“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” said Brown, glancing at McCulver’s back.
“Probably not,” said Eli. “Gutsy move staying back. I thought you had lost your fucking mind, frankly. How many did we kill?”
“Zero.”
“Bullshit. We tore that place apart. You said they were loading up one of the Matvees?”
“Two men and a woman were evacuated. I recognized two of them from the windows above the garage. I hit them hard with my .308 at one point.”
“We need more .308s in our arsenal. That goes on the list. You sure we didn’t kill any of them?”
“Unless they buried some folks on the other side of the house, where I couldn’t see. I watched them drag our KIAs into the woods through my scope. All MultiCam uniforms. Nothing else. It took them over an hour.”
Eli’s eye twitched. Twenty-nine killed for three wounded? He couldn’t accept that. A dangerous thought flashed across his synapses and hid in the dark recesses of his mind, waiting to be retrieved. He knew he should turn away from it. Nothing good could come from dragging it into light.
Twenty-nine dead in Limerick, twenty-five dead in Milton Mills. Jimmy. Nathan. These assholes had to pay.
“How many do you think are in the house? How many marines?”
“I counted five different civilians and three marines. One tactical vehicle stationed in the backyard. The other vehicle hadn’t returned by the time I left. Probably stayed with the wounded.”
“How did the marines get past the gates?”
“Busted right through. Those things are built like tanks,” said Brown.
“Tell me about it,” said McCulver, facing the crates in the truck. “We’ll have to build shaped charges to do any damage.”
“So the gates are broken?” said Eli.
Brown nodded, and McCulver turned around with a wary look.
“Eight total?”
“There could have been a few more in the house,” added Brown.
“How are the marines set up?”
“One guy on the 240. The other two helping out around the house.”
“Only one marine in the vehicle?”
“That’s what I saw when I left.”
Eli ran the scenario in his head and started to tremble. He might not have to wait as long as he thought to get his revenge.
Acknowledgments
To my wife, Kosia. I carry a notepad with me to capture her thoughts and recommendations—which can arrive, unannounced, at any time of the day. Sometimes I suspect she spends more time thinking about these novels than I do.
To the beta reader crew for another A-plus round of comments, observations and edits. Trent, Nancy, Jon, Bruce and the newest member of the team, Greg. Greg has been a long time reader and generous contributor to my veteran’s donation campaigns. Welcome aboard!
To the production crew. Felicia A. Sullivan—editor extraordinaire. Thank you for the early delivery! Jeroen ten Berge—for producing another killer cover design and devouring the story as quickly as I could write it. Stef Mcdaid—for creating the final showcase product. He takes whatever I spit into the file and “nukes” it into shape. To Pauline Nolet for the exhaustively detailed proofing job. Once Pauline is done, I don’t need to look at it again… and I don’t.
Once again, a special thanks goes out to Randy Powers of Practical Tactical. He beta read The Perseid Collapse and Event Horizon with a prepper’s eye and provided me with a copy of Practical Tactical’s Handbook. Not only did his advice and guidebook help shape the final disposition of the Fletcher’s wide array of survival gear and strategy, it currently serves as the “go to” guide for the Konkoly household. Look for a collaboration between us in the near future. Something along the lines of The Fletcher’s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse.
Finally, to the readers, friends and fellow writers who continue to support my transition to full-time writing. None of this would be possible without you. THANK YOU!
About the Author
Steven Konkoly graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as a naval officer for eight years in various roles within the Navy and Marine Corps. He lives near the coast in southern Maine, where he writes full time.
His first novel, The Jakarta Pandemic, reached readers in 2010, followed by four novels in the Black Flagged series: Black Flagged (2011), Black Flagged Redux (2012), Black Flagged Apex (2012) and Black Flagged Vektor (2013). The Perseid Collapse (2013) signaled his return to the post-apocalyptic genre. Event Horizon is the second book in The Perseid Collapse Series. Book three, Point of Crisis, will be released during the summer of 2014.
Please visit Steven’s blog for updates and information regarding all his works:
Copyright Information
© 2014 Steven Konkoly. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.