In the year 2184, the US is divided. Half the country has moved on with the rest of the world, while in middle America, the survivors of the terrorist biological attack that split the country struggle just to stay alive. Though a century has passed, few people brave going behind the borders meant to contain the danger. Even the privatized military is reluctant to do so.<br><br>But that doesn’t stop recently discharged Sullivan Eberle. Only one thing drives him anymore -- the need to find Raphael Hamada. He doesn’t know why. He only knows he must. If that means a lifetime behind the borders, then so be it.<br><br>Rafe Hamada ran away from the real world when he was still a kid. The last thing he wants is to be found, especially by a soldier who can’t even tell him why it was so important to locate him in the first place. He’d like nothing more than for Sullivan to leave, but turning his back on a man alone and friendless is against everything Rafe stands for ...

Penny Candles

“Belle could have been hurt last night,” Sullivan said. “Burning down the garage to get to me was the coward’s way out. If they had a problem, they should have come to me face to face.”


Sam shrugged. “They’re afraid of you.”


“That doesn’t change the fact they probably thought it was suicide to confront you directly. You’re trained to kill. They can’t even start a fire right.”


“Does that mean you’re not going to tell me who they are?”


“You still haven’t told me what your plan is if I do.”


His gut wanted to enact his own justice. He’d been given permission to do that his entire adult life. But one look at Sam’s face and he knew if he admitted that aloud, he’d never get the names. Hell, one look at his own conscience and he knew he couldn’t look Rafe in the eye afterward if he followed through on his instinct this time.


Chapter 44