Codename Raike (eBook)

The Omega Series Book 2

J. R. Tootill (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
348 Seiten
Write Camp LLC (Verlag)
978-1-6678-8432-5 (ISBN)

Infos

When Skeet's marriage falls apart. Over the phone. Via text. He starts a new life in a new city. As a single parent, he wants to do the best he can for his kids. And when he can't deny his feelings for Alex, things really get complicated. Can he risk his heart and take another chance on love? For a woman like Alex, he's sure as hell going to try. Alex never dreamed of true love. Or marriage. Or kids. Until she meets Skeet. And all the things she never thought she wanted seemed to come with this sexy single dad, including an angry 10-year-old boy and a precocious 6-year-old girl. And suddenly, she can't see her life without them. But can she take a chance on this new life? For a man like Skeet, she's sure as hell going to try. Codename Raike is intended for a mature audience over eighteen due to language, sexual situations, and depictions of trauma.

J. R. Tootill writes contemporary romantic suspense novels with a Criminal Minds, CSI edge and a side order of spice. She began her love affair with romance novels because, unlike real life, the monsters were always destroyed, and the heroes got the happy ending they deserved. On a dare, she wrote a short story that turned into a novel, and that became The Omega Security Series. Her fascination with how people can rebuild their lives from hardship is what fuels The Omega Security Series. Her characters are sometimes broken, often battered, and always at a life-changing crossroads. And, because she still believes in happy endings, all of her stories have a hard-won happily ever after. J. R. was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book awards. She holds a BA in Writing Arts and an MFA in Creative Writing. And has been teaching creative writing on a university level for over twelve years.

Textauszug

Prologue

Undisclosed location, Afghanistan, ten years ago

SKEET

Pain.

Nauseating kicked you in the balls until you puked all over yourself pain was what woke him. His ears buzzed. He was dizzy. He wanted to puke.

Where the fuck was he?

The sounds around him were muffled. Was he in a bunker? Something pinged off whatever he was crumpled against. No. He was definitely not in a bunker. He tried to pull air into his lungs but couldn’t expand his chest. He swallowed and winced at whatever scratched his throat. He bore down on his molars, and sand crunched between his teeth.

Sand. Fuck. Now he remembered where he was.

His weapon was gone. Or at least he couldn’t feel it in his left hand. His ruck dug into his back. His helmet was twisted and wedged into the side of his neck. He tried to move his left arm to pull his helmet off, but that seemed to be the pain center. He tried to roll to the side, but his arms and legs were limp as if he’d been deflated. He was covered in sweat. His stomach convulsed. Shit. He was going to puke. He had to man up, push through the pain and find the rest of his team. And where the fuck was Tuc? As if he had summoned him, Tuc shouted his name. It drifted to him on a hot breeze from a long distance away. Or was that his ears playing tricks on him? He shook his head to clear the buzz, but that only made the whole fucking world spin. He winced into the pain that shot through his arm and dropped his head back onto the ground. His helmet dug deeper into him. Why the fuck couldn’t he move?

He tried to shout out to Tuc, but his throat was so clogged and dry that his voice couldn’t break through. He should have worn his balaclava instead of that goddammed scarf, but the heat was getting to him, so he had left it in the Humvee. He was getting careless like he always did when his brain shifted to going home. They had two days left. Two fucking days. They weren’t even supposed to leave the base. They were doing a favor for a friend. And he wasn’t paying enough attention. They were talking about getting back to Virginia Beach. Getting drunk. Getting laid. This was supposed to be a three-mile transport. They hadn’t even used the whole team. It was just a simple in and out. Kids. They were transporting kids. And that’s what made them sloppy. The end of his deployment always made him careless because his mind would finally take the chance to drift back home. He knew better than this. Nothing was simple here. Nothing. It killed him that he had let his team down. Well, shit. It probably did kill him.

He just needed to close his eyes for a minute. Just a minute to get his focus back. Then he would get to his feet and get his team out. Tuc shouted his name and pulled him awake. Shit, he must have drifted off. He tried to sit up and pain shot through his left arm. He realized he was lying on his left side. He tried to shift his legs to push onto his back, and that was when he felt the sticky wet beneath him. Ah shit. He wasn’t just knocked out from the blast. He was fucking hit.

His head was pounding like a jackhammer drilled against the inside of his skull. Now he was glad he couldn’t open his eyes. He would rather just bleed out right here if his left arm was gone. He wasn’t the kind of guy who could face a limb’s loss. He was too much of a vain bastard for that. He wasn’t any kind of a fucking hero at all. Just an asshole that had messed up and gotten them all killed because he was too busy thinking about good old U.S. of A. pussy.

He heard Tuc shout his name again. Why the fuck wasn’t he using comms?

He swallowed to push back the sand that clogged his mouth and throat, but that just lodged it further down, and he started to cough and then choke as everything he had swallowed slid up his throat. He coughed again and brought up some gooey, gritty crap that he spat out. It made him gag, which brought up a little more of the goop, making his stomach spasm. Once. Twice. And again. Then he puked all over himself like some drunken virgin at his first kegger. But it dislodged whatever was clogging his throat, and he managed to swallow enough saliva to wet it, but he still couldn’t seem to get enough air. His chest hurt. His arm hurt. His head hurt. He just wanted to go to sleep. He was at peace with it if this was his time. He’d fought the good fight. Defended his country. Done his job. And he’d done his job well. He’d provided for Trish and the kids. His letter was in his vest pocket, along with all the regrets and apologies for leaving them. He was ready to go. He released what little air he had in his lungs. He was prepared for it all to be over.

His body involuntarily took in another breath. He got a little bit more air that time. He blew out what little he had managed to pull in and then took another breath, and his lungs warmed as the oxygen filled them. That was better. That felt good. His chest seemed to open up a little more. He didn’t understand why he was trying so hard to breathe since he had already decided to die.

Tuc shouted his name again. Fuck him for not letting him go. He was almost there, almost out of pain. He was ready to be done with it all. But Tuc shouted his name again.

Fucking Tuc.

He owed him.

He owed him more than giving up like this. He drew in a breath and forced out a strangled here, sending him into another coughing spasm before everything went black.

Undisclosed location in Iraq

ALEX

“Ghost One, this is Rogue One.” A pause. A crackle. “Ghost One, report.”

Shit. Alex hated having Mack in her ear. She pressed her finger into the comm. “Rogue One, keep your panties dry.” She adjusted her scope. This was a shit position. She needed to go in further. She depressed the comm. “Rogue One, I don’t have the shot.”

“Ghost One, let the team get this one.”

“Fuck that. I’m going in.”

“Protocol, Ghost one. If you don’t have the shot, it’s ours.”

“Fuck no.” She went from a prone position to a squat in one fluid motion. She stood, racked her rifle against her shoulder, and headed down the hill. This was her kill. And this one was personal. Mack can just yell at her later like he always did. But if this was her last stand, she wanted to look into his eyes when she pulled that trigger.

Why not go out with a fucking bang? Right? She headed for the short wall along the compound’s east side. She had found the slight depression the dog started to dig out a few days ago. Now it was big enough for her to slide through. It would bring her behind the guards at the front of the house. The women used the side entrance. It led to the kitchen area, so the guards didn’t consider it a priority. The laundry they had hung earlier this morning blew in long billowing sheets, providing the cover she needed to slide into the entrance. She hadn’t seen the women outside for at least an hour. Going in through the kitchen meant she would interrupt the women preparing the evening meal. Better that than the armed guards patrolling the compound. The comm in her ear crackled. He just wasn’t going to shut up today.

“Ghost One, this is Rogue One. Stand Down. Repeat. Stand Down. Do not engage.” A pause. Another crackle. “Ghost One. Do you copy?” She reached up and clicked the comm twice, the signal for radio silence.

“Damnit, Ghost, I said, stand down.”

“Negative.” She whispered on an exhale after shimmying under the fence. She stood in the doorway, listening for voices. “Ghost one about to breach. Give me four.” Her voice faded into a mere release of air on the word four. The connection crackled, but she kept it live.

Clearing the doorway, she met with three women and a young girl. “Down.” She said in their dialect. “Quiet.” The woman to her left wrapped her arm around a young girl, and they all pushed into the far corner of the kitchen. Alex whispered, “Side entrance kitchen, three women and a girl. No time to secure.”

“Copy. Rogue Three, secure kitchen on breach.”

“Copy,” echoed in the comm as she rounded the doorway into the hall and headed for the stairs. “Ten stairs, short landing, ten more stairs.” She said into the comm as she counted the steps. When she rounded the second landing, two men stepped out. She swung her weapon and took the first out with a single shot to the forehead. The second shifted as she fired, catching him in his upper chest. She followed him down with her weapon, and when he hit the floor, she followed through with a tap to the head.

“Two down, second landing. Heading to target now.” She said into the open comm.

“Ghost one, three heading your way. First floor.”

“Copy. Entering hallway now, double doors at the end of the hall, two closed doors left, one right.” She turned and swept the hallway behind her. Empty. She didn’t bother with the closed doors in the hall. The last door on her left was open. She stopped at the doorway and stepped in. Empty. Good. She stepped back into the hallway and moved. She stopped at the double doors and drew in a long breath. She let it out slowly, then said, “Breaching now.” Alex kicked the doors, which opened way too easily. Her target stood in the far corner of the room. He had gathered a few children and two women to him. Not in protection, he was using them as a shield. Scumbag.

“Move,” she said in their dialect to the women. “Move now or die with...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 14.2.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-8432-8 / 1667884328
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-8432-5 / 9781667884325