: J. R. Tootill
: Codename Raike The Omega Series Book 2
: Write Camp LLC
: 9781667884325
: Codename Raike
: 1
: CHF 6.30
:
: Krimis, Thriller, Spionage
: English
: 348
: kein Kopierschutz
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
When Skeet's marriage falls apart. Over the phone. Via text. He starts a new life in a new city. As a single parent, he wants to do the best he can for his kids. And when he can't deny his feelings for Alex, things really get complicated. Can he risk his heart and take another chance on love? For a woman like Alex, he's sure as hell going to try. Alex never dreamed of true love. Or marriage. Or kids. Until she meets Skeet. And all the things she never thought she wanted seemed to come with this sexy single dad, including an angry 10-year-old boy and a precocious 6-year-old girl. And suddenly, she can't see her life without them. But can she take a chance on this new life? For a man like Skeet, she's sure as hell going to try. Codename Raike is intended for a mature audience over eighteen due to language, sexual situations, and depictions of trauma.

J. R. Tootill writes contemporary romantic suspense novels with a Criminal Minds, CSI edge and a side order of spice. She began her love affair with romance novels because, unlike real life, the monsters were always destroyed, and the heroes got the happy ending they deserved. On a dare, she wrote a short story that turned into a novel, and that became The Omega Security Series. Her fascination with how people can rebuild their lives from hardship is what fuels The Omega Security Series. Her characters are sometimes broken, often battered, and always at a life-changing crossroads. And, because she still believes in happy endings, all of her stories have a hard-won happily ever after. J. R. was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book awards. She holds a BA in Writing Arts and an MFA in Creative Writing. And has been teaching creative writing on a university level for over twelve years.

Prologue

Undisclosed location, Afghanistan, ten years ago

SKEET

Pain.

Nauseating kicked you in the balls until you puked all over yourself pain was what woke him. His ears buzzed. He was dizzy. He wanted to puke.

Where the fuck was he?

The sounds around him were muffled. Was he in a bunker? Something pinged off whatever he was crumpled against. No. He was definitely not in a bunker. He tried to pull air into his lungs but couldn’t expand his chest. He swallowed and winced at whatever scratched his throat. He bore down on his molars, and sand crunched between his teeth.

Sand.Fuck. Now he remembered where he was.

His weapon was gone. Or at least he couldn’t feel it in his left hand. His ruck dug into his back. His helmet was twisted and wedged into the side of his neck. He tried to move his left arm to pull his helmet off, but that seemed to be the pain center. He tried to roll to the side, but his arms and legs were limp as if he’d been deflated. He was covered in sweat. His stomach convulsed.Shit. He was going to puke. He had to man up, push through the pain and find the rest of his team. And where the fuck was Tuc? As if he had summoned him, Tuc shouted his name. It drifted to him on a hot breeze from a long distance away. Or was that his ears playing tricks on him? He shook his head to clear the buzz, but that only made the whole fucking world spin. He winced into the pain that shot through his arm and dropped his head back onto the ground. His helmet dug deeper into him. Why the fuck couldn’t he move?

He tried to shout out to Tuc, but his throat was so clogged and dry that his voice couldn’t break through. He should have worn his balaclava instead of that goddammed scarf, but the heat was getting to him, so he had left it in the Humvee. He was getting careless like he always did when his brain shifted to going home. They had two days left.Two fucking days. They weren’t even supposed to leave the base. They were doing a favor for a friend. And he wasn’t paying enough attention. They were talking about getting back to Virginia Beach. Getting drunk. Getting laid. This was supposed to be a three-mile transport. They hadn’t even used the whole team. It was just a simple in and out. Kids. They were transporting kids. And that’s what made them sloppy. The end of his deployment always made him careless because his mind would finally take the chance to drift back home. He knew better than this. Nothing was simple here. Nothing. It killed him that he had let his team down. Well, shit. It probably did kill him.

He just needed to close his eyes for a minute. Just a minute to get his focus back. Then he would get to his feet and get his team out. Tuc shouted his name and pulled him awake. Shit, he must have drifted off. He tried to sit up and pain shot through his left arm. He realized he was lying on his left side. He tried to shift his legs to push onto his back, and that was when he felt the sticky wet beneath him.Ah shit. He wasn’t just knocked out from the blast. He was fucking hit.

His head was pounding like a jackhammer drilled against the inside of his skull. Now he was glad he couldn’t open his eyes. He would rather just bleed out right here if his left arm was gone. He wasn’t the kind of guy who could face a limb’s loss. He was too much of a vain bastard for that. He wasn’t any kind of a fucking hero at all. Just an asshole that had messed up and gotten them all killed because he was too busy thinking about good old U.S. of A. pussy.

He heard Tuc shout his name again.