Brooke by Ronie Kendig

Author:Ronie Kendig [Kendig, Ronie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Task Force Press

Color him confused, but Cord couldn’t figure out the scowl Brooke kept shooting at him. And dang, if his knee wasn’t killing him from standing on the mucky ground that afforded no resistance. Made his muscles work harder to stay upright. Said muscles were now trembling.

But as the black of night—which wasn’t exactly black considering the floodlight glaring down on him—gave up the ghost, he’d started assessing the encampment, glad to put an eye on what the camo netting hid from plain sight. Thermals had been helpful, but this was better. Already a plan simmered in the back of his mind. Just prayed that Pike got back to the team without a hitch because this was not a one-man job.

Not long after dawn cracked open another day, the bearded guy—clearly had military training—showed up, dragging a metal baton along the bamboo huts, waking the children, teens, and Brooke.

Brooke. It’d been good to see her face even in the haze of darkness. And that’s what had confused him—she’d looked ticked. That didn’t make a lick of sense, so he must’ve misread that.

He hadn’t, however, misread the goons. Men who used power to make up for manhood that seemed to evade their sorry selves … But there were more kids than expected, and since his arrival, more guards had trickled in. He spotted one or two scouring the hills beyond Cheng’s paddies. Again, he hoped Pike had put enough distance between him and this chaos before the fire ants flooded out of their nest.

In a matter of minutes, the kids were up, moving to use the restroom, then getting in a single, long line. Brooke—man, she still did a number on his good sense, even with bruises and dirt-and-blood-stained clothes—stood in line with the kids. In front of her … yeah, that was the Daghestani girl. The boy behind her. He’d half expected her to hold the girl close, but she wasn’t. Hands at her side, she kept her gaze down.

Had to hand it to her—likely smart considering that hag who’d ordered him tied up.

“You okay?” one little kid asked as he paused to stare up at him.

“Sure.” Cord nodded.

Another boy grabbed his friend’s shoulders and spun him toward the line, and just as quick, dropped his hands to his sides. “Don’t talk to him. They’ll hurt you.”

Cord slid his gaze down the queue that ended at a table. Nobody was touching. Heads down. Hands to self. It was quiet. Eerily—wrongly—quiet. Kids shouldn’t be this quiet. He felt the anger, the violence, thrumming in his veins, washing away the whole dumber-than-dumb-hick act that had kept him from eating lead last night.

Calm … calm …

But somehow his gaze again found Brooke. Traced her form—the dingy pink sweater, mud-stained jeans that seemed … baggy. Her once-white tennis shoes … the freakin’ dog collar around her neck. Around everyone’s necks.

Even mine.

Quick intakes of breath shifted his attention to the captive children, the line—the table where two guards delivered food, just like he’d seen through the thermals.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.