Honor Road by Jason Ross (best non fiction books of all time TXT) 📕

cobble into a wall, but even with almost every able-bodied man and woman working on it, they could only complete a tenth of a mile a day—about five hundred feet. The wall would be great, but the longer it stretched, the more obvious it became that it wasn’t very useful without men on top and men on patrol both inside and out. Mat would give his left nut for a few dozen crew-served machine guns.

He turned down the last block toward his home, and the sky peaked yellow over his street. He planned to drink a liter of water, grab five hours of sleep, eat lunch, then kit up for the evening raids. They’d go in the witching hour—about nineteen hours from now. The cops and the QRF would have their warning orders waiting for them when they woke up.

Mat stepped inside the door and was greeted by the scent of pancakes and burning plastic.

“Hey Mat. Surprise!“ William called out from the fireplace. A frying pan perched on the coals with the plastic handle slowly melting.

“Just a minute more, and I’ll have breakfast ready,“ William said over his shoulder. “This pan gets really hot.“

Mat flopped onto the couch. Tired as he was, he watched William’s culinary struggles with a smile.

William placed two plates on the coffee table, with matching sets of palm-sized pancakes: one pancake, burned to near inedibility, two dark brown pancakes with centers of uncooked batter, and one nearly perfect golden brown masterpiece. William cheated by giving Mat the best of them. His own were even worse.

How to make a pancake. Mat sighed. There were so damn many things to learn in this life. He wondered if William would survive long enough to learn half of them.

“There was still light in the sky last night when I ran over to Mrs. Morgan’s house for pancake batter,” he said, sheepishly. “I didn’t technically go out after dark. Mrs. Morgan gave me the ingredients and told me what to do. I had to serve the burnt ones because there wasn’t enough batter to make more.”

Mat’s eyes felt dehydrated, like his lids would stick closed the next blink. “This is great, little bro, but give the Morgans back the flour from our own rations, or as close as you can.”

“Oh yeah,” William said with a smile. “I was planning on it. I knew that’s what you’d say, so I kept track how much. I just didn’t know if pancake batter and flour were the same thing.”

So much to learn, Mat mused to himself.

The two sat quietly, chewing crispy pancake.

“So, what do you think of Candice?“ William queried. The scene clicked into place in Mat’s head: the boy waking up early, making breakfast, waiting at the door to talk to his guardian; the closest thing he had to a father and best friend. It all made sense now. William was in love with the girl.

“She’s a cutie, little bro.”

William blushed. “Umm... I kissed her.”

Mat slapped him on the back. “Was that your first real kiss?”

“Yeah.” William smiled so big Mat could see burned pancake in his teeth.

“You picked a good one.”

“She’s the one, I think.”

Mat chortled. “Yeah! the one for today. I hear you. There’s lots of fish in the sea, though, Tiger.”

William’s face fell. It was the wrong note to strike.

Damn, Mat scolded himself. You’re not throwing back drinks with the bros. It was a nice kid’s first kiss. William had notions of riding into the sunset with the young, sweet-smelling brunette.

Mat fumbled, attempting to recover. “She’s perfect. She seems smart.” He almost said, she looks like she’ll have a great rack someday, but he caught himself. That would’ve been Level Ten Creepy. Mat was too tired to have this conversation, but he had no choice. The boy wasn’t going to put it down.

William talked around the pancake cinder in his mouth. “With Candice, it’s like I want to keep her safe. I think I love her.”

Mat sighed. He’d felt the same way about Caroline, William’s sister. The world ate her up anyway, no matter that he was a big, bad Army Ranger.

Mat changed the subject. “I saw Gladys Carver last night. What do you think of her?”

“She’s awesome; part schoolteacher, part fighter, like those girl warriors in Black Panther.”

“Do you think you could make this place home? McKenzie, I mean?” Mat asked.

“Sure we can. I like it here,” William said.

“I’ve been working on getting you set up here,” Mat emphasized the word “you.” “You deserve a family and a home. Traveling with me—there’s not a bright future for you in that.“

William’s brow furrowed and tears sprang to the corners of his eyes. “You’re leaving me?”

“Well, not for a while. I’ve got a lot to do on this job. Don’t worry. Gladys Carver agreed to take you in. I’ve fixed it. You won’t have to leave town or leave your new girl.“

William seemed not to hear. “But I’m coming with you, right?”

Mat stuck to his guns—what he always did when things got dodgy. “No. You don’t have to leave. You have a home here. I’ll make it safe, or as safe as I can, before I go. You can stay with Gladys, and here in town with Candice.”

The boy’s eyes stood out like twin silver dollars. The tears glistened on his cheeks. It was no longer the face of an adolescent basking in the glow of his first kiss. This was the look of terror.

“No, please. We’re going to be Army Rangers. You promised.”

“William, I know what I said, but that was before. I can’t stay here. I don’t know how to be a family to you.”

“Why? Just because your girlfriend died?”

Mat’s face flushed. “What would you know about that, kid? One kiss and you’re an expert?”

It was a bush league retort, Mat felt the sinking in his gut already. Regret. But he had to power through this conversation, this mission. He opened his mouth to speak but he stopped short.

He’d seen William’s exact expression in Kabul when a boy’s dad