills more with sorrow as he gazes upon the picture within that frame.

Aaron holds the picture to his chest as he sinks to the floor. His defenses fail, and the memories come back. He embraces them as they remind him of all he has lost. He wraps his large duster around him as he starts to shiver profusely, as if cold.

* * * *

After a few hours, Aaron stands once again. He slowly wipes the tear stains off the photograph and polishes the frame on the sleeve of his duster.

He slowly and meticulously sets the picture on the mantle over the fireplace in the living room.

"I hope someday you can forgive me, both of you." Aaron mumbles at the picture. "But it's for the best. J.R., I hope someday you understand your history."

Aaron turns his back on the picture and walks into Aubree's bedroom.

There, he opens a drawer in the nightstand and pulls out a pair of blue-tinted Lennon style sunglasses, slightly faded and worn by the years. He hasn't worn these sunglasses since before the war.

Aaron dusts them off and puts them on as he turns to walk out of the room.

The moonlight pouring through the main window reflects off the sunglasses, making them glow an ice blue as Aaron walks out the door, contrasting eerily with the fire in his green-flecked brown eyes.

As Aaron moves out of it's path and closes the door, the moonbeam falls on the picture Aaron has replaced. It is a picture of a man, a woman, and a newborn child, with this house and Wahren's Mustang in the background. Wahren is not in the picture, as he has been the one taking it, some six weeks ago.

It may just be a trick of the light, but a misty form seems to move from a spot within line o sight of the picture to drift towards the window, as if it were watching the man leave.

* * * *

The wind wakes Suzanne Wagner from a deep sleep as it slams the window shutters against the wall outside.

The moon is full in the distance, brightening the valley.

Silhouetted against the moon, from her window, she can see a large hill almost a mile away that overlooks Braemar.

Atop the hill is a large figure, a long black duster blowing out behind it. Suzanne takes one look at the figure in the distance, and it turns towards her, blue light shining from it's eyes.

Suddenly, Suzanne knows.

It's started she thinks to herself, as, with a swirl of black, the figure disappears over the hill.

* * * *

When the group awakens, they find Aaron gone, along with his Ram.

Wahren and Suzanne climb into Wahren’s Mustang and drive over to Aubree's house.

They drop Doug and John off at a rental company on the way to aquire another vehicle. They will meet up again later.

Once they arrive at Aubree's house, Wahren pulls out his keys and unlocks the door to the abandoned house.

He flips the lightswitch as he enters the living room.

Though the circumstances should have made it impossible, Wahren has a little grin on his face as he scans the framed photo collections on the walls.

All the nostalgia contained in those pictures causes Wahren's smile.

His glance falls on an ancient picture of Aaron and Aubree at their high school homecoming game their senior year. The picture has been taken in 1978, and Wahren clearly remembers the way Aaron has been unable to contain his enthusiasm about escorting Aubree onto the field. Aubree was crowned Queen that night, and the picture shows Aaron with an ear-to-ear grin, a terrible example of military bearing, with Aubree on his arm. He has been infatuated with her even then.

Aaron once tried to claim that the smile was one of pain from Aubree's death grip on his arm, but Wahren has seen right through that one the first time Aaron has introduced him to her, when Aaron's face can have lit up a room.

Since then, his feelings for her never abated in intensity, they just matured a little.

A glint of light from the direction of Aubree's bedroom catches Wahren's eye.

He walks into the bedroom and finds the source of the reflection.

"Shit..." Wahren mumbles as he sees the gold band, the words "Lieben Eternalis" engraved upon it. It means "Love Eternal" in Aaron's weird way of mixing languages.

With a sense of dread, Wahren turns to go and find Suzanne. As he does so, he notices a sheet of paper with Aaron's handwriting on it. Wahren picks it up and reads:

Pard,

It has to end.

We've gone from the end back

to the beginning.

Take care of yourself and

look after the others.

Brothers for Eternity

Aaron

"Fuck" Wahren yells as he runs towards his Mustang.

He guns the engine of the aging sports car and pulls out of the driveway at full speed.

He tears off down the road in the direction Aaron's Ram has taken.

Following the big truck's tracks is no chore until, some forty miles down the road, the tracks disappear as the road intersects the highway.

Digging out his atlas, Wahren looks at the maps of the area.

Then he folds the atlas and puts it away, knowing intuitively where his best friend is going.

Wahren calls his intentions in to Aubree's house via his cellphone.

He pulls out his laptop computer and connects it to his cellphone, dialing into the web. From there he goes to the ETF homepage they established way back in '98, but hidden after the war, and searches out Aaron's position by entering his VRC (Vehicle Registration Code) into the Eagles' tracking program. Every vehicle is equipped with a VRC that can be tuned into if one has the correct access codes. Wahren overlays a map of the area onto the screen and the computer informs him that Aaron is already a good four hours north of him.

Wahren also knows with the uncanny certainty borne of 33 years of friendship that Aaron is at that moment noticing Wahren on the tracking program. Wahren pushes his foot down on the gas pedal and the Mustang leaps onto the highway.

* * * *

Aaron pulls the big Ram into Washington, D.C. under the cover of night. He drives straight to the White House, knowing the perpetual workaholic President Anrak will still be awake in the Oval Office working on some project or another.

Aaron uses his still-valid security code to get into the White House, and one of the innumerable gofers leads him to Stacy's office.

She looks up quizzically as he comes through the door.

"Didn't I fire you??" She asks him as he enters the office.

"No, Dear One, I quit, remember?" Aaron replies with a tight smile.

He can always count on Stacy to toss a quip in his direction whenever he enters the room.

Stacy looks more closely at her longtime friend.

"How long has it been since you last slept?" She asks him.

"Hours, years,...I don't know anymore." Aaron replies with a shrug.

"I heard about her, you know." Stacy comments.

"Wahren or John?" Aaron asks her.

"Wahren asked John to call me, why?" Stacy asks as she sees Aaron nod in response to her answer.

"No reason. Curiosity." He answers.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I have to finish what I started." Aaron comments, knowing Stacy will understand, if not agree, with his choice.

"First, you need some sleep." Stacy states, with the tone in her voice that tells Aaron not to even try to argue.

"And a favor." Aaron adds.

"What will that be?"

"I need you to give me permission to open the CONCORDE files."

Stacy looks up at him. The Concorde Incident has been one of the ETF's first real assignments, back in their freelance days. The Concorde has taken place way back in 1988.

It was before Stacy joined the group, but she knows what he is getting at.

"You don't think?" She comments. Aaron just nods in response.

"But Aubree has nothing to do with that."

"I love her. They know they can get at me through her."

"Oh, God..." Stacy mumbles.

Most of the original team that participated in the Concorde Incident are dead now. Terry, Kristine, Matt, Wayne, Hera, Alayne and Joe has all died during or since the war, while Melissa died beforehand, in an "accident" in Germany.

In fact, only Wahren, Aaron, Doug, Mitch, Adam, Robbie, Patrick, and Carmen are left.

Stacy is silent in thinks for a minute. Finally she looks up at him.

"Come on. You need some food and sleep. Besides, Matt hasn't seen you or Wahren for a while."

* * * *

Wahren arrives at the Presidential household a few hours later.

Matt Bendix, the first-ever First Husband, let Wahren in the front door, embracing his old friend warmly.

"How've ya been, ElTito?" Wahren asks.

"I've been better Wolf," Matt comments, then, looking over at his wife, adds, "but then again, I've also been a hell of a lot worse off before."

The publicity involved in being married to the country's leader has gotten to Matt, and he’s taken to hiding in the Presidential palace and working on song lyrics.

"Hang in there, bud." Wahren comments as he punches Matt lightly on the shoulder.

Wahren looks around for a second, then asks "Where's our fearless leader?"

"Ignoring a presidential order and pouring over the CONCORDE files at Langley. He's got some poor spook held hostage to help him dig up all the old info." Matt replies.

"Yeesh..." Wahren grimaces, "glad I'm not that spook. Hmm....y'all wouldn’t happen to have some leftover food, a warm shower, and an extra bed around here, will ya??" He asks.

Stacy looks up at him from where she is putting a six-week-old baby to bed.

"I figured you will have already been at the fridge and back by now. Besides, you should know your way around this place be feel, you've been here so often." She remarks.

"Not under this administration. Maybe you've moved a few walls on me, or put boobytraps on the fridge...." Wahren starts as Stacy rolls her eyes skyward.

"Take that as a 'yes' and retreat whilst ye still can, weary traveler." Matt mugs.

"I believeth I shall, young squire." Wahren ripostes in turn as he heads for the kitchen.

* * * *

The surviving members of the ETF begin drifting into Washington over the next two weeks as news of Aubree's death and Aaron's whereabouts reach them. As soon as all the surviving Eagles are in the nation's capital, Aubree's funeral will be held. Finally only one of the 137CW members is still unaccounted for.

Patrick O’Donnell has not answers Aaron's call to the capital.

* * * *

The news comes in on the fifth of October.

Ambassador O’Donnell, his wife Sharon, and their three children were killed when their converted 777 crashed after a bird strike over Switzerland. They had been on their way to Washington.

It has taken so long for word to come because the wreckage of the 777 is scattered over a large area, high in the Alps, and it has taken weeks for the rescue crews to even find the remains of the white-painted jumbo jet.

Aaron makes the arrangements for Aubree's funeral to be held back another few days until the bodies of Patrick and his family are returned to the United States. Then they will hold funeral services for all at once.

* * * *

The light mist covering Arlington National Cemetery seems to reflect the feelings of those gathered there.

The fifteen Eagles are gathered to lay to rest two more of their own. They have been here more often than they care to remember, starting with a large, secret, interring of team membrs in 1984.

Wahren, Aaron, Matt, Stacy, Doug, Suzanne, Terrance, Mitch and Carmen Vannell, Eveline Montgomery, Alexander Dieskau, Adam Mason, Robbie Sandler, Anthony Wakefield, and Marie Cordova are all here to pay their last respects.

So are a few non-Eagles that the ETF has grown close to since the war, such as Michelle Sparks, Wendy Cooper-Barrister, Scott's widow; Ann Horn, and Michael Scott.

Patrick O’Donnell and Aubree Warren will join their fallen comrades in the ETF's section of Arlington.

There they will join such famous heroes as Matthew Hunter, Terry Carson, Kristine Vermes, and all the other Eagles who have gone before them, including Wendy and Suzanne's husbands, Scott Barrister and Eric Wayne.

Aubree is laid to rest just to the left of center of the ETF's place of honor in Arlington.

To her right, there is an open plot, then there is the final resting place of Kristine "The Golden Eagle" Vermes, one of the ETF's founding members.

Aaron looks at the empty plot between the two women, and knows that it is waiting for him to join his friends in eternity.

Another plot is empty directly above his, where Aaron guesses Wahren will be harassing him for eternity. Below his lies the final resting place of Theresa Smith, "Ange;", the woman who taught Aaron how to love again, who, as a member of the 137th’s espionage team, had died in the opening hours of the ETF’s involvement in World War Three.

Aaron looks down at the gravestones marking his friends and sighs.

Not yet He thinks I have something to finish first. And miles to go before I sleep.

Aubree, never having been in the military proper, does not receive the twenty-one gun salute that Retired Major Patrick Ryan Stephen "Dono" O’Donnell is graced with.

After the ceremony, at which Aaron and Matt give the eulogies, everyone comes up to Aaron to pay their condolences. When they all finally start to disperse, Aaron walks off towards Aubree's grave after paying respects to Dono.

While he is kneeling in front of Aubree's headstone, his fingers upon the cold rock, he feels a light touch on his shoulder.

Aaron looks up to see former ETF commander Marie Cordova standing behind him.

"You going to be okay?" She asks him.

After the weeks of holding inside his grief, Aaron finally breaks down and starts sobbing.

Marie embraces him comfortingly until he has regained control of himself.

It is only then that she happens to glance over Aaron's shoulder and reads the headstone behind him. It reads:

Here Lies:

Hero of the Third World War

137 Composite Wing, Eagle Task Force

August 1, 1962-August 15, 2013

Marie glances again at the headstone, then at Aaron, a question in her eyes.

Aaron looks up at her, seeming to see through her eyes to her deepest thoughts.

"Yes, we are married. We didn't make it public because we feared exactly this kind of thing." Aaron answers her unspoken question.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Marie asks.

"When have I seen you or heard from you since the end of the war, 'Rie?" He riposts.

"Touche~." She mumbles.

"Besides, we invited you. Guess your Ex mustn't have told you." Aaron remarks. The Army Ranger she married made it a point from day one to get on the 137CW Commander's shit list. He stayed on that list until his death two years ago, well after Marie divorced him.

"Now what?" She asks him.

"Now you go home. You needn't be involved in this." Aaron states coldly.

Marie just looks at him, the hurt evident in her eyes.

She turns and starts to walk away.

"`Rie.....I'm sorry. I didn't mean...." Aaron stops himself. He had meant what he has said after all, just not the tone with which it is spoken.

"I know." Marie mumbles as she turns back towards him.

"Have a good life." Marie says as she kisses him on the cheek. Aaron embraces her.

"I hate goodbyes." He states.

"Then don't say it." She replies as they break the embrace.

Marie walks slowly away, passing old friends as she leaves the cemetery.

As Aaron's eyes follow her, he knows without a doubt they will never again meet on this earth.

"Godspeed, my friend." He mumbled to her retreating form.

With that, Aaron kisses his hand and places it upon the cold stone that marks his wife's resting place.

Then he turns and walks slowly away, his duster swirling around his ankles.

* * * *

After the ceremony, Stacy, Matt, Ryan, and the Vannells, Mitch and Carmen, walk slowly back towards their vehicles after paying their respects to their friends.

"Why is it that the only time we see one another anymore is at funerals?" Ryan asks no one in particular.

"I don't know, but there have been way too many in the past few years." Mitch responds, hooking his arm around his wife.

Ryan looks at Mitch and Carmen, Matt and Stacy, and that old pain starts in his chest.

His own wife, Susan, filed for divorce after their son was killed in a car accident.

The papers hadn't gone through before Heather has died of a heart attack. Ryan discovered later that she was sleeping with one of his former squadron mates, another Hornet pilot, the whole time they were married.

Out of the corner of his eye, Mitch sees Marie head off after Aaron.

Not smart.....He thinks to himself as the tall woman walks off in the direction Aaron has taken.

Behind them, Robbie Sandler, Doug, John, Alexander Dieskau and Adam Mason are also leaving the area.

Suzanne and Wendy are heading in the opposite direction, as are Shelly Sparks and Mike Scott. Wahren is over by O’Donnell's grave, talking to Ann Horn, a longtime friend of many of the ETF members, who, along with Sparks and Scott, went through college with Patrick, Alexander, Marie, Adam, Matt, Stacy, and Aaron.

Wahren puts his arm around Ann's shoulders to comfort her. She leans her head on his shoulder, thankful for the gesture.

"Don't you ever get sick of these things?" She asks the long haired ex-fighter pilot.

"Yeah. It's getting to the point where the next one I go to will probably be mine." Wahren mutters half to himself.

Ann's eyes widen at his words, and she looks up at him.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I just have this feeling that my years left on this earth are numbered." Wahren responds with a sigh.

* * * *

Aaron spends another week after Aubree and O’Donnell's funeral digging through the old records with his spook. Then he gives up.

Other members of the team, Wahren, Matt, and Ryan, press on.

* * * *

The old, grizzled man that is Doug Danko looks up from his hands to stare the Sergeant in the eyes.

The younger man flinches in the strength of the Marine's gaze.

Doug holds the little man helpless in that way for a few more seconds before continuing.

"By the end of the year, the members still searching those files made some disturbing discoveries." Doug explains, his voice as strong and clear as it has been at the dawn of the century.

"They found that many of the top members of the government were corrupted. Aaron's hunch about Aubree's death being ordered by the group known as the Rising Sun, once thinks to be a small-time terrorist group, has been correct. Way back in eighty-eight, I was among the team assigned to stop the Rising Sun from destroying a British Airways Concorde supersonic airliner as a show of force. That Rising Sun is a tiny terrorist group that we arrested. Later, an organization with its heart set on taking over the government of the "Corrupt Gaijin", as they called Americans, started calling themselves the Rising Sun. It was only later that the original Rising Sun members got out of jail and joined this new organization. The same people, plus many more, were involved by this time. And they HATED the 137CW." Doug states.

"Around the year 2016, Stacy came up for re-election. By then, many of the Rising Sun members had been discovered...."

* * * *

"Aaron has been strangely absent these last few weeks." Stacy comments to Wahren as they rode down I-35 to Des Moines, the next stop on Stacy's re-election campaign trail.

Wahren has been elevated to the head of the Secret Service, and Aaron, within months of Aubree's death, accepted Stacy's offer to resume his position of National Security Advisor.

Mitch Vannell, Adam Mason, and Doug Danko joined the Secret Service under Wahren's command, and Ryan Wakefield is quite happily being annoying to Matt to keep him busy in his free time.

Alexander Dieskau has moved to D.C. along with Robbie Sandler, John Terrance, Suzanne Wagner, and Carmen Ritter-Vannell.

Ann Horn, Shelly Sparks, Mike Scott, and Wendy Cooper-Barrister drop in from time to time.

"Yeah, I noticed." Wahren remarks. "I think he's trying to find a legal way to charge your opponent with treason." Wahren answers her question.

Stacy's opponent for the election was found by the group to be a member of the Rising Sun.

"Just keep an eye on him for me." Stacy asks him.

"Nuh-uh. I did that for thirty-five years. I'll leave that up to Suzanne. Besides, if I start watching over him, he’ll ream my ass for not spending enough time on your security. I mean, what do you think he's going to do? Walk up and shoot your opponent point blank?"

Stacy raises her eyebrows at him, as if to say "would you put it past him?"

Wahren notices the look and keeps on.

"It's my job to protect that slimeball, too, you know. That's why I have Vannell sitting on him."

"I guess you're right." Stacy remarks offhandedly.

Wahren's eyes widen in mock surprise.

"Do you want to repeat that? I think that's the first time in thirty years I've ever been right according to you."

Without even thinking about it, Stacy reaches over and punches Wahren lightly in the stomach.

* * * *

Aubree rolls over in their bed and rests her head against Aaron's chest, her dark brown hair tickling him slightly.

He feels her stir and looks down to her as she leans against him.

"It's about time you woke up." He comments with a sarcastic grin. "So, what do you want to do today, Mrs Fieldman?" He asks.

She looks up at him with a smile that lights up the room, her expressive blue eyes sparkling in the dawn's light.

It is the first day Aaron has had off in the month since their honeymoon. She knows he is teasing her with the use of her new last name.

"I think I'll stay right here all day." She comments softly. "I'm warm and comfortable." She adds, looking out the window at the gently falling snow outside.

Aaron sighs happily. After all the years of danger and death-defying excitement in his life, if someone had mentioned just a few short months ago that he would be this happy just doing nothing but lying in bed all morning, he would have laughed in their face.

But, here he is, and he couldn’t be happier.

He looks down into his wife's face and smiles at her.

She smiled back. Neither needs to say a word.

Suddenly, as Aaron watches, horrified, Aubree's face is surrounded by flames as the scene shifts to that of her being trapped in her Celica as its gas tank explodes.

Aaron watches as his wife fights to get out of the car, burning to death all the while.

Aaron opens his eyes and finds himself covered in a cold sweat, the sheets stuck to his body.

Stacy, Matt, Ryan and Wahren are standing over him, Stacy holding his hand and trying to calm him.

All were awakened by Aaron's inhuman screams and rushed into his room in the guest wing of the Presidential palace.

Aaron looks into the eyes of his four closest friends still living on earth and takes a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and forget the horror of his dream.

He squeezes Stacy's hand gently and smiles weakly up at them.

"I'm fine, really." He states hollowly.

"What is it, Aaron?" Wahren asks him, knowing talking it out will probably help.

"It was our first Christmas Eve together" Aaron states, and Wahren thinks all the way back to 2006, when Aaron and Aubree had been married over Thanksgiving. "I loved the feeling of peace and stability, but, then......" Aaron chokes off.

"Oh, God.....you saw her die." Stacy fathoms, reading the expressions on her friend's face.

Ryan and Matt exchange a look. Maybe Valder had inherited some of Angel’s gifts when she died.

"I was in the car with her." He responds.

"Take it easy, bro, you're awake now." Wahren attempts to reassure him.

"I'm not too sure it is a dream...." Aaron comments, "it all seemed too real somehow." He finishes.

Stacy looks up at Wahren. He nods back at her. Ryan and Matt look at their shoes. They has received the fax of the coroner's report on Aubree's death within a week of the event, but has kept that information from Aaron.

The report has states that Aubree has still been alive when the train hit her Celica.

There is no way Aaron could have known what he has just told them.

* * * *

Stacy won her re-election by a landslide, and that, Aaron thinks, is the problem. It was almost too easy of a victory.

He is happy for her, of course, but can’t shake his suspicious feeling.

Wahren once, long ago, told him to trust his instincts, and every bell and whistle that can possibly go off inside him is screaming that there is something wrong.

Her opponent was high in the public opinion popularity polls right before the election, but barely received 30% of the votes cast.

And, for some reason, Aaron's senses are screaming at him to keep an eagle eye on the Vice President, Harlan Aravargas. A newcomer to politics altogether, Harlan was added to the ballot after Stacy's original choice for VP died of a heart attack right before the election.

Aaron tells Wahren of his suspicions as the two of them wait outside Stacy's quarters for her to get ready to be re-inaugurated.

Both men are armed, Wahren's Desert Eagle and Aaron's Berretta both fully loaded underneath their floor-length black dusters.

In fact, the two men look like they have been cut from the same mold, Wahren having actually been "persuaded" by Stacy to cut his hair and shave while head of the Secret Service. As far as any of the Eagles can recall, his is the first time since Wahren started shaving that he has been clean-shaven and short-haired.

Wahren calls over his mini-microphone to the rest of his agents, making sure they are all in place and ready to spring into action if need be.

Doug and Mitch are stationed at the foot of the platform Stacy will be on. Aaron and Wahren will be on either side of the President the whole time.

Wahren and Aaron take up their positions on either side of Stacy as she comes out of her room to meet them.

The two men keep pace with her all the way to the front lawn, where Marine One, the President's MV-22F Osprey, waits to take them to the White House.

After an uneventful flight, the Osprey pilot settles his aircraft into a hover over the White House lawn and slowly lowers the hybrid aircraft to the ground.

Aaron thumbs off the safety on his Berretta as the Osprey's ramp opens. Wahren does the same with his Desert Eagle. Stacy gives them a half glance that tells them she doesn't think the sidearms are necessary.

Stacy's speech and the rest of the ceremony go off without a hitch.

All throughout the ceremony, Aaron, Wahren, Mitch, Doug, and the other Secret Service agents scattered around the premises scan the crowd for any possible sign of trouble.

As Stacy leaves the stage to walk back to Marine One, Doug notices a figure step out from behind a bush and level a gun at Stacy.

At the same time that this young man, no more than 20 years old, fires his .38 at Stacy, Aaron, Wahren, Doug, Mitch, and two other Secret Service agents fire at him from their various positions.

The young man is dead long before his still twitching body hits the ground, four bullets through his heart, one through his brain, and two through his lungs.

In a dead sprint, Mitch and Doug reach the Commander in Chief almost instantly as she falls to the ground. Aaron and Wahren are already crouching beside her.

She smiles weakly at them as they all crouched down around her.

"Get me out of here." She mumbles as the rest of the Secret Service agents arrive and form a protective phalanx around her, rushing her to her waiting Osprey.

Once inside, Stacy leans heavily on her National Security Advisor as the shock of what happened hits her.

"I hate it when you're right." She tells him.

"I wish I weren't, trust me. I'm just glad you took our advice and wore that vest." Aaron answers, flicking a glance at Wahren, who persuaded her to wear the Kevlar vest to her re-inauguration.

* * * *

"Over the next three years, no one was quite so stupid or arrogant as to make another attempt on the President's life." Doug comments, taking a sip of the coffee one of the policemen in the building has brought him.

He has been speaking for almost two hours now, and has amassed quite a good sized-crowd in that time period.

"However, things are not all well. The Rising Sun was gaining, by hook or by crook, supporters and sympathizers all over the place, since enough money can buy just about anyone.

Wahren and Aaron were with Stacy and Matt pretty much 24-7 by the time the year 2020 rolled around."

Doug stops and looks at the ceiling for a second, pulling together his thoughts and trying to weed his emotions out from his narrative. God, that is a hard year He thinks and I really don't want this little bastard to see me show weakness.

After a few moments, Doug has put steel into his will, and continues in his narrative.

"Wahren has been forced to fire a pair of Secret Service agents after he has found them to be bribed by the Rising Sun. Therefore, he never trusted anyone but the old Eagles to be alone with Stacy, and at least one of the old 137CW members (usually himself, Matt, Ryan, or Aaron) was with her at all times.

All of us ETF members now lived in Washington, D.C., with the exception of Marie, who had reportedly gone back to Nebraska to live.

John Terrance passed away of lung cancer in his sleep two years prior to what I am about to tell you."

Doug looks around the room at all the attentive faces in the audience, staring each of them in the eye. He squares his shoulders before speaking again.

"I remember we had all just sat down to dinner, we being all the old 137CW members in Washington. Stacy, Matt, Aaron, Wahren, Ryan, Robbie, Adam, Suzanne, Alexander, Mitch, Carmen and myself.

For some odd reason, we had all gathered on this night, and are eating dinner in the main dining room, as opposed to outside, where we usually ate. Possibly it is because of the outside temperature. Anyway, we had just all sat down to eat when the phone rang....

* * * *

Aaron gets up from the table as the phone rings, and walks across the room to pick it up.

Aaron listens for a few seconds, then becomes visibly upset.

"Shit....Wahren, Doug, get Stacy out of here NOW!!!" Aaron yells as he hangs up the phone.

Wahren reaches for his now ever-present sidearm, as does Doug.

"What is it?" Stacy asks as they all start forming a ring around the President, and heading for the exit.

"There are Rising Sun bribed shock troops rushing the capital. Washington is on fire......" Aaron responds as he leads the group towards Marine One's landing pad on the East Yard.

They can hear the MV-22F coming in for a landing, ready to rush them out to Air Force One at Vandenberg.

As they reach the exit to the east landing pad, the MV-22 is hit by AAA from a mobile launcher rushing towards the White House.

The Osprey explodes fifty feet off the ground, the people in the front of the group thrown back by the shock wave.

"Where now?" Mitch asks no one in particular

"To the Oval Office." Adam responds, running ahead with Alexander and Robbie to the armory.

Aaron rushes through the White House with one arm around the President. Doug is on her other side. Wahren and Matt are right on their tail.

Stacy looks over at Doug.

"Doug, go get J.R. to safety." Stacy yells over the noise.

Aaron looks at her in shock. He’s been so preoccupied in getting Stacy and the others to safety that he forgot his seven year old son is sleeping in another room.

With a glance, Aaron and Doug exchange a thousand words.

"I'll protect him with my life." Doug vows as he sprints down an adjacent hallway.

Matt comes forward and takes his wife's hand as they continue their mad rush towards the Oval Office. He is just hapy that he and Stacy’s son, Scott Michael Bendix, now eighteen, is away at college and can take care of himself. The other Eagles have seen to that during his life.

Aaron has a tear roll down his cheek as he thinks of all the things he’s never get to do with his son.

The distinctive "THWUMP" of mortar shells landing all around the White House can be heard as the group reaches the Oval Office.

The concussion of one of the mortars landing nearby shatters the glass of the main window of the office, allowing the cold air to blow through.

After a few minutes, Stacy, who is closest to the window, starts to shiver with the cold.

Aaron pulls off his large duster and wraps it around Stacy to help block the cold January wind.

Stacy and Matt look up at him in thanks as Adam comes into the office with an armful of rifles and shotguns from the armory. Behind him, Alexander and Robbie have sidearms and ammunition.

Mitch and Wahren close the door behind them and prop a couple of overstuffed chairs against the door to bar it.

Machine gun and lazer fire rip into the room as they place the last chair by the door.

Aaron dives over a desk and tackles Stacy to the floor, he and Matt shielding her from the incoming fire.

Mitch covers Carmen and Robbie does so for Suzanne. Adam and Alexander return fire through the wall at their attackers.

Aaron and Matt roll off Stacy as the two of them move the main desk across the room to tip over and use as a shield.

More fire rips into the room from the main window, and slams into the Eagles.

Matt is hit in the shoulder and upper thigh as he and Aaron finish with the desk.

Aaron is hit in the left lung and wrist as the bullet passes through his body and hits the desk.

He spins around as he falls and fires his Barretta out through the window.

By the main door, Mitch, Alexander and Adam are engaged in a firefight with troops in the hallway outside.

Mitch's throat is burst open as the soldiers in the hallway fire another barrage into the Oval Office.

Adam is hit in the right bicep, and switches his shotgun over to his left hand. He keeps firing back at the soldiers.

Carmen trys to pull Mitch out of the line of fire with Alexander's help, and both are cut down by the next barrage from the hallway.

More bullets pour in from the widow, killing Suzanne and tearing through Wahren's stomach.

Wahren slides around the wall to where he has a clear shot outside.

"Clip!!" He yells out to Aaron as his Desert Eagle clicks.

Aaron stands to toss it to him and is hit in the side by another wave of shooting.

Ryan is thrown back against a wall as he is hit with rounds from both sides.

Matt is nearly decapitated by the crossfire, and both Adam and Robbie are hit again.

The clip Aaron has thrown falls short, and Wahren just looks at it as he is hit by a shrapnel round. He slides down the wall to a slumped position, and Aaron sees the light leave his open eyes forever.

Stacy is hit in the shoulder by another shrapnel round, and slumps to the floor behind the desk-turned-shield.

Adam, Robbie and Aaron continue to fire into the hallway as the grenades and mortar fire start to hit other sections of the White House.

There are screams outside as Rising Sun troops are hit by their own artillery.

Adam turns around just in time to see one of the M2A4 Schwartzkopf tanks outside fire an incendiary round into the office.

He starts to yell to get down, but is drowned out by the roar of the tank round's explosion.

Robbie is yelling into his mobile phone at the local Air National Guard to send out air support.

Adam is outlined, as the only man in the room standing, by the firestorm started by the Schwartzkopf's round, and the tank's gunner takes advantage of that and picks him off.

Adam, however, manages to fire back as he falls and blows the gunner's head off, painting the front of the tank red.

Robbie and Aaron are firing away with everything they have left at the oncoming tanks as the soldiers behind them are burned to a crisp by the incendiary round. The harsh smell of burning flesh and hair fills the air.

Robbie manages to fire through the observation slit the driver looks through and kills him, stopping the tank and thereby blocking the way for the other tanks as the lead Schwartzkopf grinds to a halt.

Both he and Aaron start towards Stacy's shield from opposite sides of the office.

Stacy is firing blindly around the corner of the desk, occasionally taking out an enemy soldier, but mostly keeping their heads down.

Some soldiers become brave and appear around the corner of the shattered window, and fires a barrage of bullets into the office.

Aaron manages to slump to the floor as he sees the soldiers come around the corner, and is only grazed by a couple of rounds.

Robbie is peppered by machine gun rounds as he continues across the room.

As he falls, dying, he fires off a long stream of bullets from his M-60, felling most of the soldiers.

Aaron picks off the remaining two as some of Robbie's air support, F-32 fighter-bombers, show up and begin showering the troops outside with napalm.

Aaron has made it halfway across the room towards Stacy.

He turns to look over at her.

"Sorry I got you into this, Stace." Aaron states weakly. He knows this time there will be no escape.

Stacy staggers across the Oval Office and flops down beside his shattered body.

"There's an end to every beginning." She responds, still brave despite their perilous position.

Aaron glances around the room.

"I knew this will happen, you know." He comments offhandedly, looking tearfully of the bodies of Wahren Morast, Matt Bendix, Anthony Wakefield, Adam Mason, Robbie Sandler, Alexander Dieskau, Suzanne Wagner, Carmen Ritter-Vannell, and Michael Vannell, scattered on the floor at haphazard angles, Wahren still slumped against the wall, his eyes wide open, as if still looking to Aaron for help. Neither of them has the energy to move and close them.

"I is destined to kill those I love." He finishes.

"It's not your fault." Stacy explodes, "How were you to know this would happen?"

"I should have seen it coming. It's been coming for years now. From the moment I persuaded you to join me, you were dead."

"I came of my own free will, and that was decades ago. This was my idea as much as yours."

Aaron slowly smiles up at her, and rubs her shoulder tenderly.

"You always were the headstrong one, Stacy, you always were." Aaron coughs and doubles into himself on the floor, writhing as the spasms seize him.

Stacy grabs his hand, suddenly and totally afraid. A tear rolls down her cheek as Aaron closes his eyes.

Aaron catches the tear in his good hand, and reopens his eyes, muttering, "I love you too, you know."

"Don't leave me here alone." Stacy pleads.

Aaron groans and heaves himself into a seated position, leaning on Stacy for support.

"As long as you need me, I'm here for you." Aaron coughs.

"We've has some good times, haven't we?" Stacy asks reflectively.

"Not lately." Aaron says, then looks up to grin at her, showing her he is still as sarcastic as ever, even mortally wounded.

"I feel our reprieve is almost up" He mutters, looking at his watch.

He hears movement outside, and knows the time has come.

"How's that shoulder?" He asks.

Stacy looks to her mostly missing left shoulder.

"I don't feel a thing." She answers.

"Let's not leave this game unfinished." Aaron remarks as he tries to pull himself to his feet.

Stacy reaches down with her right arm and helps him up.

From the picture window lazerfire rips into the office.

Aaron and Stacy stand in the center of the office, supporting each other.

Aaron fires at the next wave of oncoming troops with his trusty 9mm, until it clicks disconcertingly.

The troops by the window pull back as the local National Guard A-28s arrive, shredding into the tanks surrounding the White House with their dual GAU-9D gatling cannons.

One M2A4 manages to fire off another incendiary round into the shattered building.

The round smashes into the left wall of the office, starting it on fire. Aaron and Stacy start to run as the Office catches fire alarmingly, the wind fueling the flames. Aaron stumbles and takes Stacy down with him on accident.

Parts of the ceiling cave in.

"Run, Stacy, run!!" Aaron yells.

"Not this time." Stacy replies.

"So we let fate take it's course." Aaron remarks, as the fire surrounds them.

"For all time, right or wrong, I'm with you. What's left for us out there?" Stacy asks. "The time of the Eagles is dead."

Aaron pulls her to him and holds her tightly.

"Right, then." He wheezes with his last breath, "Together...."

"....Forever" Stacy finishes as a gust of wind sweeps the fire over them.

It isn't as slow and painful as either has imagined.

Their charred bodies are found interlocked in their death embrace when the fire blew itself out.

* * * *

From five miles away, Doug watches the live footage on TV as the White House burns to the ground, the young boy, unbeknownst to Danko, having just walked into the room and seen the whole thing.

Doug hangs his head in a moment of silence for his lost friends, then, realizing he is the last of the original Eagles, raises his head with a fire in his eye and revenge in his heart.

* * * *

"I was ready to kill everyone and anyone who stood in my way right then. Then I heard a sobbing behind me. I saw the child there, and realized I would have to make sure he was safe before doing anything more." Doug remembers, looking up at the not-so-passive faces around him. It seems his story is getting to them all.

"So I called the only person in the world I knew I could trust to watch over him. I flew out to Omaha and left him in the care of the only other ETF member still living.

Then I went to Aubree's old house in Tennessee, where I made damn sure no one would disturb anything there."

* * * *

Doug takes out his set of keys to Aaron's Ram and hands them to the airline attendant.

He wants to be exquisitely sure the truck makes it to Omaha. He leaves a note for Marie in the glove compartment, telling her what he is planning to do.

When he puts the note in the compartment, he notices Aaron's trademark Lennons inside.

Doug carefully takes out the sunglasses and slips them in his jacket pocket.

After he is sure the big Dodge truck is loaded onto the MD-17 going to Omaha, Doug heads back to the parking lot and climbs into Wahren's Mustang.

Without thinking about it, Doug reaches into his pocket and puts on Aaron's sunglasses as the sun hits him.

Then he heads for Braemar.

Once there, Aaron pays the city generously to just leave the property alone, and to make sure nothing happens to the house Aaron and Aubree lived in.

He takes one last look around the house, thinking of all the good times portrayed in the pictures there, then locks the door and leaves.

On his way out, he feels a warmth, as if he is being seen out by a loved one after a friendly visit.

Doug embraces the feeling as he leaves, gets into Wahren's Mustang, and drives back to Omaha.

* * * *

Two months later, in April, charges of treason are brought against the leaders of the coup.

Three of them are executed, but fifteen are let off with lesser charges.

One of them is President Anrak's Vice President.

* * * *

Later that month, Doug and Marie are married, though under assumed names.

They became Mark and Sherri Woodstone, and adopt J.R. as their son.

Shelly Sparks, Ann Horn, and Mike Scott are also at the wedding, and became as aunts and an uncle to J.R. throughout his young life. This same group also check in occaisionally on Stacy and Matt’s son, and Wahren’s children, anonymously giving them aid and helping to guide their lives in a positive direction.

* * * *

When the cleaning crew of the newly-built White House awakens, they find eleven roses on the marble monument in the South Lawn, where the old Oval Office used to stand.

There are also single roses on the eleven graves at Arlington for the members of the ETF that had fallen that day. There is also a small drawing of an American flag left by Aaron's grave, drawn by an eight year old.

Aaron was right, his grave is between Aubree and Kristine's to the left and right, and Wahren and Stacy's up and down.

The roses show up in both places every year on this day, up until the present day.

* * * *

Harlan Aravargas, Stacy Anrak's VP at the time of the fire, awakens with a chilly feeling running up his spine.

He sits up quickly to call out to his bodyguard, but finds a hand clamped suddenly over his mouth.

"Mmmrmmph" is all he manages.

The hand bares down on Harlan's face, pushing him back onto the bed.

A beam of moonlight falls on the face belonging to the hand.

Harlan urinates on himself in fright. He knows that face!! But, this is impossible!! He died in the fire! Harlan thinks.

"As you can see, I'm quite alive." Doug comments, reading the little weasel's mind. "So, did you enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame?" Doug asks him.

Not knowing what kind of response to give, Harlan nods.

"Well, you're about to be on the news again." Doug murmurs as he pulls out a silenced .45.

The body is found the next morning by the cleaning crew. Taped to Harlan’s chest is a note reading:

Now that One

Shall kill them all

I shall not rest until all 15 are in Hell

Where they belong.

Doug Danko, ETF

* * * *

Over the next two years, more of the conspirators keep popping up dead.

By September of the year 2024, only Senator William Haverston lives of the original 15. He carrys a loaded shotgun with him everywhere, and jumps at shasows. On September 15th, Senator Haverston is garroted and his house burned to the ground. Haverston manages to fire off a shot as he dies, obliterating the head off one of his nephews. The nephew is roughly Doug's size, and Doug places a set of his dogtags and ID on the beheaded man. Then he leaves, and Doug Danko is never heard from again.

The case is closed and Doug pronounced dead. The nephew's body is buried in a local cemetery.

However, Mark and Sherri Woodstone live on to retire wealthy as Mark flies for American Airlines for a few years, and manages to inherit Doug Danko's estate, as he is listed in Doug's will as a third cousin.

* * * *

"And that is how I came to die, and yet still be here. My wife Sherri--Marie--died last winter. Old age finally got to her. My foster son is able to fend for himself these days.

Therefore, I have no reason to fear telling my story." Doug finishes.

* * * *

Retired Major Doug "Matrix" Danko, ETF "Cavalry" leader, a.k.a. Mark Woodstone, is brought up on 15 charges of first degree premeditated murder.

There isn't a jury in the country that will convict him, and the Supreme Court knows it. The case never goes to trial.

Doug dies a free man in 2072 at the age of 108, and his body is buried with full honors at Arlington, where Marie's is moved to. All the Eagles are back together again.

Based on the Characters from the novel

The Elite Eagles

by Aaron R. Fieldman and Wahren R. Morast

Copyright Nov 1996