Wayward Son Read Online Free PDF

to know.
    “Carbone,” Sullivan replied. “He went down fighting.”
    “All of them did,” Darren corrected. “Just because they weren’t squad members didn’t make their sacrifice any less noble.”
    Dominic repeated a silent prayer over Carbone’s body then crossed himself. He turned to Spalding, his eyes angry, “Who was behind the attack?”
    “We can’t be sure. All we know for sure is that they were wolves.”
    Ben watched as they continued to scrub the coagulating blood and bits of flesh from the structures. “Should we turn in our weapons and lend a hand or…”
    Dom shook his head. “Negative. We have a cleanup crew still in the field.” He turned to Hammer, “Stay here and help them get the coms back up. That’s priority one. As soon as they are, reach out and touch me, brother.”
    “Roger that.” He turned and headed for the stairwell to turn in his weapon and grab a tech crew.
    Dom grabbed Ben. “Give him a hand with it. We can cover for you in the field but those coms are essential. I’m going to check in on the XO. The rest of you replenish our ammo. We’re lifting off in twenty.”
     
    *****
     
    Apollo continued to replay the events of the last few days through his mind as the helicopter sliced through the early morning sky. One of the wolves had opened the side door, and the air whipping through the cabin carried a chill. The smell of the salty sea threatened to carry his mind elsewhere, but he forced himself to evaluate exactly where he allowed himself to be swayed.
    He couldn’t put his finger on the exact moment that he stepped into that dark chasm, but he knew what had caused it. It was the video of Maria. He only thought that he had her out of his system. To find out that she didn’t really care for him…that she, in fact, loved someone else, was more than his fragile psyche could handle.
    He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. The emotional turmoil of the last few days was more than he could handle, and the constant adrenaline rushes were causing a crash.
    What have I done? he asked himself. Why did it take seeing the Chief in person to drag me back to reality? He knew Jack wasn’t lying when he said he held nothing back from him. He knew that the man wouldn’t lie to him about something as important as Maria. How could he have let Sheridan get inside his head? He wasn’t that weak-minded. He wasn’t some hormone driven teenager. He fought the urge to punch something as he sat upright in his seat and stared out the window.
    The land zipped by and he watched as the patchwork quilt of the land below passed beneath them. He quietly continued his mental assessment until the thought of Sheridan came back around. What had he said about their benefactor? He had an axe to grind with the squads? He was the one who provided the wolves? Apollo shifted in his seat and studied the wolves trying to unwind and come off their own battle highs.
    He scooted closer to the wolf closest to him. “You and your boys did well out there. We couldn’t have known that they’d have gargoyles and shit.”
    The wolf gave him a broad smile. “If they hadn’t had those flying rock monkeys, we would have handed them their heads.”
    “You got that right.” Apollo gave him a light elbow. “Hey, where’d you boys learn to fight like that, anyway?”
    The wolf shrugged. “We’re all pretty good in a scrap.” He pointed to the wolf in the front of the helicopter. “Davidson is from the states, and he used to fight mixed martial arts.”
    “No shit?” Apollo feigned interest. “Where the rest of you from?”
    “Most of us are from different packs down south.” The wolf shifted closer so he wouldn’t have to yell as loud. “The three of us are from Columbia. There are some from Brazil, some from Peru. All over South America.”
    “Seriously? I wouldn’t think that many different packs would come together for something like this.” Apollo rubbed at his chin thoughtfully.
    The wolf