Field of Blackbirds - Clayton Jeppsen & Lindsey Jeppsen (me reader txt) 📗

doing, if you’re safe or if this letter will ever find you. Nevertheless, I have some news that cannot wait another moment! Before you get worried, don’t. Just take a deep breath and sit down. Are you sitting yet? Okay, Marcielli Corleon…………… You’re going to be a father!!! I’m pregnant!!! Can you believe it? Twenty-one weeks to be exact. I was just as shocked as I’m sure you are now.
Oh, how I wish you where here. I need your arms around me. They aren’t gonna fit around me much longer you know! I’ve got half of a soccer ball for a tummy and it’s growing by the minute. I can feel our little one moving right now as a matter of fact, a future soccer pro for sure. The morning sickness has past and now I am able to just enjoy the miracle of life growing inside me. It breaks my heart not to be able to share that with you. Just promise me you will make it home in time for the birth. I won’t be able to do it with out you. We both know how well I handle the slightest bit of pain. I’m sure I have overwhelmed you. It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? Relax, everything will fall into place and you will be changing diapers in no time. Ha Ha! You’re going to be an excellent father, Marcielli. I tell the baby everyday how unbelievably lucky we both are to have you.
I have kept my pregnancy a secret because I wanted you to be the first to know. My parents are in for quite a surprise. I’m planning to take a trip to Uncle Beppe’s vineyard in Tuscany. It’s time for the wine festival. You know, when all the girls crush the grapes with our bare feet? I’ll need my family’s support and it’s been way to long since they’ve seen me. Don’t be concerned about me leaving the base. I really feel everything is going to be just fine. I promise to take every precaution possible.
I’m trying to be strong and not let the loneliness get to me, but I miss you more than my heart can bear. The one thing that gets me through, day after day, is that I have a part of you within me. Please try not to worry. I need you to concentrate on what you’re doing so you can return safely to me and our sweet little baby.

I love you and hope to hear from you soon.
~Marianna~

P.S. I will let you do the honors of telling your parents. Rianna will be overjoyed with the news! She will be the best Nanno.


As Marianna left the post office, she couldn’t help but feel some of the things her grandmother, Rosalina, had shared with her. What it was like to be away from Mossimo during WW1 and what she had to do, day to day, to survive. Marianna was grateful for her grandmother’s strength. It was helping her to get by, keeping Marcielli’s love in her heart. Marianna marveled at the follies of life. With great love comes great sacrifice, even when it’s all around you. The absence of it, however brief, can nudge you into a whirlwind of restlessness and uncertainties. She could be as strong as the circumstances required, but Marianna anticipated the day when everything was snug in its place.


Chapter 26 – Luminous


Kumanovo, Macedonia 1992

At the end of a dirt road, dotted with narrow trees jetting skyward, stood Marko’s brother, Dragan. He waited at the entrance of the church. He was younger than Marko, but bigger, more muscular. He had coarse, brown hair like Marko’s, but Dragan’s was longer and curly. He had a baby face with less stubble and a mild case of acne. He looked abnormal with a bandoleer of shotgun shells around his chest and a Remington-sawed-off at his waist. He appeared all too young. He revealed two missing teeth as he called out to his brother.
“Zdravo Brata!” Dragan raised his arm and held out two fingers in the shape of a ‘V’. In America, it meant ‘Peace’. In Europe and especially amongst resistance fighters, it meant ‘Victory’.
Marko gave a small history of the Serbian Orthodox Church. St. George Storo Nagorichane was built in 1313 by King Dusan for his Queen, Elana. Centuries later, it was used as a lookout to protect the city against the continuous Ottoman attacks. Ironically, in 1990, it was captured by the Muslims and used by the Resistance to thwart the new Serbian advances. What wasn’t destroyed by war’s projectiles, had reluctantly given in to the struggles of time and gravity. What remained had simply been spared to stay behind and tell the story. To the Resistance, it was a symbolic structure.
The path leading up to the entrance was guarded with gothic statues, gargoyles and demons, not to invite evil, but to scare it away.
“This place gives me the creeps.” Otto hesitated before entering the church. “Let’s get our equipment and get out of here.”
Dragan laughed. Noticeably, he didn’t speak English well at all, not like Marko or Kat. But he understood that Otto was less than comfortable about being there.
Once everyone was inside, Dragan led them through a chapel filled with fresco style paintings of Christ, by the hands of Mihail and Eutichios. At the end of the chapel, they entered a long corridor. Cobwebs gathered in the corners, collecting dirt and leaves from the high winds. Past a pile of concrete rubble, there was an opening.
“Watch your step here.” warned Dragan. He descended downward on a narrow stone stairway into a cellar-type room. He clicked on a flashlight, illuminating a room full of shelves supporting old relics and artifacts, but mostly books. Angelo walked over and picked one up. It was dated 1621.
“Hey Marko, what’s this book called? It’s in Serbo-Croat.” Angelo held it up in the air.
“Don’t you recognize your own Bible?” asked Marko.
Florentine patted Angelo on the back, “He’s not Christian, Marko. He’s Italian.”
And then Florentine picked up a book less dated, “The Anarchists Cookbook.” “Dragan, does this help you with your English?”
Dragan answered in broken English, “I make pipe bomb and bomb with light-bulb and chlorine.” Dragan lit two propane lanterns and placed them at each end of the room. He handed the flashlight to Kat.
“Shine the light for us.” he said. Dragan then motioned Marko over to a desk that was butted up against the wall.
“Give me a hand, Brata.”
They moved the desk to the side and exposed a concrete slab in the floor. Dragan hooked chains to each end and he and Marko pulled the slab away.
Minus the screeching bats and flaming torches, Reed was sure he just witnessed this scene in ‘Goonies’ or ‘Indiana Jones, Temple of Doom’. Kat walked over and directed the light into the opening. Dragan hopped down inside. Coughing, due to the dust, he heaved three large crates out. Otto was there to receive them. Kat saw the satisfaction on Otto’s face.
“Merry Christmas, Otto.” announced Kat.
Otto popped off one of the lids, “If I can’t have a date with you, Kat, this is the next best thing.”
Florentine couldn’t resist, “See, for me, Kat would be my second choice, right behind my grandmother’s homemade canollies.”
Otto found a note from Sam with an equipment checklist at the top. Otto handed the note to Reed while he read the checklist: Steiner night vision, binoculars, digital cameras with satellite data technology, heat radar, homing beacon, Geiger counter, pagers, X-ray document scanner, multifunctional lock pick, mini flares and Von Zipper polarizing sunglasses with capability to see through tinted glass.
The second crate contained weapons. Otto wasn’t surprised to see they were American weapons: one 50 caliber bolt action rifle with a scope capable of seeing through twelve inches of concrete, AKA - the God Gun, four M-16s, five tactical Remington shotguns with mounted flashlights, five Sig Saur 9mm handguns, five 22 caliber silenced assassin pistols, hand grenades, flash and smoke grenades and plenty of ammo.
The third crate was marked; MREs (meals ready to eat), 100 count.
“It’s all here, Dragan, excellent!”
“I never opened it, but I can’t say I wasn’t tempted.” admitted Dragan.
“His will power is weaker than his curiosity. The less he knows, the less agony is involved.” accused Marko.

Reed read the note silently;

Greetings Men, if you’re reading this note then you’ve arrived in Macedonia and you’ve met my friends, Marko, Kat and Dragan. Promise me that you will all treat Kat like a Lady. I don’t want to be on Marko or Dragan’s bad side. They are relatives of a Diplomatic family I know. And as far as I know, Kat has put more men on their knees than you will find in Mecca during Ramadan. Everything you will need for a successful mission has been packed in these crates. The rest is up to you. Remember your training. Remember why you are there. Remember, for whom, you are there. Don’t let me down. Don’t compromise the mission. Don’t compromise your integrity. Respect the new environment you are in. Your success will rely heavily on the respect that is shown. Respect for the people and respect for their country. At the