Toronto, Canada, 2006. A few months after the worst year of the Iraq war. Gabriel Navarro splits his time between his job slinging ink at the Atlantis Ink tattoo parlor, and working on his master’s degree in fine art. Gabe is twenty-two, sure of his beliefs and his artistic integrity, and na?ve enough to think he’ll never have to compromise. And then one night Jake MacLean walks into the shop and changes everything. Jake Maclean is twenty-eight and a veteran American Army pilot. He's been staying with his ex-pat sister in Toronto while he tries to get his life in order. The problem is, he can't. After his disastrous final mission in Iraq, he's overcome with anger and survivor’s guilt, trapped in a losing battle to atone for a failure he’s sure can never be forgiven. Left without hope, he decides to have his memory of the mission tattooed on his back, with the condemning words: God Will Judge Me. He doesn't expect to fall for the tattoo artist. Gabe falls just as quickly and deeply for Jake, though Jake's reluctance to talk about what happened frustrates and worries him. Gabe knows Jake isn't doing well, but accepting Jake’s claims that he's "fine" is far easier than dealing with the frightening truth. But soon it’s horribly clear Jake can’t control his panic attacks or flashes of violence, and he's getting worse. If Gabe can’t help him face his demons, Jake is headed for a crash -- and there’s every chance he’ll take Gabriel down with him.

Black Hawk Tattoo

“Oh, yeah. That’d be cool. Where is it?”


They had to go back through the revolving door to the inside area of the observation deck to get to it, but the glass floor was very easy to find since most of the other visitors were already there. It was against the wall of the central shaft of the tower, beneath a cheerful but worn mural of workmen building the tower under the open sky. The mural was cute but Gabe knew he could have painted something that looked far more realistic.


The glass itself was sectioned into squares by metal girders, which made it look like a big, rectangular set of windows installed in the wrong place. Some teenagers were lying down on it, arms and legs splayed out like they were hovering in the air. They were laughing and egging each other on.


“This is so cool.” Jake stepped right out into the middle of the floor, exactly the way Gabe knew he would. He stood there looking down between his feet. “Wow. Look how far down the base of the tower is.”


Chapter 83