Oathkeeper by Marcus Richardson

Author:Marcus Richardson [Richardson, Marcus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Freeholder Press, LLC

16

Breach

The watch on Cooper’s wrist vibrated and woke him after a two-hour rest. He groaned at the interruption more than the pain in his side. “What?” he shouted into the close, humid air of the small apartment he’d occupied since leaving the mercenary convoy.

“Condor, Nest Actual.”

“Tell me you got a fix on that car,” Cooper muttered as he sat up. He sucked air through his teeth as the wound in his side announced its presence. “Fuck that hurts!”

“What hurts?”

“Nothing…” Cooper said through clenched teeth. “You find that car or not?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. I’m uploading the coordinates to your map as we speak.”

Cooper rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He’d been dreaming of her again. Brenda may have left his waking thoughts, but she still ruled his dreams. God, he wanted to hold her again. To run his hands through her hair…he sniffed and swore he could still smell that light, flowery scent, as if she were in the room with him.

“But?” he asked, forcing himself back on mission.

Brent sighed. “Your target headed straight into the heart of the OZ after hightailing away from our convoy. I don’t like it.”

“Aww, I’m touched, Actual.”

“Hey, I pulled a lot of strings to get a guy with your credentials—I don’t want to see you throw your life away and waste all my time and money on a wild goose chase.”

Cooper opened his pack and removed a bottle of saline. Now was as good a time as any to take care of business before the action started. He peeled back the bandage and cringed at the bloody, bruised mess his side had become.

“Fuck,” he said. Louder, he said, “Well, I’m glad I rate in there somewhere. Hate for you to not get your money’s worth.”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

Cooper frowned, holding the saline above his wound but not going any further. “And you know why I’m doing this, Actual. You can send me wherever the hell you want, to kill whoever you want, but this op gets finished first. I swore an oath.”

Brent laughed. “You and your oaths. You’re just lucky that intel you gathered about the NKors cozying up with the gangbangers is panning out. Looks like they’re in with the shadier side of the OZ about neck deep.”

Cooper shook his head. “That’s no good, man. You pass this on to your contacts at the DoD?”

“You bet your ass. General Rykker wanted to express his gratitude.”

“Hah!” Cooper laughed, “I bet he does. When’s Harrison going to let him slip the leash?”

Brent sighed. “Hell, if I know. Things are so messy with the territorial dispute right now I don’t know if anyone in Denver knows who the hell owns what anymore. Between the Chinese and the UN trying to act as mediators—it’s a diplomatic nightmare.”

Cooper flooded the wound channel with saline solution and clenched his jaw, seeing stars. “Gah!” Panting as the wave of pain receded, he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

“You gonna make

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.