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Chapter Twenty One
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Hands in pockets, Jona entered the dark pub, glancing over at the big screen’s cricket game. A crowd watched a replay of the one-day international match. Veering past the snooker tables, Jona zoned in on a quiet booth held by one lone occupant. Jona slid into the opposite seat, and the man straightened.
“‘Cheers.’ Really? You chose a bar called ‘Cheers.’”
“They have good food. British pie.” Beady eyes took in Jona’s hoodie as the thug forked at a piece of pastry and chicken before swiping at the gravy on the plate. Harris shoveled the food into a hungry mouth, glancing up nervously at Jona’s lethal stare.
“What’s your fucking problem?” he asked.
“Imagining the different ways I could kill you. It’s a game.”
“You’re crazier than I am.”
“Damn right. And I’ve racked up more bodies at half your age. Never forget that
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Strikethrough Book One - Strike Zone Series Chapter Twenty Two
Hatton. Sri Lanka. Getting out of the city was what Chantal needed. She paused to take in the lush surroundings as she climbed from the armored suburban on stiff legs. Surrounded by the hills of the Sri Lankan tea country, Chantal found relief in the cooler air. First the three-hour inland trip from Colombo to Kandy, and then the forty-mile trip to Hatton, which sat at an elevation exceeding 4000 feet. The perfect climate for growing the finest tea in the world. Mixed feelings over the location for the symposium had Chantal turning her back on the lavish plantation bungalow. To tourists, the tea fields provided a perfect getaway, set amongst green vistas, and waterfalls. Their every whim was taken care of, in luxurious rooms, between visiting tea estates and tasting herbal beverages. Many visitors ignored the colonial air permeating the region or the reality for the female workers picking tea for ten-hour days—a back-breaking
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The stuffy auditorium had Gage on edge. Both MSD teams and local forces had locked down the symposium. Gage now stood to the side of the small stage and watched the crowd, made up of VIPs, local politicians, the media, and foreign diplomats.Chantal was the next speaker. Feeling on edge, Gage shifted his stance and focused on the packed room. Thanks to intel, he recognized many familiar faces. After flagging a few unknowns and communicating with his team, Gage watched Chantal step onto the stage. She looked sophisticated in a navy pants suit—not overtly sexy, but it didn’t need to be. A pale blue silk scarf concealed the healing marks on her throat. Gage hated that reminder—of his failure of her physical and mental protection. He watched Chantal move across the stage. The way she walked and held herself communicated alluring confidence. Like her mother, Chantal played the intellectual card well and to her advantage.Tea
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Chantal looked up as Wyatt approached, taking the opportunity to stretch out her back as she helped a patient off a bed. “You’ve been at this for hours. It’ll get dark soon.” Dishan joined her Agent in Charge and agreed, a concern reflected in his eyes. “It’s time to call it a day, after fifteen hours on your feet.” “I could help so many more.” Chantal looked around the humble meeting space where they’d set up their makeshift treatment site. “You still have tomorrow.” She did. They planned to leave in two days, and she wanted to see at least sixty more patients. She wasn’t the only one hustling—the two local chiropractors who owned the center took the lead on the operation and shouldered the bulk of the work. “Nanri.” The Tamil term for thanks rolled off her tired lips, and conceding to Wyatt’s request, she ga
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Gage followed Chantal and her local detail across the lawn, watching the shadows for danger. When he had clear and unseen access to the verandah, Chantal slid open the door, and he slid through. Gage held up a hand and texted Gannon.“What are you doing?”“Stepping up your detail. Approaching your room so easily reveals a gap in local patrols. I’ll get more of my team involved—more patrolling bodies.”“Hang ten. Let me first close the curtains. Don’t you share a room with Gannon?” she asked as she slipped the drapes in place, tamping down on her nerves.“Yeah. He can draw his own conclusions.” Gage walked up and ran his hands over her hips. “I like your shirt. Stripes look good on you.”“How about my bra?” Chantal grinned and pulled her t-shirt over her head.Gage’s mouth twisted into a smile. “Soft lac
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Chantal felt along the patient’s scapula. “I’m not doing an adjustment. She needs to see a doctor and possibly have an MRI. I suspect a torn rotator cuff.”Shoulder pain was a common occurrence with many tea pickers who carried sacks every day, hoisting them over their backs as they walked.The translator told the hunched woman sitting on the table. The lady replied, agitation apparent as she pointed at her shoulder.“She can’t afford that. Even with her husband working in Dubai.”Chantal nodded at the translator. “Of course not. She should check first with her plantation manager. They may cover the costs through insurance. If not, here’s the number for a free clinic in Kandy. If she can get to that town, they’ll take care of her appointments and surgery.”The lady still shook her head and babbled in Tamil.“She can’t stop working in the fields or leave her three c
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The car’s atmosphere felt tense as they slowly looped around another precarious turn on a narrow pass. Chantal stared ahead, preferring not to glance over the drop-off right beside her window.“This was a bad idea.”Dishan fiddled with the windshield wiper settings. “I’m comfortable with the monsoon season, and I’ve grown up on these roads. Relax, I know what I’m doing.” He reached for his water bottle.Gripping her seatbelt, Chantal nearly climbed onto her seat. “Both hands on the wheel!”“You sound like my wife.”“Who obviously cares about living!” Wyatt added from the passenger seat.Chuckling, Dishan slowed and edged around a boulder. “We do have to watch for mudslides—a pretty common occurrence in this region.”“Gee, thanks. How long have we been at this?” Chantal asked.“Fifty minutes. Three hours to go.
Strikethrough Book One - Strike Zone Series Chapter Twenty Eight
The well-planned attack took everyone by surprise, on a rough stretch of road surrounded by fields and foliage on all sides. When Gage had caught a glimpse of the targets’ vehicles barreling through the brush, he knew that they were screwed—and outnumbered. His only thought—live long enough to get to Chantal. He prayed Team Five’s training would pay off as a pimped-out Land Rover slammed into the MSD armored vehicle. Seconds before the collision, Lucius and Gage had already begun firing at the occupants as Gannon reversed. At the last second, and thanks to a headshot, the Rover driver veered off target, striking the hood of the MSD suburban, instead of pounding Gage and his team to kingdom come.“They’ve blocked the road to the front and rear!” Gannon shouted. “Heavy goods vehicles.”They’d need to evacuate on foot. There was no way that the teams could retrieve both princ
Strikethrough Book One - Strike Zone Series Chapter Twenty Nine
Chantal focused on the warrior leading them through the brush rather than the awful hollowness settling into her bones. He’d lost Jason. She knew that feeling—the emptiness in his heart—the waves of misery pounding in his skull. That’s how she’d felt when she lost her father. And she’d blurted out those thoughtless words. The day’s horrors could never be unseen—images now layered on top of old memories. Her shattered mind recalled old violence which melded with the new. Was this her fault? Because of the flash drive?They walked in silence—more like jogged. Although Chantal worked out three times a week, her yoga routine didn’t prepare her for jungle warfare. Both men scanned the landscape, always looking for danger.“I don’t have it,” she stated between breaths. “God, I wish I did. I could’ve saved them.”Gage glance
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Christmas Day, two months later. Quantico, Virginia.“Connie, grab the salad tongs. They’re in the drawer next to the sink.” Gage leaned over and placed the large salad at the center of the table. He paused to look around his new home. So, maybe his whirlwind romance with Chantal had moved a little fast. He’d ended up spending the rest of the year in Virginia, commuting between DC and Quantico as the investigation into the Sri Lankan attack dragged on via multiple debriefings.Gage spent every spare moment with Chantal and wanted more—a cemented life with the gorgeous chiropractor. A home. Not just any home—a place they’d chosen together. Technically, they’d moved into their own place, but…“You used my first name without a reminder. Finally.” The ambassador tapped Gage on the arm with the tongs and grinned. “Your secret salad dressing had be
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One week later. Welikada Prison, Colombo. “Are you sure you’re up for this?” Gage asked, his concern evident. “I’m fine—just a little tender.” Chantal lied, but she needed to have this conversation. She stood with Gage in a dark passage. The rest of the team remained on guard outside the walls, and Dishan waited in an adjacent courtyard. Team Five insisted on accompanying her, regardless of their debriefings and orders. Chantal’s heart twisted, knowing they mourned the loss of their teammate. Local and U.S. teams had retrieved the ambush victims’ bodies, and DSS would fly Jason’s remains back to U.S. soil. Gage looked restless, and she knew he was concerned over their surroundings. Welikada Prison was the largest prison in Sri Lanka. Regular prison clashes resulted in numerous deaths. They weren’t exact
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National Hospital.Colombo.The reunion with her daughter had been short-lived. Connie and her detail met them at the National Hospital. Chantal had been rushed from the helipad on the roof to the third floor after Gage’s men radioed ahead, coming in hot on a military chopper. Hours later, her daughter lay in a safe and comfortable bed with Gage by her side.Connie cradled her third cup of coffee and watched the couple from the door. Their heads touched as Chantal whispered with the team leader. His easy smile indicated his affection as he tucked Chantal’s tangled hair behind her ear. They both looked like they’d survived a war—or a plane crash. The MSD agent had better not break Chantal’s heart.The lash marks on her daughter’s arms and neck had Connie turning away. She’d give them more time.
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As they converged on the courtyard, a mercenary fired from the shadows and Gage aimed and took out the threat. The man fell just as Chantal’s scream alerted them to her location. Gage switched to berserker mode, abandoning his training as he rushed the door. “Chants!”Gannon wrestled him away. “I’ll use an explosive breach. Hang back!”“Fucking hurry! I’ll do it.”“We need steady hands.” Gannon knelt beside the door and pulled out the putty. He worked quickly and stepped back.“Clear!” Gannon yelled, and the door blew inwards. Gage followed, rushing into the small space. His heart paused as he took in the carnage. Blood pooled on the rough floor, and Harris lay across Chantal with a blade to her neck. Gage recognized the knife as his own and savage regret surfaced.“One more step, and I’ll kill her.”Gage gave direction. “Chants, don’t
Strikethrough Book One - Strike Zone Series Chapter Thirty Nine
Chantal paused to examine her bleeding hands before switching from the window to her chain. She knew, if she slept anymore, she’d waste time. She began a fresh count to five hundred, and would switch tasks unless she made progress with either the bracelet around her ankle or the chain link.It took an agonizing moment to lower herself to the ground. Her body screamed with exhaustion and relentless pain. Was this how her mom felt every day?And Chantal had wanted a break—thought about walking away? What kind of daughter was she, to abandon her impaired mother, to run off and “find herself”?Except she’d found herself—with Gage. Each moment they’d spent together was etched in her shattered mind. For the hundredth time, she analyzed their last moments together. And Alexis… the way she’d looked before pulling the trigger and deliberately firing past Chanta
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Gage sagged against a pillar, an empty water bottle crushed in his fisted hand. His bruised body screamed as he waited for ibuprofen to kick in. Not that the meds would make much of a difference. Kohen had patched up Gage’s head and cheek, sealing the lacerations with glue and steri strips. Now, they stood outside the tea factory, surrounded by Sri Lankan Special Forces while awaiting exfil. Ignoring his exhaustion, magnified by worrying grief, Gage focused on his team and mentally cataloged their capability. With or without them, he’d be heading up the rescue operation.His MSD team would still be the first choice, but as a rule of thumb, the host nation would have to weigh in and give permission. They couldn’t allow American Federal Agents to run rogue in their country. How would the Sri Lankan President work around this shitstorm? Would he block rescue efforts? Was Rajin in touch with the president, and did he know about Chantal’s kidnapping and how
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Sri Lanka.Jaffna Peninsula.They’d walked for just over a mile from the chopper landing site, and Chantal stumbled to keep up. Approaching the thirty-five-hour mark—aside from half a protein bar—she hadn’t eaten. Desperately thirsty and exhausted from her two-day ordeal, Chantal’s weakening body felt uncooperative. All she cared about was Gage. Staring numbly ahead through eyes swollen from tears, she prayed he lived. He’d lain bleeding, beaten and surrounded the last time she’d seen him. He had to have found a way. Gage wouldn’t give up on fighting for his life or for her rescue. The alternative would destroy her heart—her soul.They’d flown north and had stopped once to refuel. Chantal guessed—from what she’d seen on the approach—that they were on the outskirts of a coastal town which looked familiar. The
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His chest felt like it would burst as he shoved to his feet and staggered after the women. Spotting Jona in the distance, Gage sped up and fell in his haste to save Chantal. The drug felt like syrup in his veins.Gage saw Jona raise the gun as he pounded through the field. Chantal knelt before the skilled slayer, and her shoulders straightened defiantly. Too far off, he was out of time. Gage felt it in his bones. Jona shifted her stance—straightened her elbow at the last second. Even as he flung himself across uneven ground, Gage knew he’d failed. With one last futile shout, he called out to his love and closed his eyes against the horror.The gunshot echoed across the valley, shattering his soul. Gage’s foot caught on a root, and he flew, landing and sliding to a final stop. Twenty feet away. Tea shrubbery blocked his view, and Gage rose to face a killer. Two pairs of eyes turned his way. Chantal still sat on he
