Ballistic

Nance.

- Back up. - Nance.

Back up!

Aim it at me.

Aim it at me.

Fuck, Nance.

Next one's in your chest.

Ten...

-nine... -Nance, don't.

...eight.

No, I don't want this.

...seven, six,

five, four...

-Nance. -Aim it at me!

Nance.

-...three, two... -No, no.

-Nance! -...one.

Nance!

Okay, so after this...

-Mm-hmm. -...you need four A bolts.

-Oh, fuck. -And 24 D bolts!

So fun!

I'm sorry we're stealing your room.

No, look, I'm happy in Jesse's room.

You might have to get me out of here.

I think I'm stuck.

Oh no. Now you know how I feel.

-Love you. -Love you.

All right, see you next time.

- Hey. - Hi, Mom.

I miss you.

I miss you, too.

Hey, the nursery's finished. It looks nice.

Di is moving in next week.

The baby's coming.

-Yeah. -You're gonna be a great dad.

You think so?

I know so.

I don't know.

Uh...

You okay?

It's weird, you know?

At home...

everyone thinks they know what's going on

in the world, but, you know,

they don't know shit.

We don't know shit.

Oh, yeah, I don't mean you.

You don't mean I don't know shit?

No, I mean, me, everyone, all of us.

-Does that make sense? -Yeah.

But the military, they know what they're doing, so...

you're safe.

Yeah, it's just that we were out on patrol.

No idea why we left Jalalabad to begin with.

Our target's some low-rank Taliban guy.

Anybody got eyes on?

None of us really knows why we're sitting ducks

for a paper boy, but here we are.

The only people with cell phones are rich people

and the Taliban.

In the city, cell phones call fathers and wives.

Up here, they detonate bombs.

You see a guy in shabby clothes and a Samsung,

you shoot him on the spot.

One o'clock, 250 meters.

Fighting-age male.

He's got a phone.

I got him.

Oh, fuck.

- Hey, hey! - Light 'em up!

But it's not your usual we-shoot-you-shoot thing.

We never see them,

and their bullets aren't anywhere near us.

And the pattern's weird.

They wait for us to shoot

so they can shoot at the same time.

So we test it.

We play Jingle Bells with our gunfire, and so do they.

It's all just the echo off the mountains.

We still don't know if they even fired at us,

or if they were even there.

I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have said anything

when I saw the guy, but I had to.

It's my job.

Oh, you did the right thing.

You probably saved all their lives.

-You think so? -Yeah.

No.

I-I think you did.

Your gunfire probably scared 'em away.

Mom, it doesn't-- doesn't work like that.

I'm just saying you did your job.

You did it great. You should get a medal.

I would give you a medal.

A medal?

-Yes. -No, no.

I don't deserve a medal.

I don't...

How's Mr. Fish?

-Uh, Mr. Fish is great. -Yeah?

Take care of him.

We're just sitting here,

waiting for you.

Think we're going back out there again tomorrow.

I'm losing you. The Wi-Fi's really shit here.

No, I can see you.

-Mom? -Yeah.

Hey.

Jesse?

Hey, can you hear me?

Shit.

Hey, Nance.

What's up?

Hold up a second.

What? I have to get this done.

Accounting said I had to let one person go,

and I decided it should be you because, you know,

well, we're sort of friends, and I figured you'd understand.

It's a gift card.

My in-laws gave it to me

for the gun range up in the mountains.

I know you don't care for it,

but it's time you learn how to shoot these things.

I don't care for it, but...

-Really appreciate it. -You should try it.

Whenever my wife gives me my balls back,

I just go up there, and I shoot paper people,

and I'm the boss again, you know?

Of course, it's still snowing up there, you know?

Oh.

Ah, that's good.

What'd you do this weekend?

I turned the smoker up to 175, and I marinated some wings,

and boom, flavor country.

I mean, those wings were chuggable.

Yeah, Jesse hates wings. He says it's weird

swallowing the flight of all those birds.

Huh.

Yeah, wait, you heard from him?

Yeah, I-- I spoke to him last night.

He's halfway to coming home.

Oh, wonderful.

Well... Well, you hit the range,

and then he won't come home

and find his mom still a scaredy-cat with the guns.

Mm-hmm. See you, Rick.

See you.

See you tomorrow.

Mm-hmm.

I talked to him last night.

I talked-- I talked to him.

Family not coming?

No.

Can we still move in with you?

You married Jesse, you got me, too.

Would you like a viewing?

-Yeah. -No.

Can I touch him?

Of course.

Are these the boots he was wearing when--?

Yes.

Can I keep 'em?

Um...

Oh, no, you-- you should have them.

Also, we have a support group on the base

for surviving family members.

Uh, it would be helpful, maybe, for the grieving process.

-Is this all there was? -Yes.

Where's the bullet?

Uh...

Well, the folks at Dover who received Jesse

thought it would be more respectful

to leave the bullet inside of him.

What kind was it?

What kind?

Yeah, what caliber?

You did X-rays, right?

Yes, of course. They-- They would have. Um...

It's never very accurate,

but the bullet they think was a...

uh, possibly a 5.56 NATO,

but it's always hard.

That's for an M4 or an M16 or possibly an AR-15.

American guns, American bullets.

Well, I'm sorry, we don't have that information, ma'am.

How do we take it out?

That would have to have been done at Dover, I'm afraid.

You can do it, right?

Technically, we can if authorized by the next of kin.

Okay. It's...

It's just it's unorthodox, ma'am,

to do this after the deceased has been prepared.

You want to take it out?

Yeah. Yeah, I do.

Why?

Because we need to know what kind it is.

It would be easiest to remove the bullet

from the existing wound.

It's just sitting there in the pectoral.