Tactical Deception: Silent Warrior, Book 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t you peep a word about it either. You’ve time to grab a glass of sweet tea before you speak. Then we’ll all make ourselves miserable on a Lowcountry boil.”
    “He’ll have to sip his tea on the run.” Angie’s mother, Liz Freemont, joined them and handed Franz a glass. “We’re late. The band will only be here until four.”
    “Then let’s get this party started.” Franz snagged the tea and hurried off with Liz to the decorative stage, complete with sound system and a podium.
    Rico had met Angie’s mother when they’d first arrived at the park event and liked her so far. A dynamic woman in her middle fifties who definitely ran a tight ship.
    Angie turned to him. “Does it seem strange to you? Our gathering to remember the two we lost rather than to mourn them?”
    “No. It’s good to remember 9/11. I wish more people did. Maybe we’d be appreciated for what we’re fighting for rather than ridiculed.”
    She reached out and clasped his hand, her soft green gaze brushing his like a soothing balm. “Are soldiers bitter?”
    He shrugged, almost wanting to pull away rather than admit the truth. The picture the media painted of American soldiers destroyed morale. It didn’t make a man less of a soldier, they still fought like hell. But it tore the heart out of many a good men. “It’s complicated. Some are disillusioned by the lack of support here at home and by the dissent in Congress. Supplies aren’t what they should be. Timetables are almost impossible to meet with any hope of victory. In effect, they give a man a job then tie his hands behind his back and make it impossible to walk the line. Yeah, some are having trouble.”
    Franz began his speech and Angie squeezed Rico’s hand before releasing him to take a few photos. He glanced over the surrounding crowd of the highly successful people. MetroSouthern focused on the up-and-coming elite of Atlanta’s business community. He didn’t quite fit in. A career soldier was about as far from prestigious entrepreneurs as one could get. It made him wonder why Angie was with him. If she was constantly exposed to high-powered men with six-figure-or-more budgets then why him? Lost in that question, Rico missed most of Franz’s speech but the heart-stirring words of “Amazing Grace” were everything Angie promised. On the second verse, Franz moved to slip the microphone from the stand and keeled over backward with major force. It wasn’t until Rico heard the rifle crack that he realized Franz had been shot.
    In a split second, a sniper bullet traveling over a thousand feet per second had ripped through the lives of everyone there, reshaping their world forever.

Chapter Five
     
    One second Franz was standing and the next he was twisted sideways on the ground with blood splattered across the stage and spreading over his chest.
    “Get down! Everyone get down!” Rico screamed as he grabbed Angie and rolled her to the ground, landing behind a food table with her camera killing his groin. “Take cover!”
    A cold sweat covered his body as memories of machine gun fire, explosions and pain tried to rip his mind into the past. His body jerked as if under machine gun fire.
    “Rico?” Angie moved against him, shifting her camera to the side, and pushing up against him. “Are you hurt?”
    He eased his weight up to focus on her and her terror-filled gaze, a sight that snatched him immediately back to the present. He had to keep her safe. He had to think. “I’m okay. Stay still.” He mentally slammed the door on Lebanon and angled into position to search for the sniper. Chaos erupted as people ran for cover, trying to help those nearest to them. Mothers and fathers screamed and ran for their children with heart-wrenching terror.
    He studied the terrain, mentally calculating the likely trajectory and distance from which Franz had been shot.
    “Dear God! Franz!” Angie shoved up from the ground as her stunned mind grasped the situation.
    Rico pushed