Duke sipped slowly from his glass and set it down gingerly on the bar. He felt that he had to show some respect to the drink and not just pound it down as he saw so many other operators here do. It was a glass of Macallan 18, a good drink. Duke always preferred quality to quantity.
When Duke returned to the princesses back in Equestria, they immediately showed him the way out. Luna brought him and OGA into her chambers and down some staircase to a special pool that they could see Earth through. All they had to do was hop in and wham; they were teleported back to Afghanistan as if nothing had happened.
They made their way back to the base and found out it had been several weeks and Duke and Frost were assumed KIA along with OGA. When they walked up to the gates to the base, they were ushered in by a bunch of MPs and rushed to a special building where there were a bunch of CIA guys trying to figure out what to do about the botched mission.
When they went in, Duke ha da whole story planned out, but OGA decided on the honest route. At first, they all thought he went insane as a prisoner, but apparently, OGA had a hidden camera on him, some tiny thing, that took pictures of everything that had been happening. When they saw the pictures, Duke had to relay the entire story to them, from dropping in, to Frost’s death, and to the last rescue. It was a tale that had everyone on the edges of their seats.
Duke was sent back stateside to deal with more CIA officials and other guys, giving them his story and explaining that he didn’t understand magic. Eventually, the Air Force got him back, and he was given a desk job for the time being. They didn’t know anything of what happened, but the official story was that he had evaded capture with Frost and Frost was killed in a last assault that resulted in OGA’s rescue.
And now, here Duke was, two months later, finished with his workday and getting a drink. He knew Frost would have shared it with him, so whenever he took a sip, he did it slow in remembrance of his old friend.
Other PJs had asked him about the mission, but Duke stuck to the official story and it was obvious that he was lying. No one could ever know that there were other beings in other dimensions who could pull people away at will; everyone would panic. Even if that was totally unreasonable.
In the end, Duke just hoped that Amel was doing alright at this point. It was all he could do for her now.
Duke took another sip of his drink and sighed. He wasn’t sure what he was doing any more.
A bell rang by the entrance, signifying that another patron had walked in. Duke turned to see if he could guess what kind of operator walked in. This bar was popular with special operations guys, and he could usually tell when someone walked in whom they were with.
The guy who walked in was tall, not terribly bulky, and had a knowing look on his face. Unfortunately, that was all Duke could gather about him, and so he turned back around and sipped at his drink.
He wondered if it was time for him to pack up and leave the Air Force. Everything was off, now. His fellow PJs looked at him strangely, and they could tell he wasn’t quite right any more. He had other jobs he could take, too; a Combat Rescue Officer had a lot of prospects out of the service.
Before he could continue his thoughts, the chair next to him was pulled out and the man who entered the bar sat down beside him.
“Hey there,” the man said.
“Hey, Duke said. He took another sip. “Just a fair warning, I don’t play for that team.”
“Ha, I had a feeling,” the man said. “Neither do I.”
“What brings you here?” Duke asked. “Most guys come to this bar for one of two reasons, and you’re not partying or mourning, from the looks of it.”
“I’m here to pick up the wife,” the man said. Maybe he wasn’t special ops. “She owns the place.”
“Does she?” Duke said, surprised.
“Yeah. She’s actually running the bar tonight, since the usual gal couldn’t make it. She has someone else coming in in a few minutes though,” the man said.
“Huh,” Duke said.
“I can see you aren’t here to party it up,” the man said.
“No,” Duke said.
“I hear you,” the man said. “Life can hit us pretty hard sometimes.”
“No kidding,” Duke replied. He was starting to hope the mean would leave soon.
“But the only thing we can do when life knocks us off the horse is get back on,” the man said. “Fight forward and push through life like the stallions we are.”
Duke nodded. “I know,” he said. “I know it well.” The woman who had been serving Duke cam ever.
“Hey hun,” she said, leaning over the bar and giving her husband a kiss on the cheek. “Just a minute, I’ll be right out.”
“Solid, babe,” the man said.
“You’re a lucky man to have a woman in your life,” Duke commented.
“Yeah,” the man replied. “Especially one who understands the life of a SEAL.”
Duke looked up at him. “Well, I had a feeling you were spec ops when you came in,” Duke said.
“Yep,” the SEAL said.
His wife came out. “Ready to head out?” she asked.
“I’m always waiting on you, Cinny,” the SEAL said. He turned to Duke. “And by the way… some mutual friends wanted me to tell you that Frost’s miss is doing alright.”
Duke stopped dead in his tracks as the SEAL and his wife turned to walk out. Slowly, he turned around to look at the couple walking away. She was holding his hand tight, walking with a strange sway in her step.
“Hang on,” Duke said. The couple turned around. “I never caught your name.”
“My name?” the SEAL replied. “My name isn’t important. But you can call me Harkness.”
No more words needed to be said, and Harkness and Cinny turned and left the bar. Duke held his drink motionlessly in his hand, still with half of it left, and nodded his head slowly.
Before the new bartender came out, Duke set his drink down and pushed it away, left his tab and tip on the bar, and walked out, ready to face whatever awaited him as he took of into that wild blue yonder.