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

“I’ve been thinking about why you might be here.” Among other things. But Mama’s conversation with Belle before lunch had colored everything that had gone through Rafe’s head for the rest of the day. “Have you come up with anything?”


“No.” There was more regret in that single word than in the slump of his shoulders. “I’m sorry.”


“Don’t be. You don’t have all the information you should.”


Rafe rinsed out the washcloth and sat back. “About me. About primes. About why I know about Strike.”


Though Sullivan seemed a little surprised, no recriminations about withholding the information came. He simply regarded Rafe steadily, his eyes suddenly piercing and clear, and waited.


“When we left Miami, Mama told everybody we knew she was taking me to Cuba. A better life, she said. Nobody questioned her, but they should have. Because it would’ve been impossible for her to get me out of the country.”


Chapter 49