LITMIR.BIZ

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Epilogue

      Chapter One

      “Where are you headed?” Captain Eli Murdoch asked, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder as he and another soldier crossed the parking lot at Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the U.S. Army’s paratrooper jump school.

      “Anywhere but this hellhole,” Lieutenant Colonel Mitch Dugan said with a grin.

      Mitch was full of shit. Eli and Mitch had met five years ago in basic training, fresh out of college, both ROTC guys, and struck up a friendship. After spending the last five years at different bases, they’d both made the decision to move into Special Forces and wound up at the same three-week jump school rotation.

      Eli had embraced every minute of the challenge that was paratrooper training. Mitch hadn’t been one to shy away from the challenges either.

      “So, your folks already headed down to Florida?” Mitch said.

      “Yeah, they drove down from Tennessee a couple of days ago so they could be here this morning, but they’re back on the road now. They’ll spend a week with my sister and her triplets. Better them than me. Teresa’s kids are cute but they’re wild. Seriously, man, they could bring those hellions in for Special Ops training and they’d probably kick our asses.”

      This morning, after three weeks of intense training, Eli and Mitch had earned their wings and become part of an elite fraternity, the Airborne. Eli’s folks had shown up at 0900 at the south end of Eubank Field on Airborne Walk to observe the final jumps, the graduation ceremony and the awarding of the coveted paratrooper wings. And then they’d promptly continued south.

      His mother’s eyes had sparkled with unshed tears and a quiet pride when she’d hugged him. “Grandpa would be so proud of you. In fact, I think he’s watching and he’s proud right now,” she’d whispered.

      Funny, but Eli had felt the same way—that the grandfather who’d regaled him with tales of serving on the European front in World War II and later in Korea and Vietnam was aware that today his grandson had taken one step closer to being a more effective soldier. A paratrooper. From the time he was a kid, Eli had known he was meant to serve and defend his country.

      Not surprisingly, no one had shown up on Mitch’s behalf. From what Eli had seen over the years they’d been Regular Army together, Mitch’s family was a bunch of losers. Eli knew he was blessed with a close-knit, albeit small, family. No matter how far across the globe he was stationed, he always knew his folks and his buddies who’d stayed in Jackson Flats, Tennessee, had his back. He’d always had a home base. Mitch, on the other hand, never elected to visit family on leave. Not once, ever. The guy was straight discipline, hardcore army all the way. Eli had invited Mitch to come home with him a couple of times for the holidays, but it soon became apparent that even though they were friends, Mitch wasn’t going to take him up on his offer.

      Mitch laughed now at Eli’s assessment of his three nephews. “Mini-terrorists, eh?”

      “You don’t even want to know,” Eli said. Hellion was a good term for them. His mother said they reminded her of him at that age. He grinned. “Are you taking leave?”

      “Nope. I’m heading up to Bragg.” That didn’t surprise Eli, either. Special Forces

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