No Ordinary Day by Tate, Harley (life changing books txt) 📗

John turned to face the truck. Could he take this man’s generosity and follow through on his assignment? He’d been so careful for years to not blur the lines. Easier to have no life than to end up confused or compromised. He’d boxed up everything that went wrong in the desert and never stopped to think or wonder or question… anything.

He pulled out his phone and scrolled his messages. His boss had never had reason to question his motives before. Not in Afghanistan, not now in the private sector. Ever since they’d returned a battered, veteran unit who’d seen more classified action than all but a handful of other Marines, they’d stuck together. No one back home understood what they’d been through. A few of the guys couldn’t handle it; the ones with wives and kids…

One had stuck a tube on the end of his exhaust pipe and breathed his life away six months after getting back. Another wrapped his Camaro around a telephone pole. But John, his boss, Willy, and a few other guys had formed a support group of sorts. First it was target practice in the woods. Then it was… more aggressive action. When his boss came to him with the first assignment all those years ago, it had been a relief.

Finally, something he was good at. Something he could focus on instead of the emptiness of his daily life. Ever since then, their tiny operation had been the closest thing to a family John had for years. A screwed up, assassin-for-hire, order-following family, but a family all the same.

How could he turn his back on all of it for a mark he’d just met and the kindness of a stranger?

Something sounded behind him and John reached for his gun. He spun, pulling the Sig free and aiming it straight ahead on instinct. A pair of yellow eyes reflected the lamp light as Tank padded into the barn. John lowered the gun.

“What are you doing out—” Emma emerged from the dark, cutting off her question as she caught sight of the gun. “We didn’t mean to scare you.”

John shoved his phone in his pocket and holstered the weapon. “You didn’t.” The words came out harsh and angry. “What are you doing out here?”

She wrapped her hands around her arms in defense. “Tank had to go out. I saw the light and…” She trailed off, breaking eye contact to focus on the floor.

John cursed himself. He needed to keep on Emma’s good side, not push her away. “Sorry. I was lost in thought.” He motioned at the truck. “Gil’s offered it to us.”

Emma squinted into the dark. “Does it run?”

“He says it does. Not sure how far it’ll get us before it dies, but might be worth a shot.” Tank sidled up beside John and butted his head into his thigh. John reached down and scratched behind the dog’s ear. “If you’d rather walk…”

“Not hardly. I just hate taking something from an elderly man.” Emma turned back to John. “Do you think they’ll be all right?”

“Irma and Gil?” John thought it over. “My gut says yes. They seem prepared.”

“Do you believe what they heard on the radio? About the power outages and the grid? I keep thinking about that guy we met earlier today, Eugene. He acted like this was the end of the world. If what he and Gil say are true—”

John sobered. He’d been so wrapped up in his own issues, he hadn’t stopped to think about the bigger picture. What if the grid was gone? Would society collapse? He didn’t need to answer the question to know the answer. He’d seen what electricity insecurity did firsthand. He pinched the back of his neck. “It could get ugly, fast. We already saw a hint of it in the sporting goods store.”

“It was chaos. I’ve never seen so many people so frightened.”

A worst-case scenario unfurled in John’s mind with ransacked stores and vigilantes and widespread panic. He shoved the thoughts aside and motioned toward the house. “We should get some sleep. The morning’s going to come whether we want it to or not.”

Emma’s face pinched in, hurt at his brusque tone, but John couldn’t engage. Not with this decision weighing him down. He needed to come to terms with either taking her out or turning his back on his life. Until then, he couldn’t think about what was happening all around them.

He snuffed out the oil lamp and waited for Emma and Tank to exit the barn.

Chapter Sixteen

Emma

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay a little longer? No harm in it.” Irma held a bowl full of drop biscuits out for Emma, but she shook her head.

“I’m sure. Gloria needs me. We’ve already taken longer than we should have getting there.” It didn’t seem like two days since she’d been trapped in the elevator and Zach was murdered. Two days without power and the prospect of many, many more.

Ever since Gil confirmed what Eugene had told them earlier, she hadn’t been able to think about anything else. No more electrical grid? What did that mean for a city as large as Atlanta? The state as a whole only had a population of ten and a half million, but three quarters lived in the Atlanta metro. Thanks to the warm weather no one would freeze, but how would they eat?

Apart from a patio tomato, no one she knew grew a single vegetable or raised animals. Everyone relied on the grocery store. What would happen when they couldn’t keep the produce cold or the meat from rotting?

“You all right, hon? You look a little pale.” Irma snapped Emma out of her spiraling thoughts.

“I’m fine. Didn’t sleep real well.”

“I’m telling you, a few days here wouldn’t hurt.”

If you only knew. “I appreciate it, I really do, but I need to reach Gloria.”

Irma held up a hand. “Understood.”

The back door banged shut and Gil stomped into the kitchen followed by