The Crimson Fall (The Sons of Liberty Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t want to berate you or anything. I decided long ago I wasn’t going to be that kind of wife. I want to support you and I believe in what you’re doing for the country. But what about us? What about our kids? Don’t you think we might need you every now and then? I don’t want you to miss out on their childhood, and if this is what this type of career is going to look like, then I don’t know if it’s worth it. I love you and I know you have a sense of duty for your job and your brother and so many others, but you also have us.”
    Adam’s earpiece chimed and the twitch of his arm gave him away once more. Irritated, Sarah rolled her eyes.
    “I’m sure you need to get that.” She turned back around and began to focus on dinner once more. Sarah was a kind and loving wife, and Adam knew she was right. He ignored the caller again.
    “Sarah,” he started, though Sarah kept her back to him. “I love you. I love Judah, Eva, and Grace more than anything in this world, and we’re not going to be like this forever. I can figure out a way to be the father and husband I need to be and still do my job. I’m not going to—”
    His phone began to ring again. Frustrated with Joe’s secretary, Adam finally tapped his earpiece furiously, answering the call.
    “What, Heather? What? What is it that can’t wait? I’ll find a ticket myself. I’m trying to—”
    “Adam,” the woman’s weak voice interrupted, “your brother is dead.”
    Time slowed and numbness set in. Her words rang between his ears like a thousand fiery gongs, crashing around in a thunderstorm of sparks and embers that set fire to his core. Suddenly, the room felt like it existed entirely in the heart of a raging inferno. Even as her statement echoed through his mind, Adam refused to believe what he had heard.
    “Heather,” Adam said unsteadily. “You know that’s not funny.”
    The soft breathing on the other end was interrupted only by the woman’s whimpering cries and soft voice.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, “but Joe is gone.”
    Adam’s eyes glazed over as he fought the news that quickly threatened to unhinge his sanity. Joe is dead. Shock replaced his anger over the woman’s bothersome phone calls. Twice, he calmly asked her to clarify what she had said before he finally accepted the truth.
    Joe, Adam’s only brother and oldest friend, was now dead.
    Adam realized he had sunk to the floor. He began to breathe heavily for the air that didn’t come, just as his son had earlier that day. He asked ‘how’, but all he heard in return were the tearful sobs of Heather over the phone as she failed to produce anything besides ‘airport’ and ‘attack’. Gradually, everything in the room was muted to a dull reverberation. He saw his parents talking in the living room with the TV on silent for the commercial break, looking at each other and unaware of the breaking news flash announcing some sort of terrorist attack at Dulles Airport. Adam thought back to his phone conversation with Joe and knew right then he was looking at the burning wreckage that now entombed his brother. He painfully tore his eyes away from the screen and looked up at Sarah’s back, staring blankly at the hushed and steady chopping of her knife. He thought immediately of Joe’s wife, Amy, and wondered if she already knew. His throat locked up completely, cutting off the little oxygen he had left as he thought about how Amy would never cook another meal for her husband; how she would never again see his warm smile nor hear his contagious laugh.
    Sarah turned around quickly, clearly alarmed at something. Adam noticed a frightened Eva to his left. She was asking Sarah something that his ears didn’t quite comprehend. Something about ‘Daddy’. Sarah’s mouth shouted soundless words for Rick and Judi as she rushed over to him. Adam’s parents bolted from the living room, and they all hurried over to him, trying to figure out what was wrong.
    Adam’s mind raced,