Thunder Running Read Online Free PDF

instead?”
    Chance shrugged. “Tara was working the bar, and we kept things going after her shift ended at midnight. We had a few drinks, then a few more, and somehow we made a bet that if the spin landed on green, we’d get married. Next thing you know it’s eight o’clock in the morning and we’re waiting for the courthouse to open. We paid the fifty dollars for the license and went back to the casino, where her coworker was ordained to perform marriages thanks to one of those Internet churches. Two rings from the gift shop, a few words from this guy and boom, ’til death do us part.”
    His colleague stared at him for several seconds. Then he replied flatly, “That’s the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard.”
    â€œMore ridiculous than that time at Camp Victory when we stole the balls from the bowling alley? And then when we heard the First Sergeant running down the hall I hid mine in the—”
    â€œYou’re legally bound to this woman now,” Carl interrupted, ignoring Chance’s attempt to change the subject. “That has serious consequences.”
    â€œIt was just a bet. A two-in-thirty-six chance.”
    â€œSounds like exactly the kind of odds you’d go for, McKinley.” He exhaled hotly, seeming to pull his temper into check. “Why are you getting her an ID? Aren’t you going to have it annulled?”
    â€œI don’t know.” He stuck his hands in the deep cargo pockets on either side of his camouflage trousers, scuffing the toe of his boot against the pavement. “I might wait and see how things go.”
    Carl slapped his hand against his forehead. “See how things go? You barely know this woman, not to mention you’re shipping out to the sandbox in four weeks. What are you planning to do, leave her alone in your off-post house for six months and hope she doesn’t rob you and sell your car?”
    â€œShe’s not like that,” Chance insisted, his shoulders stiffening with offense. “I don’t need to date her for years to know she’s a good woman. Anyway, she won’t stick around once the novelty wears off—in the meantime, this might be my only opportunity to experience marriage.”
    He’d meant it as a joke, but as soon as the words left his mouth he realized it was true. It had taken nearly thirty years to find a woman crazy enough to marry his sorry ass—what was the likelihood he’d find another one like her? He’d always liked the idea of marriage, even if he’d never really seen one firsthand. It appealed to him in a remote, fantastical way, like when he saw TV evangelists asking for money, all shiny white teeth and dewy skin and first kisses saved for wedding days, and thought it must be nice to have your choices made for you, to live in wholesome contentment and absolute certainty that God had your back.
    For as long as he could remember, life was chaos. He was never quite sure who’d be sleeping in his sisters’ bedrooms from one day to the next, or whether there was any food in the refrigerator, or if his mother would get home from the casino in time to take him to school, not to mention whether she’d be sober enough to drive. He hadn’t consciously joined the army in search of structure, but eventually he understood that had been a bigger draw than the free flight to basic training at Fort Benning.
    Ultimately he owed his success in the military to the mastermind recruiter he’d met at a rally car festival in Bay St. Louis. They talked for forty minutes about his family, his recent high-school graduation, his job bussing tables in a casino restaurant. When he aced his ASVAB and had his pick of enlistment contracts, the recruiter asked whether he fainted at the sight of blood, then wisely guided him toward sixty-eight whiskey. Combat medic.
    It turned out that gray-haired sergeant in the stuffy office knew him better than