“Please fill this out as we arrive,” the stewardess said, in accented English, as she handed me the customs form.

I eased back in my first-class seat, sipping the plastic cup of whiskey and letting it coat my throat. The lights of Lima, Peru grew brighter with every minute.

As I fill out the customs form, I hesitated on question seven.

How long is your stay? Are you visiting any family?

I scrubbed a hand across my day-old beard and snort at the question. Every time the theme of family has come up, throughout my eight years in the military, my answer had always been the same.

Family? What family?

My estranged brother? My parents who disowned me for joining the military, and who died years ago?

The closest thing I ever had to a family was joining the SEALs. I’d been through hell and back with them, and I would have taken a bullet for those guys. They’d have done the same for me. It was extreme but there was no other way to live, and if you didn’t have honor, what the fuck were you living for?

Still, at twenty-six years old, I couldn’t help but hover over that question. When I told most people, it seemed like the weirdest thing in the world that I would jet out to some random world class city for the holidays. Every year was somewhere new - if I had the vacation hours. Since I’d done my time overseas, I worked on the base in Fort Polk for the last couple of years, pretending I was the enemy to train the new guys who would end up in the fight. When my re-enlistment came up this year, I’d briefly considered other options, but in the end, there was really only one option: keep doing what I was doing.

Now, I just had to wait and see where they were going to station me for the next four years.

I inked my answers to the rest of the questions, and a few minutes later we began our descent.

I finished all of my whiskey in one swig, enjoying the burn as it went down. I wasn’t a big drinker, but a good one now and then helped me forget what I needed to. Even if I was in Middle of Nowhere, Louisiana, I wasn’t going back to Douglas, Texas. Nothing to go back for, anyway.

After the flight landed, I went through customs, my mind racing on its own as I waited for my bag to come through. Lima was said to have some of the best food in the world and I was pumped for that, and for the surfing on the coast. It would be a light and fun week of no responsibility.

Just the way I liked it.

I pulled out my phone and took it off airplane mode. Did they have Uber in Lima? Probably not. It hadn’t been adopted by most South American cities yet. I found the airport WIFI and connected, thinking I would at least give it a shot. If not, I’d grab a taxi.

Just then, I noticed a man walking around with a two-dollar sign that said Kade Houston on it. At the exact same time, my phone buzzed, what felt like two dozen times, in my pocket.

Adrenaline pumped through me and I suddenly felt very awake, especially for having just been on an eight hour flight.

I pretended not to notice the sign with my name on it for the moment. Who knew what kind of shady stuff someone might be trying to pull. I checked my phone and a dozen messages popped up, both on my regular number and from my WhatsApp.

When the U.S. Navy needed to get a hold of you, they did just that.

I squinted at my texts, and the theme seemed to be the same.

Some bad news, sergeant. Looks like your brother has passed away. Your presence is requested. Please report home. You’ve been given a leave of absence for two weeks.

My stomach tumbled with anxiety. I hadn’t talked to my brother in years, and though I felt a little guilty about it, I didn’t much like assholes. Especially not assholes who left my family high and dry when I’d begged him not to.

Now he was dead.

I took a deep breath as I saw my bag creeping up toward me on the conveyor belt.

I grabbed it and walked over to the man holding a sign with my name.

He didn’t say much, and I wasn’t sure if he even spoke English. The man handed me an envelope with a new, printed ticket. It was for a flight that left in two hours.

I nodded. “Gracias.”

“De nada,” he said. “Lo siento por eso.”

I gazed at the doors leading outside to the fresh air of Lima and the week of adventure I’d had ahead of me.

Not anymore.

I turned around, went through security again, and boarded the flight home.

Texas, here we come.