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Back Stop at Nothing Save as PDF
Contents ( 98)
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
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  20. 20
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  22. 22
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  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
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  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
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  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
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  44. 44
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  46. 46
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  48. 48
  49. 49
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  53. 53
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  58. 58
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  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
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  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
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  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
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  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
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  86. 86
  87. 87
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  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. EPILOGUE

He peeked over the rim of the depression and saw Ruiz floating facedown there in the water. Then Ruiz’s head blew apart as he clacked another tight burst of 5.56 NATO rounds through the back of it.

Gannon squinted down at the cocky little prick who had killed Sergeant Jeremy.

He only wished he could bring Ruiz back to life. So he could kill him all over again.

“Mike! Over here,” Little Jorge called.

Over the rim of rock, Stick was laid out on the stone on his side with Little Jorge kneeling beside him.

“Everybody okay?” Gannon said as he arrived and began slicing off zip ties with Blackbeard’s knife.

“Yes,” Stick said, smiling, “thanks to you. I never doubted you for a second, brother.”

“Really? Then why did you keep saying ‘we’re dead, we’re dead,’ over and over again?” Little Jorge said, giggling, hugging Gannon after he helped him up.

Gannon ran over to where Ruby lay on the ground.

“You okay?” he said, kneeling down.

When he sliced off her zip ties, Ruby doubled over, clutching her stomach.

“Hey, are you hurt?” Gannon said, pulling at her baggy dress. “Let me see. Maybe you broke a rib or something.”

“No, no. It’s okay,” Ruby said, immediately shoving him away. “It’s better now. Much better. I’m fine now. Perfect, in fact.”

“Suit yourself,” Gannon said with a wink as he pulled her to her feet.

He led Ruby back to the others and crossed over to the other side of the campfire and started dumping out bags the mercenaries had left. In the second one, he found his truck keys. In the third one, two full magazines fell out and bounced off the rock.

“Little Jorge, listen,” Gannon said as he tucked a magazine into the back pocket of his wet madras shorts. “You get everybody back to the Gator and go straight to your place. I’ll meet you guys there.”

“Where the hell are you going?” Stick said.

Gannon listened to the rip of the quad’s engine getting fainter and fainter in the southern distance. He raised the M4, punched out the half-shot magazine, inserted a fresh one and ran the smooth-oiled action with a loud snick.

“To end this bullshit once and for all,” he yelled as he began to run.

PART FOUR

The One That Got Away

87

It took Gannon under a minute to run back down the forest trail. His Sierra was parked there on the dirt road they drove in on, and he turned it over with a roar and laid the rifle down into the passenger-side foot well and opened the crew cab door.

When he came around to the tailgate, he saw Emerson on the other side of the dirt road. He was unmoved from the spot in the grass beside the Gator where Gannon had sneaked up behind him and choked him out.

He saw he was semiawake now, groggily staring at him from above the wraps of duct tape he’d tied him with.