Blurb -
Brett DeMarco is a First Lieutenant in Aelland’s Security
Forces and hopes to become the head of intelligence someday. After the death of
his fiancée, Brett threw himself into his work, dodging his father’s attempts
to get him to marry the right woman, never doubting the career path he’d
chosen.
Orion Hellman is the base commander’s personal assistant,
has never spoken a word to anyone, and follows orders exactly, helping to
ensure the base runs smoothly by any means the general deems necessary.
Classified as a manual laborer with marriage out of the question, Orion has no
intention of getting involved with anyone.
A chance meeting ignites Brett’s long dead desire and
changes everything he knew and gives Orion everything he never thought he
wanted.
Excerpt
Tension eased in
Lieutenant Brett DeMarco’s shoulders as he neared his base, Fort Tottenham.
The lights from the city and surrounding businesses had faded away miles ago.
Unlike his father’s base, Fort Landry, a Strategic Military Command base, the
government required a ten-mile business and city free zone with a limited
number of people allowed to live in all directions from any Tactical Command
base or installation. Farmers were given permission to reside there so long as
their property measured between five and two hundred and fifty acres. In
exchange for inexpensive land and lower taxes, the owners agreed to abide by a
curfew and lights out whenever the order came down from the base.
Light from the car’s
headlights caught movement on the side of the narrow, two-lane road. Brett
tapped the brakes, slowing the vehicle as a trio of deer stared at him. The way
his week was going, hitting a deer would be the perfect way to end the one
vacation he took each year.
His one full week of
leave coincided with the anniversary of General Vanessa Landry’s accidence to
the Presidency and the day celebrated as the date of rebirth of the country.
He’d been spent it with his parents. The visit had started off with another
fight with his father about who Brett should marry. He’d been reminded that the
time to make his choices was coming up and they needed to be submitted in
writing with his signature as approval. Brett had countered by stating he
needed a sponsor but it didn’t have to be a parent. He could ask his boss or the
base commander to sign off if he needed to. His father had threatened him and
Brett had started to walk away until his mother had interceded.
The
week had ended with his father trying to set him up with younger men he
personally deemed appropriate. Brett did not. He couldn’t shake the feeling
that something was off. After years of yelling at him to marry a woman instead
of a man, his father had conceded too easily. It made him suspicious, even as
his father began suggesting younger men to him. Those his father found
acceptable were all good-looking men with the manners and intellect found in
the children of officers and high-level public administrators. They’d all
seemed stiff and emotionless next to Brett’s memories of Orion Hellman, and
none had the golden-brown eyes and uncommonly long brown hair.
A figure stumbled
out into the middle of the road pulling him from his thoughts. Brett slammed on
his brakes, yanked the wheel and prayed he’d miss the person. The car skidded
to a halt several feet beyond where the man stood. Brett looked in his rearview
mirror and saw him fall. Throwing the car into park, Brett jumped out and ran over
to them.
“Are you okay?”
Brett asked, kneeling. The red from his taillights cast an eerie glow over the
scene. The man wasn’t someone he recognized. While they were closer to the
medical clinic on the base than to other facilities, it was reserved for
military personnel only. The civilian medical center was about fifteen miles
away, close to the center of town. Blood coated the man’s face and hair, and bruises
were starting to form. “I’m going to call for help. I’ll be right back.” Brett
started to stand.
The man grabbed his
arm and pulled, shaking his head.
“You need help,”
Brett replied.
The man shook his
head again.
Brett stared down at
the man. If he did nothing, the man would die. He wasn’t even sure if the
civilian medical center would send a response team this far out. The military
emergency personnel travelled off base only for military personnel or their
dependents. The man’s shirt was bloodied and torn, exposing more of his
battered body.
Brett squeezed his
eyes shut, trying to prevent the familiar images of his deceased fiancée from
pressing forward. The similarities were too close to be discounted, but left
him no closer to knowing who was responsible. “I-I need to take you to the
base.”
The man tried to
push himself up.
“Stop, you’re going
to make everything worse. You don’t want me to take you to the base, right?”
“No base,” the man
said, his voice soft and cracking.
“I suppose I can
take you to the clinic instead. You’re a civilian?”
“Yes.”
“All right, let’s
get you into the car.” Brett helped the man up, trying not to dwell on the fact
that he was probably breaking another rule or wonder why the man was so far
from the residential areas. But the man needed help, and as a military officer,
he was duty bound to help. More than that, he knew, was Taren’s influence. No
one should suffer as his lover had.
The ride into the
city’s center was quiet. Brett’s passenger refused to answer questions or talk until
Brett tried to turn down the road leading to the medical center. The man
adamantly refused to go to the large clinic, instead giving Brett directions to
a different place, in an area of the city Brett had never been to. Nerves taut,
he made his way through the winding streets until he came to an area of
abandoned and crumbling buildings, most of which looked as if they might have
been warehouses at one point. He stopped at the edge of an alley.
“Here?” Brett asked
hesitantly, unable to hide his dismay.
The man nodded.
“Thanks for the ride, but you should’ve left me where you found me.”
Brett turned and
stared at the man, astounded at the first full sentence he’d said. “You need
medical help, I can—”
“You’ve done enough.
I don’t like medical centers.” It was eerily similar to what Orion had
basically “told” him.
“How—”
“End of the road. Turn
left. Two miles turn left again. First working light, turn right. You can find
your way from there.”
Brett nodded and
watched the man pull himself out of the car then disappear into the shadows.
Had he helped an enemy of the state get away? Noise from the other side of the
street caught his attention, reminding him why he didn’t want to wait around.
He carefully followed the other man’s directions until he was familiar with the
area then made his way back to base. Parking in his assigned spot in front of
his building, he turned off the car and grabbed his bags. His heart was heavy
with another secret he couldn’t tell.
