BooksBarbecue
Back Roadkill Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Chapter One: Fender Bender
  5. Chapter Two: Bigfoot Burrito
  6. Chapter Three: Treasure Hunt
  7. Chapter Four: Open Sesame
  8. Chapter Five: Central Intelligence
  9. Chapter Six: First Flight
  10. Chapter Seven: Park It
  11. Chapter Eight: Next Steps
  12. Chapter Nine: Search Strategies
  13. Chapter Ten: Overflight
  14. Chapter Eleven: Barn Doors
  15. Chapter Twelve: Saturn Fly-By
  16. Chapter Thirteen: Getting a Clue
  17. Chapter Fourteen: Hacked
  18. Chapter Fifteen: The Spy Game
  19. Chapter Sixteen: Investigations
  20. Chapter Seventeen: Break-In
  21. Chapter Eighteen: Battening Down
  22. Chapter Nineteen: Shoring Up Defenses
  23. Chapter Twenty: Third Time’s the Charm
  24. Chapter Twenty-One: Proxy
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two: Rescue
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three: Chase
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four: Spies R Us
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five: Surveillance
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six: Making Plans
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Going In
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight: Infiltration
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Accidental Captive
  33. Chapter Thirty: Interrogation
  34. Chapter Thirty-One: Reaction
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two: Kidnappings
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three: Reviewing Options
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four: Public Debut
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five: Distractions
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six: The Big Reveal
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven: Regrouping
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight: Waiting for Results
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine: It Hits the Fan
  43. Chapter Forty: Disassembly
  44. Chapter Forty-One: Wrapping It Up
  45. Chapter Forty-Two: Negotiations
  46. Chapter Forty-Three: Coda
  47. About the Author
  48. About the Publisher

Patrick grinned at me. “And I’ll be making Grampa jokes the whole time.”

“Thanks, Patrick. Appreciate the support.”

His grin turned into a laugh. “C’mon, dude, that car is at the opposite end of the planet from cool. You should consider getting a baseball cap and pulling it down low. Or maybe a balaclava.”

Now Nat was smiling too. “I have an aunt I could set you up with, Jack. Mint juleps by the shuffleboard court, evenings spent comparing liniments—”

“Shut up!” I put on my best angry face and grabbed for their throats, and they scattered, laughing. And for a brief moment, we were back in high school, and the future stretched ahead, full of possibilities. Before everything went to shit for all of us.

Chapter Three: Treasure Hunt

Chapter Three: Treasure Hunt

Day 2. Saturday morning

My prediction was right on the money. Dad stood staring at the damage to the truck, his expression a mix of hurt and disappointment. I would almost rather have him yell and rant. At least it would be over quickly. The walking-on-eggshells thing ever since I’d come back from college made me feel like some kind of invalid.

My father was a special forces veteran, with multiple tours under his belt. But he was a quiet, thoughtful individual, slow to anger. Still, you wouldn’t want to push him.

“No idea what it was, Jack?”

“No, Dad. There was nothing around. I figure it was an animal, deer or something maybe, and it ran away.”

He touched the dented quarter panel, as if he could divine more information from the contact. “That’s a helluva crunch, son. If that deer survived, it didn’t last long.”

“Long enough to leave the scene, apparently,” I said. My reply sounded testy even to me, and he turned his head with a surprised look.

“I don’t blame you for this, Jack. I took out a moose once. Well, I expect the moose saw it differently. Totalled the pickup. So I guess that was a draw.”

“That was at night.”

I wondered, even as I said it, what I thought I was doing. My father had given me an out and I was volleying it back into play.

“True, but deer can move fast,” he said. “It’s entirely possible you didn’t see it because it leaped onto the road. The delivery truck is not a hot rod, despite the way you drive it. Still, it looks like you’ll be on foot for a while, unless you’re willing to take the Buick.”

I made no comment, determined to let this one go by.