BooksBarbecue
Back The Neighborhood
Chapters (59)
  1. Part I Reconnaissance
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Part II Incursion
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Part III Under Siege
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Part IV Course Correction
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Part V Balance of Power
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Chapter Twenty-Four
  30. Chapter Twenty-Five
  31. Chapter Twenty-Six
  32. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  33. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  34. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  35. Part VI Spy versus Spy
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Part VII Winds of War and Flame
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Part VIII Strong to the Finish
  50. Chapter Forty-Two
  51. Chapter Forty-Three
  52. Part IX Spy Games
  53. Chapter Forty-Four
  54. Chapter Forty-Five
  55. Chapter Forty-Six
  56. Part X What Goes Around
  57. Chapter Forty-Seven
  58. Chapter Forty-Eight
  59. About the Author

He shifted the sight slightly and placed it on the closest man wearing a Falling Rock police uniform. With a clear line of sight, Zack exhaled and squeezed the trigger. The MPX recoiled with a loud smack, the Octane 9 suppressor diminishing the normally loud gunshot to an audible clap, as if someone had dropped a heavy book in a quiet library. His aim was true, and the man fell to the ground, struck dead in the left side of his head by the 9mm round. One down.

The boy grappled with the impostor, who’d seen his partner fall while trying to fight off the attacking teenager.

The nearest van doors opened simultaneously, and two armed men with black assault rifles—he assumed these were fully automatic since these were criminals who didn’t have to abide by the same laws he did—jumped down from each van. The two that appeared near the shooter’s position scanned the woods in all directions. Looking for me. Probably have a few more seconds before I need to beat feet out of here. Might as well make the most of it.

Zack lined up the sights on the man on the left first, squeezed the trigger twice, and adjusted the weapon even before the man fell. His fourth and fifth shots struck the shooter on the right, and he collapsed to his left as if impersonating someone suffering a fainting spell, except his act was permanent.

Zack moved the sight picture back to the boy and the original shooter. The man had managed to remove himself from the kid’s attempted chokehold, and he now faced the boy. Zack waited for a clear shot, as a couple he recognized but didn’t know dashed between him and the two combatants.

The boy stepped in and feinted with a straight left jab, causing the shooter to flinch backward. As he did so, the boy jumped forward, spun to his left, and delivered a back sidekick that landed squarely in the shooter’s abdomen, driving him backward so that he cartwheeled his arms as he fell to the grass.

Unsuppressed gunfire erupted from the right half of the hub, and Zack heard the crack of the rounds forty feet to his right. Dammit. Not much longer, and they’ll have me.

A man screamed in a commanding voice, and Zack recognized it as the voice of the one who’d come to his house. He’s in charge. Good to know.

His line of sight was clear once again, and Zack watched as the shooter sat up and pointed the Glock at the boy, who froze at the sight of the pistol that had just killed one of his neighbors.