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

“They have a restaurant in Chadwick,” Sullivan continued. He needed to give him more. “They’re both healthy. Happy. You did the right thing getting them away.”


“No, sir. She still loves you. I don’t think she’ll ever remarry.”


“I didn’t…” He shook his head. “As long as she’s happy. That’s what matters.”


It wasn’t, but he understood that’s what it was for the general. “Sir, about my mission—”


Hamada’s black gaze pierced through the screen, seeing more than made Sullivan comfortable. “If that’s what it takes for you to go through with it, then I suppose we can call it that. But I chose you because I’d hoped it wouldn’t be a job. Men who care are men who try harder.”


Chapter 62