Chapter 9 - The Last StandI looked down at the small black drive in the agent's hand.
For fourteen years, my life had belonged to the flag, to the missions, to the shadows where wars were fought in secret. I had come to Montana to escape the violence, to find peace in the quiet rhythms of engines, rivers, and open skies.
I thought the world had left me behind.
Instead, it had just been waiting to see if I still had the edge.
“Leave the drive on the truck hood,” I said softly, turning back toward my workbench.
The agent blinked, surprised by the lack of hesitation. He slowly placed the drive on the faded blue paint of the F-150 hood.
“Director said you might say that,” the agent murmured. “Extraction chopper is standing by at Bozeman airfield if you need backup.”
“I don't need backup,” I replied without looking back. “I need a map and my old kit.”
The agent nodded once, turned on his heel, and walked back to his sedan. The engine hummed softly as he turned the car around and headed back down the driveway, leaving me alone with the mountains, the wind, and the inevitable call of duty.
I walked over to the truck, picked up the data drive, and slid it into my pocket.
Then I walked into the old farmhouse, down the creaking wooden stairs to the basement storage room. Behind a false panel in the stone foundation sat a heavy steel Pelican case—locked with a biometric scanner that only recognized my thumbprint.
I pressed my thumb against the glass reader.
Click.
The heavy lid hissed open. Inside, nestled in custom-cut foam, sat my old titanium-plated tactical comms rig, encrypted satellite gear, and the matte-black sidearm I thought I would never fire again.
I picked up the pistol, feeling the familiar, deadly weight in my hand.
May you like
The milkshake on my face at the Rusty Spur Diner had been meant as an insult. A reminder to the town that I was nothing more than a broken-down veteran they could push around.
They had no idea that beneath the flannel shirt and the grease-stained hands beat the heart of a Tier-1 operator who never lost a war.
