Veteran Avenue: The gripping thriller with great plot twists by Mark Pepper

Author:Mark Pepper [Pepper, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Urbane Publications
Published: 2017-09-13T23:00:00+00:00

At the mention of Harry’s name, John saw Dodge jolt minutely, his spine stiffen. Virginia waited for her father to turn round, but Dodge was keeping his face to the window and keeping his counsel.

‘Marie named their daughter Hayley,’ Virginia said. ‘Marie is Harry’s wife, if you didn’t know. We came across a letter to Harry’s father.’

‘I don’t appreciate you digging in my past, girl.’

‘We weren’t. Dad, this is something to do with Harry Olsen, isn’t it? Sergeant Olsen? He died saving your life, right?’

When Dodge finally graced them with eye contact, his emotions appeared fully in check.

‘I take it you’re expecting some kind of breakdown right about now, like Rambo at the end of First Blood? Oh, you got the right wound, I’ll give you that. But it’s not the wound, it’s the infection that got in through the wound.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Virginia said.

‘And I won’t enlighten you.’

‘Then I hope you like this place. In fact, no. You won’t get to stay here. You’ll go to jail.’

Another impasse for John to referee. If he had known how many ghosts he would have to lay to rest apart from Donnie’s, he would never have left England.

‘Dodge, wouldn’t you like to meet Hayley? Find out if she’s okay. Maybe tell her about her father. You’re the only one who can do that.’

‘John, I don’t feel guilty because some kid grew up without her pop. Many times I could have died hauling someone else’s ass out of trouble. It went with the territory. In those four years I saw a lot of kids made fatherless, wives made widows, on both sides. Harry knew the risks; we all did. He made a sacrifice, but nothing I wouldn’t have done for him. I don’t lose sleep over it.’

Virginia blew a fuse. ‘Then what the fuck do you lose sleep over, Dad? Because something in your head sure as hell keeps me awake nights.’

When Dodge didn’t answer, she grabbed the letters from John, threw them at her father, and left the room.

For a long while, Dodge stared guiltily at a blank wall. John felt privileged that he wasn’t asked to leave, and hoped that might be Dodge leaving a door open back into the past.

Finally breaking his gaze, Dodge rubbed a big hand across his bald dome and looked at the floor. Then his eyes narrowed and John knew why. He stooped and picked up the envelope bearing his own handwriting, slowly extracted the letter, and began to read. John watched his eyes slowly track line by line to the foot of the page and stop there, and stay there.

‘Must be odd seeing that again,’ John said, to snap him from his reverie.

‘Explain something, John. If Quealy only just showed you my file, how the hell did you know four days ago to go all the way to Oregon to track down Harry’s old man?’

‘We didn’t.’

‘You’re asking me to believe you found him by accident?’

‘No, we were looking for him.’

Baffled, Dodge said, ‘John, is it

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.