General's Row
March Air Force Base
Riverside, CA
Roberta Mantell sipped water and reviewed the architect's drawings she'd received from Professor John Tolbert at CSU San Bernadino.
The style was bold, displaying core structural elements for all to see--and yet soaring and graceful, with key elements curved to place various elements in tension and compression to best effect. The result was a light, airy, and spacious building that--if everything worked--might presage a revolution in structural design.
But she wasn't entirely sure. The civil engineering side of her brain said that the math might not be mathing . . .
Her cell phone rang; it was Sophie Lodge. She stepped away from the drafting table and set her water down on her desk, then answered.
"Hey, Sophie, what's up?"
"Hi, Roberta. Bottom line up front: I know Josh wants to transition to the IRR next year."
"What's happened?"
"It's a bad one."
* * *
26 February 2025
SAC Headquarters Detachment 4
March Air Force Base
Riverside, CA
Major General Joshua Mantell sipped his coffee and reviewed the after action report for Battle Staff 4 Alpha's latest BUSY RIDER exercise, then composed a meeting request and sent it to 4A's commander, Brigadier General Teresa Merek.
Merek's acceptance hit his inbox just as his aide, Captain Hal Taylor, stuck his head into the office. "Sir, your wife wants you to call her on your cell. Says it's urgent."
Josh said, "Thank you, Captain."
He quickly secured his office and went to the entrance to the secure spaces and stepped out.
Went to the box that held his cell phone.
Unlocked it.
Headed outside.
Called Roberta.
"Hi, honey, you OK?"
"I'm fine."
Josh could hear the tension in her voice.
He replied, "You don't sound good."
"It's not like I need to go to fellowship or anything."
Josh sighed with relief. "Fellowship" was their safe word; if she'd said "church," Josh would know she was under duress.
"What's up?"
"You're about to get a phone call. You need to shut and soldier, got it?"
"What's this about--"
"Josh, that's an order: shut up and soldier. You'll understand when you get the call. I love you."
"Love you, too."
* * *
Josh had barely sat back down when Taylor tapped on the door jamb and said, "Sir, CSAF Actual on Button 2."
Josh signaled Taylor to shut the door and picked up the phone. "General Mantell speaking --"
General David Allvin said, "Good morning, General. We've had a bit of personnel turbulence, and we need a new prospective CC for 24th Air Force. Your name is at the top of the short list. Well, it's also at the bottom."
Josh blinked. "Ah, sir, I had been planning to quietly move to the IRR."
"So I heard. Your came highly recommended by General Lodge. Look, we wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important."
Roberta's voice came to him.
Shut up and soldier.
"Very well, sir, I'm in." A thought hit Josh. "Aren't AFRES assignments usually made by General Fairington?"
General Fairington was AFRES Actual at Warner-Robbins.
"Let's just say that depending on how things shake out, he might be dropping a retirement package."
* * *
Josh drove back to his quarters in a daze. He'd looked up the news on the original prospective CC, Lieutenant General Halston, and found lurid headlines of Halston and his mistress having been murdered . . . with Halston's wife arrested as the prime suspect.
And why would anyone in their right mind have a skirt-chasing horndog like Halston as a Numbered Air Force CC?
When he entered the house, Roberta met him in the kitchen and embraced him with a fiercenes he hadn't seen since he'd been briefly held hostage in Grand Targhee.
"Hey, you OK?"
She let out a soft, shuddering sigh.
"Not really. I will feel a lot better sharing some Miramonte 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon with you."
"Lead on, darling."
She led him into the backyard and poured 2 glasses of wine.
She raised her glass. "To the next commander of 24th Air Force."
He replied, "To a wonderful and loving wife."
They sipped, and Josh noticed his wife's tension.
After a few minutes, she said, "Josh . . . I am so damn proud of you."
Josh said, "I hear a 'but' coming."
"I resent that the world keeps demanding that you stand to yet again to save everyone's ass--and I readily admit my feelings are irrational." She took another sip of wine, then said, "I realize that if the President or the Air Force Chief of Staff calls, you can't say no. I realize it, I accept it . . . and I still want to scream at someone, 'Damn it all, do better! Josh has earned rest from his labors!' And that's utterly irrational. When things go to hell like this . . . America needs you to step in. And, by extension, I, your loving wife, need you to step in, because my fate is bound up with America's. I cannot think of a better person to take over in this moment; you are a leader, an expert in cyber operations, a man of conscience, and a man who understands that what you do in this life echoes in eternity."
"But you're still angry."
Roberta nodded. "I turned over the big six-zero in October, remember? I am a grandmother now. We're not the same people we were in our youth."
Josh shook his head. "You're still the woman who took my heart--twice."
"And you're the man who won mine--twice."
They shared a long, companionable silence.
Josh sipped his wine and asked, "What do you want most?"
Roberta put on a thousand-yard stare for a moment, then looked at Josh with a directness that seemed to pierce into his very soul.
"Ultimately? I want to go back to Coeur d'Alene, settle back into the house I designed and built, and sip a glass of wine on the deck with my husband and lover, without anyone else demanding more stuff from you. I want you to work on whatever projects interest you. I want to go horseback riding on the Northern Pacific Rail Trail. I want to make love to you in the living room of our retreat in Bellevue, with the Palouse surrounding us. I want to sail on Lake Pend Oreille again, and enjoy your herb-crusted wild rainbow trout with new potatoes and a good chardonnay."
She sipped her wine, then said, "I want you all to myself. I want to give you all of myself without anyone bugging me for a consult. Josh, when you finish this assignment, we're both retiring. No more pop-up assignments, no more career-enhancing billets for you. This is your last tour, so give your airmen your absolute best, leave it all on the ramp at McConnell when you hand it off, and come home to me one last time."
Josh raised his glass. "To going home. For good."
* * *
27 February 2025
The White House
Washington, DC
Sophie's phone buzzed, and she read the message.
Sophie texted back:Sophie, this is the last time. After his command tour is up, I'm retiring from consulting work and he's going IRR. For real . . . for good.
A minute later, she saw:As you wish. Thank you for being understanding about this.
* * *America needs him at McConnell . . . so I need him there, and so do our kids and grandkids. Mine *and* yours, alike. I get it. But . . . he's earned his rest. And so have you. Let the next generation you helped shape take the reins. What's the point of being financially secure if you can't take the time to enjoy it?
After a long moment, Roberta saw Sophie's reply:
Roberta typed back:You've given me something to seriously think about . . . and to talk to Adam about. Thank you, my friend.
* * *Let me know if you ever need to talk. Love you, and please give my love to Adam as well.
Roberta was on the phone with Lisa "Goalie" Eichorn-Wiser.
"I'm jealous of you."
"Why?"
"You and Guru don't get these calls from the President, the CJCS, or the AF Chief of Staff saying 'We need you back.' Josh does."
"Roberta, one thing that have to remember is that Joshua Mantell has a sense of duty that doesn't know when to say 'enough' unless someone tells him it's enough He's got courage--not just physical courage, but moral courage. When the whole world is telling him to move, he just plants himself like a tree next to the River of Truth and tells the rest of the world, 'No, you move.' And that sort of courage is always needed, but especially when things like this happen. After screwups like this, Big Air Force always looks for the straightest straight arrow they can find, and Josh somehow manages to be that super-duper straight arrow guy without being an annoying prig about it. And we haven't been asked to save the world since the Ramdyne Business way back when. Before you ask, my wing was on call to back his up if they needed it."
Roberta sighed. "It felt . . . good to be able to say 'this is the last time.' I mean, to have a visible end."
Goalie laughed. "Yeah. You've both earned it. You guys moving to McConnell?"
Sophie said, "Nope. Going to live in Couer d'Alene. To remind us of what we have together."
"Good plan. Let me know if there's anything Guru or I can do for you."
