The Relic Runner Origin Story Box Set by Ernest Dempsey (best desktop ebook reader .txt) 📗

killed Billy and the local sheriff. And they'd made it look like the two men killed each other in an argument.

Maybe Dak was being paranoid over rationalizing things. There was nothing wrong with being careful, though, and at that moment it felt prudent.

"I don't know," Dak said finally. "I've given you everything I can think of."

"That isn't much," Will quipped. "Is there anything else you can give me? The physical descriptions of people can change, but their habits, tastes, characters don't."

"What's the point of counseling, then?"

Will laughed. "I've wondered the same thing myself many times. My guess is that counseling isn't meant to change people, but help them deal with who they are and manage their feelings or thoughts in a productive and socially acceptable way."

Dak considered the statement. "No one ever really knew what Nathaniel was thinking, or what he felt. The man was unusually quiet, mostly kept to himself in a way that creeped out even Bo. Nothing got to Bo. He wasn't afraid of much."

"Sounds like a psycho."

"Sociopath, actually," Dak said. Then it hit him. "Wait." A memory filled his head with a vision from the past he wished wasn't there. He'd all but forgotten that stream of events, or done the best he could to purge it from his mind.

"What is it? You got something?" Will sounded hopeful.

"There was something." He paused again. "Once, when we were in Iraq, we had a mission where we were sent into a village to take out some insurgents." Regret and a tinge of pain scratched at Dak's voice. Then it grew distant. "We advanced into an old home barn on the outskirts of town. We heard that's where the group conducted their meetings to plan out attacks. When we arrived, we found the insurgents. A few of them were older men, but most of their soldiers were young men under the age of fifteen.

"I took out the two of leaders immediately. Bo eliminated one. But we both hesitated when we saw the boys. They were unarmed, watching one of the men in charge as he conducted a lesson on improvised explosives." Dak snorted derisively at the way he'd said it—a lesson.

"What happened, Dak?" Will pressed after the phone fell silent again for nearly a minute.

Dak lost himself in the memory, the sickening, wretched recollection he wished had never happened.

"Nate entered the building after us. He saw the young men, thought they were a threat, and mowed them down. He slaughtered them without mercy, as if he was demolishing an anthill."

Will didn't say anything, but the silence over the line spoke for him.

"When he was done," Dak continued, "Nate waded through the bodies. He laughed at the sight. It was one of the few times he ever laughed that I can recall. Then he made a strange comment. Strange doesn't even come close to describing it, actually."

"What? What did he say?"

"He said—" Dak sighed. "He said that he wished he could take a few of them back home as trophies, that he'd always wanted a collection like that."

Dak stopped speaking, his words falling away from trembling lips.

"Wow," Will breathed. "I've seen some messed up people in my time. Saw some stuff that I still can't shake. But that's—"

"Crazy. I know. I feel like the military was the only place that could contain Nate and who—what he really is. He was a tool when he was in the army, an instrument of death. Now that he's out, I shudder to think what he may be doing."

"Most of us were instruments of death," Will countered.

"Not like this guy. He enjoyed it." The SUV rolled over the crest of a long rise and then began its descent down the other side. "Luis said he was in Kentucky."

"That's what you told me. What are you thinking?"

Dak grimaced at the thought. The question prodded disturbing images from his mind, things he could only picture in the darkest recesses of his imagination. "Check and see if there have been an abnormal number of missing persons reports occurring in the state. If so, is there a pattern?"

"And what if that search comes up empty?"

Dak knew that question was coming. "Then the good news is Nate hasn't done what I feared. That will make it more difficult for you to find him."

"I'm okay with difficult."

"I know you are." Dak paused and looked out at the expanding prairie leading away from the Rocky Mountains. "Call me when you have something."

From the Author

I appreciate you taking the time to read this story, and the others if you’ve been keeping up. I did take a few liberties in this one, such as using the name of the town Cuchara, which is a real place and is as close to my description as possible. There is also an abandoned ski resort there, though it has been purchased and—I believe—converted into a tourist information center. The second resort I described does not, to my knowledge, exist. Purgatory Peak is a real place, though it is spelled differently and its appearance is somewhat different than how I entailed.

Thanks again for reading the story, and I’ll see you in the next one.

Ernest

Other Books by Ernest Dempsey

Dak Harper Origin Stories:

Out of the Fire

You Only Die Once

Tequila Sunset

Purgatory

Scorched Earth

The Heart of Vengeance

Sean Wyatt Adventures:

The Secret of the Stones

The Cleric's Vault

The Last Chamber

The Grecian Manifesto

The Norse Directive

Game of Shadows

The Jerusalem Creed

The Samurai Cipher

The Cairo Vendetta

The Uluru Code

The Excalibur Key

The Denali Deception

The Sahara Legacy

The Fourth Prophecy

The Templar Curse

The Forbidden Temple

The Omega Project

The Napoleon Affair

The Second Sign

Adriana Villa Adventures:

War of Thieves Box Set

When Shadows Call

Shadows Rising

Shadow Hour

The Adventure Guild:

The Caesar Secret: Books 1-3

The Carolina Caper

Beta Force:

Operation Zulu

London Calling

Paranormal Archaeology Division:

Hell’s Gate

Acknowledgments

Big thanks to my editor Anne Storer and all the readers who helped out while the book was being written and posted each day on my website. I can’t thank you enough. There were so many of you kind enough to send your comments. I appreciate you.

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