In a not too distant future, the island of Manhattan has been commandeered by rebels aided by terrorists who have set themselves against the U.S. government. The Brooklyn Bridge, now fallen into disuse, stands as a sort of "no-man's land" between the island and the military that patrol the Hudson River. When the rebels bomb the Bridge, the nation is plunged into what might become a second Civil War.<br><br>Captain Jace Rickert is a grounded pilot whose Army lover, Second Lieutenant Tomas Tait, is sent on a routine reconnaissance mission. When Tait disappears and the military can’t stop the impending war to find one missing soldier, Rickert takes matters into his own hands.

War Torn

his hair was a mass of curls I loved to clutch in fistfuls when we


made love, when the thin lines around my eyes weren’t yet visible


and I didn’t get dizzy if I stood for too long. He was fresh out of


school and full of ambition, and that time we spent at Coney Island


was the last week of his civilian life, before he was assigned to


the 49th and they sheared his curls like sheep’s wool.


quarters with a harsh frown marring his features—he knew I loved


his hair, and he was so afraid I’d be upset that it was gone. I


remember I made him stand at the foot of the bed and strip off his


clothes to prove to me they hadn’t shaved everything, and then he


crawled into my arms, naked and warm and laughing, and I spent the


rest of the day rubbing my hand over the prickly cut of his


the glass covering the photograph, a drop like rain that blurs my


Chapter 10