Coming to Colorado Read Online Free PDF Page A

wrong?” Marshal asked.
    “I really miss James,” Billy said.
    “How is he?” Duff asked.
    Duff didn’t seem surprised that he and Tucker had gone to visit James. They’d been very careful, but Duff had ways of knowing where they all were, even when they went dark on their electronics.
    Tucker cleared his throat and spoke up. “They’re both doing good. James is happy.”
    “That’s good,” Roger said.
    “I’ll miss him,” Zander offered.
    “We’ll all miss him.” Duff began serving the food and passing plates.
    The front door opened and every one of them paused. Mike stepped into the kitchen and they all gave a cheer, standing to shake his hand and give him a hug.
    “Did you miss me?” Mike asked.
    “Sure did son, pull up a seat,” Duff said.
    Mike settled in the chair next to Grant, the two of them sharing a few words and laughing before Mike started shoveling food onto his plate. Billy smiled to himself as he watched the men organize their meal, chatting with each other. They would miss James, just like they would miss anyone else who left Wild Bluff. For now, their family was happy and safe. Their business was dangerous, and any one of them could be injured or not make it back from a mission. If one of them chose to walk away, they would deal with it. Eventually, he and Tucker would leave, but for now, they were both happy to be at Wild Bluff, fighting to make a difference in the world.
     
    *~*~*
     
    Ryan blinked open his eyes, still wondering what the hell he was going to do. He either had to re-up or get out. Some of the things they did disgusted him, but he understood. It was easy to armchair quarterback the decisions made by the military when you were sitting in a cushy office with central heating and air-conditioning. Over here, where bombs outnumbered reasonable exchanges five-to-one, the decisions leaned towards the ‘kill them now, ask questions later’ side of the equation.
    Like the guy he’d assassinated two months ago. There’d been no question amongst the men in his unit that the bastard needed to die, but they hadn’t cleared out all of the terrorist—just like Ryan knew they wouldn’t. Now, there were more assholes just like him running around spreading their hate. It was worse than the mythical beast, Hydra. They would get rid of one jerk and two more would come out of the woodwork, threatening peace and spreading their own brand of hate. They didn’t just target people in the west, hoping to kill off a few English, Americans, or just anyone who lived with freedom. These terrorists were idiots who tried to disrupt the very essence of living, even if it meant killing their own people. These bastards killed women, men, and children indiscriminately, not caring if the person had family or not. It didn’t matter to them that they destroyed, instead of building something beautiful. By their standards, there was no value in life, only hate fueled by ignorance and religion. He detested it. If he could find another way to even the field, he would, but he wasn’t paid enough to live in this shithole and do this type of work, not when he had no say in the orders he had to carry out. The mission from two months ago, that still bothered him. He worried that the innocents caught in the middle had been hurt.
    Ryan rolled to his side, wishing he were in a comfortable bed with a mattress and blankets. God, it would be so nice to have a huge white comforter pulled up to his chin, pillows surrounding him, no spiders or mice running rampant in his digs, and maybe a guy, warm and cuddly, holding him close as they whiled away the morning. He stretched and sighed, trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable on the cot. Ryan was about to get up when a loud noise sounded. The ground shook and one of his books rattled off the shelf. His heart stalled for a moment, his breath held in his lungs. There was only one thing that could have made the sound he’d just heard and he hoped to hell he was wrong,