Daniel’s gaze remained on the photograph.
“We requested support. Every route to us was exposed.”
He lifted his eyes toward Benjamin.
“The battalion commander came himself.”
Kyle looked at Benjamin.
Daniel continued.
“Colonel Mercer moved through four blocks of active fighting with a small relief team. He entered the building while the upper floor was burning.”
Benjamin’s expression tightened.
“There were other Marines with me.”
“Yes, sir. There were.”
Daniel turned back toward the employees.
“But he led them.”
His finger touched the photograph.
“The ceiling began collapsing before we could move the wounded. Colonel Mercer lifted Lance Corporal Reyes and carried him toward the rear exit.”
Daniel looked down at his own hands.
“I froze.”
For a moment, he was no longer standing inside his store.
He was back inside the concrete building.
Dust filled the room.
Automatic fire struck the walls.
A wounded Marine was screaming for his mother.
“I couldn’t move,” Daniel said. “The colonel grabbed my vest and said, ‘Stay with me, Marine. We are walking out together.’”
He swallowed.
“And we did.”
Benjamin looked away.
“David Reyes didn’t.”
“No, sir.”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“But the rest of us came home because you refused to leave.”
The framed photograph stood between them.
Kyle stared at it.
The young employees had spent two years working beneath that image without understanding what it represented.
Daniel faced them.