The original ending of Rules of Engagement
The original manuscript that was sold to St Martin's Press in late 2017 had a different ending than the book on the market today. We won't say what the revised ending is to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished the book yet.
Here is the original last chapter of Rules of Engagement.
Chapter 68
United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
A stiff breeze, unseasonably raw and cold for April, blew in from the Chesapeake Bay and straight into Don Riley’s eyes. He stood between Ramirez and Goodwin, one row behind Janet Everett’s family. The two midshipmen were at attention. Don did his best to stand up straight between a pair of aluminum crutches.
His thigh throbbed where a bullet from Rafiq’s weapon had entered the muscle—the SEAL medic had called it a “through-and-through, no problem.” The bruises from falling rocks in the partial cave-in were fading from his body, but he retained the ugly purple-green shade of a black eye.
The honor guard of six midshipmen lifted the American flag from Midshipman First Class Janet Everett’s casket and stepped away in lockstep to perform the elaborate folding ceremony. The superintendent presented the folded flag to Everett’s parents and bent low to say a few words that Riley couldn’t catch.
The woman nodded, wiping her nose with a tissue. She was mid-fifties, with curly brown hair and unused smile lines around her eyes. Everett’s father stared straight ahead, his longish gray hair windblown. Riley wasn’t sure if the man had blinked all morning.
The sharp crack of the rifle squad delivering a twenty-one-gun salute snapped Riley back to reality. From somewhere behind them, the mournful sound of “Taps” floated in the air. The wind whistled through the crowd, making the lone bugler’s lament fade and swell.
The domed lid of the mahogany-and-brass affair reflected the low clouds, their patterns shifting subtly on its surface. The priest nodded and the casket began to recede into the earth.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” the priest intoned, and Riley’s chest convulsed in a sob. He hung his head as the tears rained down his cheeks.
This was his fault. A young life cut short because of his arrogance.
For a second, he thought he might be sick. He choked back his anger and his rage and his guilt into the mental box where they’d been kept since Everett’s death and raised his head. The wind chilled his wet cheeks.
Ramirez squeezed his arm. “You okay, sir?”
Riley nodded. Everett’s parents stood. They each took a handful of dirt and threw it onto the coffin. It sounded like hail on a window. Her mother made a wounded sound and her father clamped his arm around his wife.
Then it was over. Janet Everett was gone and the strangers assembled around the hole in the ground were expected to disperse and go on with the inertia of life. He watched numbly as a parade of brass offered their condolences to the parents, then hurried to their waiting town cars for the trip back to Washington.
Brendan and Liz emerged from the crowd. Brendan’s arm was still in a sling. Don made an attempt at a smile.
Liz came straight at Don and threw her arms around him. Her dark hair brushed against Don’s cheek as she hugged him hard. The subtle jasmine scent of her perfume soothed Don’s nerves.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Bren told me what you did. How you saved his life. Thank you, Don.”
“I—I—” He started to say it was nothing, but instead he said, “You’re welcome, Lizzie.”
“And that bastard Rafiq is dead, too,” she said, releasing him. “Finally.” She turned to Ramirez and Goodwin, shifting to a motherly tone. “And how are you two holding up?”
Ramirez put her arm around Goodwin. “We’re holding it together, ma’am—”
“Don’t you ma’am me, midshipman. I’m Liz and anything this guy taught you”—she hooked a thumb at Riley—“he learned as my plebe.”
Riley smiled, a real one this time, and shrugged as if to say, “It’s true.”
“Ma’am—I mean, Liz,” said Goodwin. “I thought Mr. Riley was Captain McHugh’s plebe?”
Liz grinned. “Let’s just say Captain McHugh and I have a long history of doing good things together.”
Riley looked around for Brendan and saw him walking toward an older man in a US Navy Master Chief’s uniform.
***
Brendan stepped closer, scarcely believing his eyes.
“Master Chief?” he said.
“It’s a beautiful view up here, sir,” the old man said without turning around. Brendan stood next to him, watching the low, gray clouds scud across the slate waters of the Chesapeake Bay. His injured shoulder ached and the strap bit into his neck.
“I see you got promoted again, sir. Captain, that’s pretty good. I see you also managed to marry that gurl I was shining you about.”
Brendan chuckled at the memory of the old man pushing him back toward a renewed relationship with Liz—in his own cantankerous way. “You were right about that, too.”
They watched the clouds in silence.
“I never connected the last name,” Brendan said finally. “Was she your granddaughter?”
The old man shook his head. “Brother’s granddaughter, my grandniece. I never stayed married long enough to have kids.” He grinned. “Not so far as I know, anyway.”
The low thud of car doors slamming became more infrequent as the crowd thinned out. “It was a nice service,” Brendan said.
“Sir?” Master Chief Everett faced Brendan. The deep lines of his face quivered with feeling and his brown eyes sparkled with moisture. “Were you there?” His voice broke. “Were you there when my Janet . . .”
Brendan slid his good arm around the old man’s shoulders. “Master Chief, I have a bad habit of talking to myself. If you were to walk with me right now, you might just hear some things. These are things you can never repeat, mind you. Are you up for a walk, Master Chief?”
“Lead on, sir.”
THE END
There you have it. In the original manuscript, Janet Everett was killed in the raid at the end of the book. Keith, our editor at St Martin's, wisely pointed out that maybe we should keep Janet around for a few more books if we wanted to build a series…
Good call, Keith.
We're happy to say we followed Keith's counsel and dug deep to find a new — and better — ending. Without giving spoilers, the revised ending of Rules of Engagement allowed us to close a much-loved story arc that began in the very first chapters of Weapons of Mass Deception.
If have not yet joined the ranks of readers who have enjoyed Rules of Engagement and you found yourself drawn in by this peek behind the scenes, then join us.