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Back The Neighborhood Save as PDF
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

Zack sighed. “You may be right. I guess that part of me only went to sleep, lying dormant for a night like tonight. But know this—it’s that part of me that saved your lives and is going to keep you safe. You’re staying here. Get your gun, keep the two Glocks and one M4—I’m taking the other one; my SIG is almost out of ammo—and wait here. Take that radio,” Zack said, and pointed to the leftmost of the two push-to-talk radios standing next to each other on the table. He looked at his channel. It was set to his lucky number: four. I’ll take any good omen I can get. “Set it to channel four and monitor it. Barrett will be contacting me soon. If you hear that he’s sending men here to find this team, get the hell out. Just leave. Go into the woods. Only fight if you have to. You know the drill. I’d turn off the lights too, just to be safe.”

Zack stood up, placed the laptop in Josh’s backpack, and grabbed the M4 and two extra thirty-round magazines. “Keep my SIG. I’ll be back for it. In fact, feel free to load it with some of the nine-millimeter rounds from the Glocks, although now that we have M4s, I’d stick with that since it’s more accurate at longer ranges,” he said, handing Brandon the MPX.

His gear secure, the M4 in his hands, and the backpack on his back, Zack looked at all three members of the Harper family. “Any questions?”

“Thank you, Zack,” Emily Harper said. “We owe you our lives and our son’s. We’ll pray for you.”

Not an overly spiritual man—although he did believe in God after all the strange, horrific, and beautiful things he’d witnessed—Zack nodded. “Good. I can use all the help I can get.”

Brandon extended his hand to Zack, who hesitated but then gripped his former boss’s hand firmly. “Thank you,” he said, and Zack nodded in reply, acknowledging the gratitude as well as the bridge of bitter time that stretched between them.

Without another word, he exited the Harper house, dashed through the backyard, and never once glanced at the dead man he’d left in his wake. He entered the woods once again, a hunter returning to its natural environment.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter
TWENTY-SIX