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Chapter Forty Four
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The mattress creaked, waking Lizzy. She didn’t move, preferring to savor the safe moment. Cocooned in John’s bed and his love, she’d slept through the night and woken feeling at peace. It wasn’t quite morning, the hint of dawn scrubbed over by the sound of a storm sweeping in. Lizzy reached behind and felt the empty warmth as she heard John slam the window shut.
Ray shifted next to her chest, and Lizzy snuggled deeper. “What time is it?”
“Four thirty. I might as well get up; I need to check on the animals. This storm looks nasty,” he said before brushing his teeth at the sink.
Lizzy dozed until the bed dipped, and he pulled his boots on.
“Do you need help?”
“I’m all good, Lizbug. If you feel like getting up though, I hear Abby banging around in the kitchen. I think Gabe woke her.”
The wind howled as rain pelted against the window. “Five more minutes,” s
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Max hung up the call to his wife and strode into the meeting room. Abby wasn’t resting or eating as well as she should. Screw trying ever again for a third kid. This pregnancy was the most stressful shit Max had ever experienced, and that included going head-to-head with suicidal extremist bastards.Those worrying thoughts screeched to a halt as soon as Max saw his boss standing in the far corner. Max and Donnie had been pulled out of morning training and asked to meet one of their analysts—Jace Martin—on base. Jace was in the room but so was Colonel Jack Hearst. Was it to do with Slater’s replacement? Max doubted it, as he stood at attention. Donnie fell in beside him. The look on the distinguished MIT mogul’s face had Max’s skin itching.“Sir. It’s good to see you. What brings you to Utah?”“Erik, we’ve fucked up. Not just MIT but every agency in the northern hemisphere. Close the door and sit.&
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“The storm could’ve damaged the phone lines,” Donnie yelled over the thrumming blades. Max ignored the logic, knowing in his gut that his family was in trouble and Johnny was either disabled or dead.His teammate should’ve made mincemeat out of Muller’s slimy ass and contacted Max by now. None of the mobile phones were being answered, and the landlines were dead.The colonel’s orders were to allow local law enforcement and the FBI to run the mission. But if Max was the first to arrive, he’d ignore that directive, just as he’d ignored the orders to stay on base until SOCOM briefed a fully manned black ops team.Defying orders, Donnie and Max threw on battle rattle and relied on a friend and chopper pilot to give them a ride. Now MIT scrambled to cover their men’s asses. They’d departed on a mission on American soil that was not fully authorized. Max didn’t give a shit. His pregnant wife and child w
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Stain on the Earth book Two of the MIT2 Series Chapter Forty Four
The mattress creaked, waking Lizzy. She didn’t move, preferring to savor the safe moment. Cocooned in John’s bed and his love, she’d slept through the night and woken feeling at peace. It wasn’t quite morning, the hint of dawn scrubbed over by the sound of a storm sweeping in. Lizzy reached behind and felt the empty warmth as she heard John slam the window shut.Ray shifted next to her chest, and Lizzy snuggled deeper. “What time is it?”“Four thirty. I might as well get up; I need to check on the animals. This storm looks nasty,” he said before brushing his teeth at the sink.Lizzy dozed until the bed dipped, and he pulled his boots on.“Do you need help?”“I’m all good, Lizbug. If you feel like getting up though, I hear Abby banging around in the kitchen. I think Gabe woke her.”The wind howled as rain pelted against the window. “Five more minutes,” s
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Two days later, Max and Donnie rolled out, headed for training at Camp Williams with the newest team member, Dylan Jenkins. A local Utahan sniper from the 19th Special Forces Group. Johnny admired the laid-back soldier. Aside from his Army career, the operator embodied a reckless, surfer-like attitude as a well-known snowboarder in Utah. It would be interesting to see how their uptight team leader handled the Owen Wilson wannabe. Dylan’s long-range marksmanship and excellent skills in the field would make him a valuable MIT member—aside from the additional training lined up for him at MIT headquarters later in the month. At Max’s insistence, Johnny stayed behind with Lizzy. As they were still evaluating Jenkins’ skills, it wasn’t essential for Johnny to be at Camp Williams. If they needed him, they’d call.***“I forget how hot the summers can get in some parts of the States, is late May supposed to be this warm?” Abby gr
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Balancing tentatively on the ball of her foot, Lizzy poked her head through the canopy of leaves. Wyoming was truly breathtaking. Silence surrounded her. Not true silence as she could still hear insects buzzing, the leaves rustling in the afternoon breeze and a bleating sheep answered by three more. The distant hills looked so clear in the waning light, the golden rays contrasting with shadowed crevices in the craggy mountainside. She missed climbing trees; she still loved it.Her head sank back below the branches, and Lizzy looked down. The branch she balanced on bent under her weight, and she transferred her foot to a sturdier limb. The new branch instantly disintegrated, almost melting into thin air. Before she could comprehend her predicament, she fell to the earth, bouncing through and over battering limbs. Just before she slammed into the ground, strong arms caught her and they fell, rolling down a steep hill at a dizzying pace.A scarlet blur filled her vision a
