Wolfsbane Read Free Page A

world as witnesses.
    Canyon drew out the small vial.
Shouldn’t do this
. The back pain was gone. The heart pain permanent. He popped two pills into his mouth and swallowed.
    His hand closed around the Emerson in his pocket. Canyon drew it out and eyed the gleaming metal. He’d used it to cut her tethers the first night his team had come up on the backwater village. Flipping the blade to the ground, he tamped down the fireball in his gut. He saved her that night only to end up killing her thirteen months later.
    She was gone. His career was gone. The government had a shackle around his neck. What was there to live for?
    He retrieved it and swiped the sand from the blade on his rolled cuffs. The silver glinted against his forearm. He pressed the metal against his flesh. Wouldn’t be the first attempt. Maybe he’d succeed this time. Drew it along his arm—
    “Never did understand how they stand up on a piece of wood.”
    Canyon jerked at the deep voice. He returned his Emerson to his pocket and eyed the old man a few feet away. Looked like the same man from the 300 earlier. What was he saying? Something about wood?
    Canyon followed the man’s gaze to the water, the surfers. Ah. Surfboards. “They’re not wood.”
    “Really?”
    “Polyurethane and fiberglass or cloth. Depends on the board.” He might be off-kilter, but he wasn’t stupid. The man had a military cut and bearing. “What’s your game?”
    A slow smile quirked the face lined with age. White hair rustledunder the tease of a salty breeze. “Recycling soldiers.”
    Why wouldn’t they leave him alone? Believe he’d keep his trap shut when he said he’d keep his trap shut? “Sorry, I don’t have anything to say.”
    “Yes, that was quite apparent.”
    Hesitation stopped Canyon from trudging back to his car. This man had been at his evaluation? Where …? “You were behind the mirror.”
    “While you said little, your actions said much more, Captain Metcalfe.”
    A knot formed in his gut. “In case you missed the point, I’m no longer a captain. Go back to your leeches and tell them I’m done.”
    “Is your career worth cutting your wrists, Captain?”
    The knot tightened. “My career was everything,” he ground out. “It’s who I am.” He swallowed. “Was.”
    “Yes.” The man smiled. “You wanted to finish what your father started.”
    A blaze scorched his chest. “Who are you? What do you know about my father?” Who did this guy think he was?
    “Major Owen Metcalfe lost his life trying to free his spec-ops team from a POW camp during Vietnam.”
    Canyon jerked his attention back to the water. Focused on the undulating waves. The way they rolled in, rolled out. Just like breathing. In … out … “How—how do you know about my father?” The only reason Canyon knew was because the government tried to use it against him in his trial.
    Slowly the man turned toward him, his smile growing.
    Only then did Canyon recognize him. “General Lambert.” He took a step back. “I didn’t … You’re out of uniform.”
    “Yes, thank goodness. I’ve put on a few pounds since they issued the last uniform.” Lambert laughed and pointed. “Walk with me, Captain.”
    What possessed Canyon to indulge him, he didn’t know. But he found himself walking the quiet beach, curious that the general would seek him out. Was it yet another trap?
    “So that you will understand me, I have read the full file on Tres Kruces.”
    Of course. He’d fallen right into the general’s trap, hadn’t he? “This conversation is over.” He pivoted and started back to his car.
    “If my memory serves me correctly, the vote was three to one.”
    Canyon hesitated. Cursed himself for hesitating.
Just walk away
. That’s what they’d done to him.
    “What would you say the value of that single dissenter is worth?”
    “Nothing. I still lost my career, everything.”
    “What if that dissenter held the power to
change
everything? What would you say it was worth