Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Finally I was satisfied, and told her she could stop.
“Alright darlin’, memorize and repeat the number on this card.” I said while handing her a blank card that only had a number on it. “Burn it when you are done. Remember to not draw attention to yourself. If you need anything don’t hesitate to call. Jack will take good care of you.
Robin nodded and headed to the plane that would take her and Jack to her new life. I watched the plane take off, and fly until I could no longer see it.
I dug into my pocket and called Elliott to get an update on the home situation. I was over two hours away, and informed him I was on my way back as soon as I hit Dunham’s to pick up the new transmission and transfer case for the El Camino that was set to be done by the end of this week.
I had just clicked the button at the top of my phone to close the screen when a text message opened it up again. I slid my thumb over the screen and stared dumfounded by what I saw.
Leah lay dead eyes open, mouth wide on a scream that had frozen on her face, her stomach gaping open with her insides flopping out on the ground, blood pooled under her body, and a tiny baby lay at her side mouth wide open in a scream.
The caption that came with it said “This could be Cheyenne soon.”
Rage burned hot through my veins. I stood there with my phone clenched tightly in my hands breathing in and out for five minutes until I was sure I had it under control.
I hit the phone button and called James first to check in with Cheyenne. Then called Elliott and Gabe to inform them of what was going on. I left a voicemail for Jack, and also forwarded him the message so he could do his work on it so see what he could find.
I walked back to my Suburban and hopped in, grabbing a hold of the OS bar as I went. I got a small smile on my face when I first heard Cheyenne say OS bar. According to her, the OS bar, or the oh shit bar, was the bar that hung above the door that you grab on to when you are four wheeling in the mud. She then proceeded to tell me that any self-respecting southerner would call it an OS bar, so I should start doing so now. Rolling my eyes, I continued to just call it a handle until she started bugging the shit out of me until I finally relented. Honestly, I didn’t really care what I called it, but I just loved to pick on her.
I was just about to head to the interstate when I got a call from the officer who questioned us last night.
“Mr. Mackenzie, this is Officer Anderson, from last night. I just wanted to update you and inform you on the condition of the baby.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, and what is the baby’s condition?” I asked.
“I conferred with the officer who is on your case, and we have compared notes. We are both now on the same page, and you were cleared. Same goes for Ms. Allen. The other officer and I are going to continue to work on this, and we have both spoken with your former CO. He is working an angle right now, which I am sure you are aware, that this Justin was not actually killed, and is now rogue and killing his former teammates.”
I agreed with him, and listened to a recap of what my old CO, Layne Cooper, had told me before. I still didn’t get the right feeling on this, and was thinking to myself that something else was wrong here when he said something to bring me back to the present.
“Cooper also informed me that he is trying to get a hold of a Malcolm Kincaid, but has been unable to make contact with him.”
Hearing his name again made my blood come to a boil. Everything that was going on seemed more on Malcolm’s scale I thought to myself. Now that the idea had taken root, I thought more and more that he might know something.
Malcolm was a member of our old unit. He was a hothead, and didn’t get along with anyone. We were at the base camp when a slew of MPs came in looking for Malcolm. We knew he was a bad seed, and I had filed many complaints to my CO about his attitude, and many actions that I and others had witnessed him doing. But that time was something more serious, because he was accused to raping an Afghani teenager, which was witnessed by two young Afghani soldiers. The girl just happened to be the sister of the guy who had killed Justin in a bomb that was strapped to his chest. Justin was thrown up against a wall, and wasn’t found until much later when the building that had collapsed on top of him was able to be lifted. I had gone to see him in the little tent that they had set up for the dead, and confirmed it was him only by the tattoo that was on his arm, and the writing that surrounded his wrist. The rest of the body was unrecognizable.
The two young soldiers had reported to their CO that they had seen Malcolm interrogating the girl, and when she wouldn’t give up more info on her brother, he then had used a different type of punishment to get her to talk. Their CO then informed our CO, and our CO decided that enough was enough. We were all sick of his actions, and no one stepped up to defend him. We were appalled by what he did, and that turn he had taken had forever burned the bridge back to us. He left in a rage, fighting the MPs with everything he had. He was imprisoned for three years and was given a dishonorable discharge from the army. He had dropped off the face of the earth when he was released, and no one had seen or heard from him since.