Chapter 35: ONE MORE MISSION, Part 1

The first thing Monday morning, Christopher marched into his commander's office. "Sir…I need to talk to you about something pretty important."

Bruce Koepke sighed. He liked Beast. He didn't want to lose him, but he already knew what he wanted to ask.

"Beast, you're a heluva Marine. You know that or you wouldn't be on an elite force. I don't want to lose you, son."

Christopher could barely meet his commander's eyes. Finally he relaxed his formal posture and looked steadily at the older man who was more than his commander, but who was also his friend.

"Bruce, I'm a Marine for life. That's never going to change. But…I can't go out on missions anymore. I'm not going to quit the Marines…but I want to step down from the DHS."

Bruce frowned. "TK, some of the others have spouses, girls, kids-"