Blood & Thunder
(Thirds Series, Bk #2)
by Charlie Cochet
Blurb:
When a series of bombs go off in a Therian youth center, injuring members of THIRDS Team Destructive Delta, and causing a rift between agents Dexter J. Daley and Sloane Brodie, peace seems unattainable. Especially when a new and frightening group, the Order of Adrasteia, appears to always be a step ahead. With panic and intolerance spreading and streets becoming littered with the Order’s propaganda, hostility between Humans and Therians grows daily. Dex and Sloane, along with the rest of the team, are determined to take down the Order and restore peace, not to mention settle a personal score. But the deeper the team investigates the bombings, the more they believe there’s a more sinister motive than a desire to shed blood and spread chaos.
Discovering the frightful truth behind the Order’s intent forces Sloane to confront secrets from a past he thought he’d left behind for good, a past that could not only destroy him and his career, but also the reputation of the organization that made him all he is today. Now more than ever, Dex and Sloane need each other, and, along with trust, the strength of their bond will mean the difference between justice and all-out war.
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Excerpt
“Hobbs?”
Hobbs put a finger to his lips and cocked his
head to one side. That’s when Dex heard it too. Faint sniffling. Hobbs walked
to a medium sized toy chest filled with stuffed animals and got down on his
knees. He picked up two bright bears with numbers on their tummies and smiled.
Putting the bears on the floor, he tapped his name badge, his smile making
wrinkles form at the corners of his green eyes as he held his gloved hand out.
A second later, a small chubby hand slipped into Hobbs’s much larger one. A
small boy with big brown eyes, an Iron Man T-shirt, and paint-spattered jeans
stood up. He threw his arms around Hobbs.
Dex tapped his earpiece. “Sloane, we’ve got one
more.”
“Copy that. I’ll send someone up.” Moments
later, a Therian agent from Beta Ambush came running and Hobbs handed the boy
over. With a nod, the agent was off, disappearing through the stairwell. Dex
tapped his earpiece. “Sloane, agent Simmons is heading down with the last one.
We’re going to do one last sweep of the floor, but I think we might be clear….”
His voice trailed off when Hobbs stopped to study the vent up near the ceiling
at the far end of the room. “Hobbs?”
“Dex? What’s going on?” Sloane asked.
Hobbs pulled off the vent screen, stood on his
toes, and peeked in. The rest happened so fast, Dex barely had time to register
what the hell was going on. Hobbs sped straight for Dex, shoving him so hard he
went stumbling through the fire doors. The last thing he heard was the slam of
metal and an explosion that shook the floor beneath him when he hit it.
Dex curled up on himself, arms thrown over his
helmet as the blast reverberated around him, debris, ceiling panels, chunks of
plaster, and brick falling on him, banging against his helmet as a cloud of
heavy smoke and dust threatened to choke him. He rolled onto his side, coughing
and hacking, his body covered in a layer of gray dust. When he inhaled, his
lungs burned, and sitting up made him wince. His left thigh stung. Checking his
leg, there was a long gash where a piece of something sharp had sliced through
his tac pants, but lucky for him, it wasn’t deep. When his ears stopped
ringing, he could hear Sloane shouting through his earpiece.
“Dex, goddamn it, answer me!”
“I’m okay,” he wheezed. “Are Simmons and the
kid okay?”
“Yeah, they’re fine. The stairs are blocked.
You’ll have to make your way down the stairs on the other side of the building.
What the hell happened?”
“There was another bomb. We were about to sweep
the area, when Hobbs—” Realization slammed into Dex’s chest, and he pushed
himself to his feet, ignoring the pain in his leg. “Oh, god. Hobbs!”
Calvin’s anxious voice came over his earpiece.
“What happened to Hobbs? Where is he?”
“That son of a bitch!” Dex slammed his fist
into the wall. “He pushed me through the fire door. He… he stayed inside the
classroom.” There was silence on the other end of his earpiece until Sloane
spoke up.
“Can you see the room?”
Dex turned, cursing under his breath. “Negative.
Part of the corridor collapsed in front of it.”
More silence, followed by Sloane’s quiet voice.
“There’s nothing you can do. Get down here.”
Dex shook his head, tears stinging his eyes.
No. That bastard was not dead. “Hobbs, if you’re in there, you better answer
me, or I swear I will kick your ass.” One of the doors had been blown off its
hinges and was lying like crumpled paper to one side; pieces from the corridor
walls, cement blocks, bricks, and clusters of wires blocked the only way into
what was left of the classroom. Live wires sparked, sizzled, and popped from
somewhere to his right. Dex limped over to the debris. “Hobbs, answer me!”
“Dex….” Sloane began.
“He’s a tough bastard. He’s not dead,” Dex
ground out angrily. “Hobbs, you answer me right fucking now!” He grabbed a
piece of cement block and tossed it to one side, shoving and moving bricks.
“Hobbs!” Through the silence, there was a low groan. “Hobbs?”
The softest gasp met Dex’s ears, followed by
what Dex could have sworn was his name.
“I’m coming, buddy. You hang in there.”
“Negative. Dex get out of there,” Sloane
ordered. “We don’t know how stable the building is.”
Dex shoved at a small pile of debris and
thanked whoever was watching out for him. There was a tunnel large enough to
get Hobbs through. “I found an opening. I can get him out.”
“That structure is unstable. You go in there,
and you might not come out. Wait for backup,” Sloane ground out, his
frustration becoming evident.
“There’s no time.” Dex pushed tentatively
against the makeshift tunnel walls. “It’s stable.” For the most part.
“You don’t know that. Fall back, Agent, Daley.
That’s an order!”
“I can’t leave him in there to die.” Dex got
down on his stomach and crawled through the tunnel with caution, ignoring
Sloane’s curses in his ear. His partner was going to tear him a new one, but
Hobbs was alive, and if his friend was going to make it out of this, Dex would
have to get him out now.
About the Author
Currently residing in South Florida, Charlie looks forward to migrating to a land where the weather includes seasons other than hot, hotter, and boy, it’s hot! When she isn't writing, she can usually be found reading, drawing, or watching movies. She runs on coffee, thrives on music, and loves to hear from readers.
You can find Charlie at
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