Chapter 1

The small, one-story building stood out as notable, compared to the miles of empty West Texas plains that surrounded it.

A few green, canvas covered trucks sat parked in a row in a dimly lit parking lot and a pole stood in front. At its top, a flag was flapping lightly in a gentle breeze.

Anyone who drove past the small building would think very little of it. Although a car driving by would be notable to the people in the building since cars rarely drove down the quiet country road that eventually leads out to the interstate four miles away or to the college town of Lubbock almost fifteen miles in the other direction.

The short driveway that led through a single opening in the chain-link fence that stretched around the building was blocked by a small guard post, whose current guard was slowly nodding off, his brownish digi-pattern cap pulled low on his head.

He would be in a world of hurt if his Sergeant found him sleeping on duty, but that typically only happened when they rotated in new non-coms. This was a posting where nothing ever happened, and even those in charge tended to fall into complacency.

The Private was almost asleep when he felt the ground rumble. The man jerked awake, and for half a second wondered why Texas would be having an earthquake, when it seemed like the entire world ripped apart.

Only the concrete structure around him and its standard issue bullet proof glass protected him from that first barrage as the surrounding area seemed to become daytime for a brief moment.

Of all the men stationed at the small munitions depot, only the drowsy guard had a chance to realize his fate, if only for a few seconds. The explosion that followed, as the munitions stored in the building joined the inferno, ripped the concrete booth into chunks and shattered the glass into a thousand small missiles.

Fifteen miles away, the Lubbock 911 dispatch center phones started a cascade, quickly overwhelming operators used to dealing with auto accidents and incidents involving drunken college kids.

Every call was about the fireball that rose out of the darkness outside of town and the shockwave that rattled windows and set off car alarms.

Fort Meade, Florida

John Taylor heard the ringing phone inside the office from underneath an old, beat up Chevy, which should have been put to pasture years before.

He ignored the phone, instead focusing on not covering himself in oil as he opened up the drain plug to let the black sludge pour out. He wondered, for the hundredth time, how people could skip even the most simple maintenance.

Even if he hadn’t been under the car, arms covered in dirt and grime, Taylor wouldn’t have made a move to the office to answer the phone. While most of the other mechanics tried to cover the phones for Albert, in case he was with a customer; everyone knew Taylor didn’t deal with people.

Sure, he was pleasant enough. He said ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ to his coworkers. He helped hold or carry stuff when needed, and even picked up shifts when someone wanted a day off. But everyone knew Taylor didn’t deal with people, especially the public.

He was a closed book, and none of them had seen even a peek inside its cover. Most days Taylor managed to say less than a dozen words the entire day. There was a pool going to see if he could stay under a thousand for the year.

So everyone, including Taylor himself, was surprised when a few moments after the phone stopped ringing Albert Franklin stuck his head out of the office and shouted.

“Taylor, get your ass up here. You have a phone call.”

John pulled himself out from under the car and wiped his hands on a dirty rag hanging from one pocket. It would be tough to determine if the cloth removed any of the built up grease, or just added more of it to his hands.

As he walked into the office, Taylor gave a questioning eyebrow to Albert. Long before mustering out of the Army, Albert had mastered the poker face known to non-coms across the globe. Taylor knew it was useless to try and see through that stoic façade.

Shrugging, he took the grimy receiver from Albert and said, “Taylor.”

A voice from the past, one he hadn’t expected ever to hear again, echoed out of the handset, “John, it’s Trevor Robles. How do you feel about Texas?”

Taylor paused a moment, his mind racing back to the events six months before. He couldn’t say they’d changed his life since he was just as aimless now as he was before the adventure in Miami, but they had made an impact.

He had shown up in Miami looking for his fiancée who, along with the rest of the world, had thought he was dead. His unit had been wiped out in Afghanistan, and Taylor had spent three long years as a prisoner in a terrorist camp. Instead of picking his life back up, Taylor learned that his fiancée had moved on, along with everything else he had known. He’d been left wandering the streets of Miami.

He wasn’t even sure, himself, what he’d been looking for. What he had found, though, was a Russian woman. She’d escaped from human traffickers, a dead Federal Marshal, and one hell of a mess.

When all was said and done, more than a dozen men were dead, a senior Federal Marshal was in jail for corruption and accessory to murder, and the girl had disappeared into the witness protection program.

Robles was one of the Marshals involved with that whole mess and had managed to get grabbed up by the Russians, thanks to his crooked boss. Robles and Taylor had left things amicably when it was all over; but Taylor hadn’t expected to hear from the man, ever again.

“I don’t know, its fine I guess. I know it gets hot there,” Taylor said answering, although still not understanding the question.

“It does at that.”

“What can I do for the Marshals service?”

“I’m not actually with the Marshals, anymore,” Robles said. “I didn’t feel very comfortable with them, considering what happened.”

“Ohh,” Taylor said, still trying to work out where this was going.

“I’m with the FBI, now. We’ve had something happen down here, and I could use your help.”

“What would the FBI need with me?”

“Well, it’s not the FBI exactly. The case involves a young soldier, and his mother needs some help. Could I talk you into coming down and meeting with her? I’ll set you up with a ticket and lodging, so it’s just a few days of your time.”

Taylor knew Robles was trying to smooth things along by mentioning the woman’s child was a soldier. He didn’t particularly like Robles attempt to play him and liked the idea of getting back into the world even less.

“I don’t know. I’ve got a job here, and they count on me...”

Taylor was interrupted by Albert calling out behind him, “Bullshit. You’re a fine mechanic, but we’ll live without you. I’m not gonna let you hide out here for the rest of your life.”

John frowned. He hadn’t realized Albert was still in earshot. After the first month, Albert had started making comments about Taylor’s self-exile. The observations had gradually increased over time, with Albert making no secret of wanting Taylor to get back to some semblance of a normal life.

While John could see Albert’s point, he wasn’t sure he agreed. He was even less sure going to Texas to help out the mother of a soldier being investigated by the FBI would be anything even remotely like normal.

“John, it’s important. She has no one else to turn to,” Robles continued through the phone. “No one out here is taking her seriously. Just meet with her. If you say ‘no, ‘ after that, then I won’t bug you again. I promise.”

Taylor thought for a minute longer and then sighed.

“Fine. Email me the details and I’ll come out and meet her. No promises, though.”

“Of course. Thanks, John.”

“Yeah,” Taylor said, and hung up.

He gave a glower to Albert who shrugged it off and went back to work. That night, in his small efficiency apartment, Taylor checked his email and found the information from Robles. He must have been desperate since the ticket was for early the next morning.

What Taylor wasn’t happy to see was the ticket was one way.

But, he had promised, and Taylor still believed that meant something.

Dallas, Texas

The flight had indeed been early, and with the hour time difference, John knew it was going to be a long day.

Walking through a confusing mess of people and construction barriers, Taylor wasn’t surprised to see Robles standing by the curb, leaning against a black SUV.

Most people had to circle round and round, calling their friend or family member to arrange the right moment to swoop in and pick them up. Considering the state of the world, police no longer let cars just loiter around airports.

Robles, however, had that nonchalant entitlement that most members of law enforcement had. Not that Taylor blamed him. If he could flash a badge and get to park at the curb, he would have done it in a heartbeat, too.

The plus side was Taylor didn’t have to wait.

Robles saw him and pushed off the SUV.

“Glad you came,” he said, reaching out for John’s hand.

“Yeah,” was all Taylor said in response.

Robles just shook his head. Taylor had been a man of few words over the couple of weeks they had dealt with each other. It was pretty clear nothing had changed on that front.

He took Taylor’s bag and pushed it into the back seat, motioning for him to hop in. Once both men were in the SUV and driving away from the airport, Robles got down to business.

“Have you seen anything about that army supply depot that blew up late last week?”

“I heard it happened,” Taylor said, thinking back to a news report he had heard in passing a few days before the call from Robles.

Taylor didn’t watch much TV and didn’t follow the news, not really caring what happened in the world. But the garage had a TV playing in the lobby, and he would catch random bits from time to time.

“Four days ago, in the early evening, a munitions depot just east of Lubbock blew up, killing everyone on site. It was, by all reports, pretty massive. Besides small arms and some explosives like C4 stored at the facility, there were also drums of diesel on site. All that together made for one hell of an explosion. It managed to break windows, fifteen miles away in Lubbock.”

“Ok,” Taylor replied.

“Since it was a Federal building, the Bureau was dispatched. Thanks to all the supplies in the building cooking off, our techs couldn’t actually reconstruct what caused the initial blast, but we know a few things, and those aren’t good.

“At 9:15, a code was punched into the security system, turning off all cameras around the compound, including those on the perimeter. The code also shut off all the sensors that record doors opening and closing. Forty minutes later the building exploded. While the explosion could have been an accident, the cameras and sensors being turned off can’t be.”

“So you think the munitions were set off on purpose?”

“That’s the working theory.”

“And the cameras and everything were turned off to let the person set everything off?”

“Pretty much.”

“Do you know who turned off the cameras?”

“Yes. The code that was used belonged to a Corporal named Samar Abbas.”

Taylor turned and looked at Robles.

“Exactly,” Robles said acknowledging the unasked question. “Abbas and his mother, Naziha Hayali, came to the US on a special immigrant visa in 2006. Her husband was a translator assigned to 4th Infantry Division starting in 2004. When his family was threatened he applied for, and received, a visa to come to the US. He died two days before the family immigrated, but the unit he had been assigned to rallied and pushed hard for the State Department to honor the visas, which they did.”

“Surprising,” Taylor said.