Warrior (Freelancer Book 2) (29 page)

Rick's mind was pleasantly empty as the weight bar rose and fell. He was doing slow rows, bent at the waist and pulling straight up, closing in on a good hour of steady lifting. The pain in his chest muscles—while steady—was less than yesterday, and yesterday had been less painful than the day before. He was working out on the rooftop porch outside the bedroom he shared with Eve, and the deep Washington humidity felt like it had been soaking deep into his core.

Who could ask for more?

"Hey trooper." Eve stood in the bedroom doorway. "Towel off and come on downstairs. We're going to have a house meeting."

"Can't I just give you my proxy vote?"

"I don't think you're going to get a vote, but you need to be there anyway." She walked over and smacked him on the butt. "Now stop showing off for Mrs. Zimmerman, or you'll give the poor woman another heart attack."

Rick turned his head sideways and grinned at her but continued his lifts without pause until he completed a full set. Then he stood and carefully placed the weights in their rack against the house wall. Eve threw a towel at him, and he began to wipe the sweat on his face and chest. He had his head covered with the towel when he said, "You're just jealous of the poor woman. She gets to sit in her bedroom window and watch me as long as—"

A solid punch to his midriff cut him off in mid-taunt. Under the towel, his smile was slow and deep. He heard the screen door slam as Eve headed back inside.

Fifteen minutes later in dry shorts and t-shirt, he settled in his usual place stretched on the floor in front of where Eve sat on the tatty green sofa. Sage was curled up tight inside Eve's left arm, and the three engineers were seated around the room. Rick noticed that they all looked nervous—Eps looked absolutely terrified.

When he looked a bit closer, he realized they were all afraid…like 15-year-olds arriving at the door to pick up their first prom date.

He began to say something, but a quick dig from Eve's sharp toes silenced him.

Eve spoke, sounding like a TV moderator throwing a question to the audience. "OK, guys. I've had a long talk with Sage." She gave the little girl a firm hug. "And she's cool with the idea, but she'd like to hear what you have to say."

Eps and Steve looked at Scotty. Scotty had the face of a man about to face a firing squad, but he lifted his chin and looked Sage in the eyes. "Sage. We all miss your mother. She was a brave woman who gave everything she had to save you." He looked at the other men and then continued. "We would all like to make sure you know how sorry we are she's gone."

Steve and Eps both nodded solemnly.

Scotty coughed to clear his throat. "None of us are very adept at this but—"

He ground to a stop, shook his head, grimaced, and began again. "Sage. We've voted, and it was a unanimous decision. You don't have any family left—here or up in Wolf Point—and, well, you could always go into foster care, I guess, or we could look for a regular family but—"

The big man stopped again and then took a deep breath, "But we'd really like it if you lived with us."

He stopped and the room was completely silent.

Eve nudged Sage a little, and murmured, "So, it's up to you. We talked about this. You can really do whatever you want."

Sage looked at Eps, Steve, and finally Scotty. In a small, soft voice, she said, "I'd like to live here if it's OK with you guys."

"All right!" Eps jumped up and stuck both fists up in a victory salute. Steve relaxed back into his chair, a big smile appearing behind his beard.

Scotty was speechless, fear turning slowly to wonder on his face.

Suddenly, Sage was off the sofa and across the room, her arms wrapped around Scotty's neck, and her face pressed into his shoulder. Her voice was muffled. "I wasn't sure you guys wanted me to stay."

Scotty didn't seem to know what to do with his hands but slowly hugged her back. Eps gave her a few quick pounds on the back. Steve leaned forward and gently patted the top of her head.

Tears began to flow down Scotty's cheeks, but he didn't attempt to wipe them away. "No way, kiddo. We voted you in and that means that you can live with us forever."

Sage pulled back and looked at his face. "Really? And I can keep helping with the computer? And you'll let me play in the Dungeons and Dragons games, the ones you play all over town?"

"Yeah, all of that and more," Scotty promised.

Eps chimed in, "You'll even have your own password and login."

Sage looked over, a grin on her face. "Really? All right!"

She spun around, sat on Scotty's crossed legs, and leaned back into his chest. She reached a hand to each side and brought his arms in around her. Scotty looked down at her with a dumb grin like he’d just won the lottery.

Rick raised his hand. "Hate to break into this but what about Social Services and the cops and everything? Granted, living with you guys would be like Snow White and the Three Dwarfs, but I'm not sure it's going to get past a social worker."

Steve shook his head, "Once again, you've forgotten how things are done. We've already done a dry run into the vital records systems—here and in Montana—and—"

Eps turned to the table behind him and typed a quick command into the DigiMatic computer remote.

"Done."

Steve continued, "We set up a program that young Eps just triggered. Scott Shaw and his late wife legally adopted Sage four years ago in Missoula after a long and exhaustive background check. Eve is her legal guardian; she's even registered for school right over at Wilson. I had a friend ‘adjust’ the paperwork last week and Eps here just did the final swaps on the index database."

Sage looked up and back at Scotty's face, "So you're my dad?"

The big engineer shook his head. "No, I'm not going to pretend to be your dad. You already had a dad. I'm going to be the guy who makes you breakfast and checks your homework and takes you on vacations and will never, ever leave you. Is that OK?"

Sage nodded and then looked at Steve and Eps. "Well, what are you guys?"

Steve said, "I'm the wise uncle you go to for advice about baseball and advanced calculus and—"

"And I'm the crazy uncle who'll teach you about chemistry and explosives and—"

Scotty tightened his grip on the little girl and growled, "The heck you will." Then, seeing the disappointment on Sage's face. "OK, well, maybe but only if there's an adult present—and that doesn't include you, Eps."

Sage's smile returned.

Eve was smiling. "And I'm the grown-up. If you ever change your mind or have any problems that these brainy men can't deal with—like boys—" Sage made a face. "Well, you may not think so now, but you will."

She rolled her toes over Rick gently. "And this lug is here for, well, the things he's good for."

Eve's voice sobered, "We may not always be living in this house or even all living in the same city—that's why Scotty is adopting you—but all of us are your family."

"This means you have The Deal," Scotty said, and Rick could hear the capitals in his voice. "The Deal means that we will always take you in and never tell you to leave. You'll always be loved and taken care of for the rest of your life."

Sage asked, "What do I have to do? What if I'm rude or fail in school?"

"It doesn't matter," Scotty answered. "Even if you turn into an ungrateful, nasty, horrible brat, even if you fail every class, even if you crash the car when you learn to drive…nothing you do will ever break The Deal."

He looked at the other two, "Right?"

In unison, Steve and Eps said, "Right," and then Eps added, "But you still have to take your turn doing dishes."

Sage looked around the room, "Well…" She screwed up her face in mock concentration. "What if I wanted to go to The Dancing Crab and get All You Can Eat blue crabs with corn and brown paper and the wooden hammers?"

Scott said, "Then you'd be perfect." He put his hands on her sides and tossed her a few feet to land squealing on the sofa. "Let's go to The Crab."

THE END

I am not a member of any Native American tribe (so far as I know but the family has been on this continent quite a long time). I have attempted to be as accurate as possible with the land, traditions, and culture of the Northern Cheyenne with one major exception. I specifically stopped my research into the Arrows, the Arrow Men, and all the other elements of their religious beliefs with what was known (to white anthropologists) around 1905.

From what I’ve gathered, the tribes are all undergoing a tremendous and joyous rebirth of traditions and religious customs at the present time; and, frankly, while I thought it was acceptable to use outdated and probably incorrect reports of someone else’s religion as a plot point, I didn’t think it was the same when an outsider goes poking around in current beliefs. In addition, from several online posts, I gathered that these matters were not to be discussed with outsiders, and I decided to be incorrect rather than intrusive.

So, if I’ve made mistakes, I apologize, but if I was just way out of date, that was intentional.

I’ve also taken liberties with the day-to-day events in and around Wounded Knee in April 1973. I found a lot of contradictions in the various histories so I made my own timeline—Warrior is a thriller, not a serious history.

As for the other "religion" in this book, I would like to ask all the bikers to chill out. Sturgis was not a big deal in 1973 (a one-or two-day hill climb) and the parade of massive motorcycles through the Black Hills really hadn’t begun.

—Terry Irving

I wrote this book right before my publisher, Exhibit A, vanished into legal limbo and, while I did receive an advance for it, I’m fairly certain that no one there actually read it. Two years later, when I set out to publish it myself, I received some major help in editing and proofing from Barbara Flanagan—one of my wonderful Reading Ronin.

The cover by the incredible Nick Castle, is as good as the original
Courier
cover and I want to thank him for allowing me to keep using that gorgeous
Courier
cover after Exhibit A went belly-up and it became a Ronin Robot Press book.

Now, as I write this, I am crowd-funding Ronin Robot Press on www.Pubslush.com and I’d like to sincerely thank the following people who have given me a helping hand as I try to fight my way through the puzzle palace of publishing. So far the List of Honor includes:

Sandy Irving,

Page Godwin,

George Rivera,

Tom Tarvin,

Barbara Flanagan (again!)

David Guilbault,

Christy Birmingham,

Bruce (Fang) Davidson,

Turner Bridgforth,

Sharon Gibson,

Robert Early,

Charlie Seymour,

David Bohrman,

John Wulff,

Ken Tillis,

Pat Alder,

Katie Sullivan,

Jesse Lakes,

Sam Foley,

and Bill Pastuszek.

(the rest will have to be thanked in
Taxi Dancer
, my next book,)

Special thanks to the absolute #1 Fan of All Time: Don Critchfield, who shall now appear as a really cool character in
Taxi Dancer
and not the guy who gets killed off in the first chapter. Any writer with a brain in their head would give anything to have someone like Don in their corner.

Thank you all for your encouragement and thanks to all the people who have bought
Courier
and
Day of the Dragonking
and even the more than 4,000 people who have downloaded these books for free because you read them, reviewed them, and told your friends about them.

Did you enjoy this book?

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COURIER

Rick Putnam is running for his life. A Vietnam Veteran riding a motorcycle for a national news network, he's picked up something too hot to handle. So hot that a reporter and a camera crew has already been killed and a rogue CIA kill squad is on his tail. Stick with this charismatic character as he fights his way all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania in his battle for the truth.

"An action-packed tale of murder and political intrigue set in the politically turbulent 1970s… Irving portrays [courier Rick Putnam] as a classic pulp-fiction hero: a chiseled, chain-smoking ex-soldier who's always ready with snappy quips…Irving's story is relentlessly paced, punctuated by bursts of action and violence, and driven by artfully unfolding suspense…An exciting and gritty…thriller."

—Kirkus Reviews.

“Rick Putnam is a recent Vietnam vet in the early 1970s who works as a courier for a Washington, DC television station while trying to put his life back together after being injured in the war…Courier is a tense story set in the days before social media, when news professionals still need to develop film in a dark room and splice footage together. Author Terry Irving clearly knows the inside of the news business in a different time…"

—Reviewed by Kathleen Heady for Suspense Magazine

"The year is 1972, mix the White House, the Watergate burglary, the war in Vietnam and murder in Washington and you've got a terrific story…Kudos to one of television's best producers for writing the thriller of the year!"

—Sam Donaldson, former ABC News White House reporter

"…Welcome to Terry Irving's fast-paced thriller from a bygone age. The Vietnam War is winding down, a wounded vet takes a job as a motorcycle courier at a network's Washington news bureau, and finds himself caught up in the backwash of a harrowing conspiracy. Terry Irving knows the landscape. I was there. So was he."

—Ted Koppel, former anchor for ABC Nightline

"To call Terry Irving's book a "page turner" is a gross understatement. As a journalist who covered Vietnam developments in Washington, and the Watergate scandal, this book is entirely believable, scary, and thrilling. Irving is in the top tier of political-mystery writers. And as a (ABC) network producer, he draws on a vast inside knowledge to keep readers glued to every page. If you like politics and a good mystery, you will love this book."

—Bill Greenwood, former White House Correspondent

"With all the power and speed of a motorcycle courier trying to beat a deadline, and the cyclist's

fine balance of thriller thrust and inside-the-newsroom detail, Terry Irving's new novel, Courier, will keep you entertained from start to finish."

—Dave Marash, former Nightline Reporter

DAY OF THE DRAGON KING

Book One Of The Last American Wizard

What if this world is just “magic” and somehow it is replaced by a stronger magic? In The Last American Wizard, the world Steve Rowan has known ceases to exist. He can no longer rely on anything he thought was real and his life as well as everyone else’s is now being controlled by a deck of tarot cards. A deck in which he plays the fool. The epicenter of this magical change…Washington D.C., of course.

"A clever, humorous fantasy…Mystically powered terrorists unleash volatile magic on the world, turning Washington, D.C., into a politically charged fantasyland ripe for human sacrifice.

A trio of suicide attackers with magical abilities bring down a 747 by summoning a dragon to rip it from the sky, using the hundreds of lives lost as a sacrifice to initiate the Change. The country morphs into a new landscape of swords and sorcery. Now computers and other machines are coming to life, and regular people have started to turn into mythical creatures and forgotten deities, creating a chaotic world easily seized by whoever—or whatever—set this shift into motion.

Hope appears in the nation’s capital where, along with transforming Democrats into potbellied elves, Republicans into cantankerous dwarves, and Tea Party members into trolls, the Change has granted struggling freelance journalist Steve Rowan the abilities of the Tarot Arcana’s Fool card, making him a powerful, yet unreliable, wizard. Realizing his potential, he is “hired” by the trivia-obsessed sentient computer Barnaby and coupled with the attractive, no-nonsense female Navy SEAL Ace Morningstar to uncover the puppet masters behind the plane crash.

Irving (Courier, 2014, etc.), a producer of Emmy Award—winning news television and a journalist well acquainted with the Beltway, makes good use of clichéd Washington stereotypes by mashing them together with fantasy tropes, breathing new life into political satire….

Like many first books in a genre series, the novel foreshadows a greater enemy behind all this madness while barely hinting at its identity, offering a wonderfully bizarre consolation prize as its denouement.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Terry Irving has written a science fiction/fantasy thriller that will have you laughing one moment and racing through adrenaline-pumping action the next. The Last American Wizard will twist you in knots while expanding your imagination. You will never look at magic the same again.”

—J.M. LeDuc, author of Sin

published by Suspense Publishing