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

The situation was deteriorating so quickly that the tenuous hold he had on it threatened to disintegrate in his fingers like wet newspaper. The harsh reality was that there was no good move for him. None at all. There was no way he could turn himself over to the psychotic Irishman, but he loathed the thought of another innocent life lost, a soul forfeited at the altar of these evil men. But before he could do anything, he needed Sam to get clear of the battleground.

“Sam, I need you to listen to me. There is no way they’re going to kill Ben or anyone else. I won’t let that happen. I need you to do something, and it’s going to be really scary, but if I didn’t think you could do it, I wouldn’t ask. I swear to God.”

Sam heard the concern and urgency in his voice, and replied, “When this is over, I expect you to tell me who you were in your former life. I feel like I just found out that my neighbor is Jack Bauer.”

Zack laughed, glad that her sense of humor was still intact. She’d need it once the night was over. He knew there was a part of her still in shock, a part that would need time to process the fact that she’d taken a life. Justifiable or not, it was no easy task, and he’d been trained to do it, coldly and with the utmost calculation. She was just a suburban teenager thrown into the literal line of fire.

“I promise you this—I don’t work for CTU. Always too much drama there, you know what I mean?” Zack said with a sly grin.

“Plus, it’s the government, and you know what I think about them,” she declared, her smile faltering, semi-serious.

“I do. Now, here’s what I need you to do, as we’re all running out of time,” Zack said, and paused before delivering his request. “I need you to run.”

“Say what?” Sam said, taken aback.

“How familiar are you with the running trails that weave in and out of the neighborhood? You’ve run them what, hundreds if not thousands of times, correct? You think you can navigate them at night, on your own, in the dark? I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think you could.”

Sam hesitated, acutely aware that time was imposing its will on them, a force and concept as real as the shotgun in her hands. “I can. Where do you want me to go?”