Z-Minus (Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

was a subtle shift in his expression. The mirth and tiredness had left his eyes. He glared with an intensity and heat that made Paul’s hand flinch back.
    “And who’s going to stop me?” Roach said.
    “I’m just looking out for you is all,” Paul said.
    “Don’t,” Roach said.
    The mirth returned to his eyes.
    “I’m Survivor Roach,” he said. “Nothing’ll ever get me.”
    He pushed through the swing doors and into the light.

11:03am
     
    Roach’s pickup barely registered the cat’s eyes, didn’t even make Roach start from his slumber. A loud horn blast and cursing from a car on the opposite side of the road veered, screeched, and spun onto the shoulder. Roach started awake. His eyelids barely put up any resistance as they began to shut again.
    “Give everything,” Roach grumbled under his breath. “Get nothing.”
    He leaned against the wheel. His pickup skirted the edge of a precipice. A thousand feet of air, then solid rock. Roach peered out the window and saw the steep cliff on one side.
    “Shit!” Roach said.
    He turned the wheel an inch to bring the truck back onto the road.
    Roach shook his head and slapped his face in an effort to stay conscious. He snorted through his nose. It was thick with mucous. His eyes streamed with tears.
    “Toughen up snowflake,” Roach said, slapping himself across the face again. “You’re of no use to nobody a crying slobbering mess.”
    He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stared at the tears like they were from another planet.
    “Pussy,” he said.
    He leaned forward and peered up at the sky through the windscreen.
    “You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to get this pussy,” Roach said.
    He cackled, grinning like a madman.
    Buzz buzz. Buzz buzz.
    His cell vibrated on the passenger seat. Roach kept one eye on the road and reached across for the phone. He turned a corner, the truck cornering like it was a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel. The cell slid to the far side of the double seat. He leaned further, grabbed the phone, and sat back up. He checked the caller ID:
    MAJOR BIG MAN
    Roach snorted and shook his head.
    “Can’t last a day without the Roach,” he said.
    He looked up. A flicker of surprise across his face.
    “Oh,” he said.
    A lorry ahead reared up big and large, sitting across the road like a stuck turd in a toilet bowl.
    Roach slammed his foot on the brake. The wheels locked up and screeched, the ass of his pickup pulling out to one side, making long black marks across the tarmac.
    The lorry driver, currently kneeling in front of the flat wheel with the spare in his hands, gaped, eyes wide, as Roach’s truck fender rushed to keep its appointment with his skull. But Roach didn’t need another innocent death on his conscience.
    Sorry Fate, but you’re going to have to settle for me this time.
    Roach wrenched the wheel with a single harsh tug. He waved at the driver as he passed. The pickup flew toward the precipice.
    Roach’s eyes flickered to the sky, the corner of his lips curling up. Well played .
    He plummeted down…
    Down…
    Down…
    A final thought flashed through Roach’s mind. An alternative use for a pickup truck: it could be a coffin.

12:23pm
     
    Mark opened the door and poked his head inside the barracks. There was a row of empty bunks along either wall. Each bed was fresh and unslept in. There was no gear on any of them.
    “Bagsies,” Mark said out loud to himself, tossing his gear onto the bunk in front of the door.
    He’d thought of nothing but Tabitha’s bombshell all the way to Fort Bragg. Pregnant. How could this have happened? He was a Special Forces soldier. Sometimes he had to leave at the drop of a hat, for months at a time. He couldn’t have any responsibilities right now. At the age of twenty-six he still had a good number of serving years left in him, and then onto the ranks of upper command, should he cut the mustard.
    Mark sat on the end of the bed and focused on the