Guns And Dogs Read Online Free Page A

gonna say something?” Argos asked.
    “Yeah, I was,” Johnny replied abashedly, “but perhaps…um…another time…it was kinda personal.”
    Jessie and Studs barked. Johnny looked at them and wondered if they’d been a silent audience in his conversation with Argos. He shifted his glance towards the windshield as they passed through a dense cloud. “No, go ahead, ask.”
    “Did you ever consider leaving AL? I mean before the divorce?”
    “There were warning signs that my marriage was on the rocks, yes, and I thought about it from time to time. But the work I was doing for AL was critical to both Homeland Security, not to mention Earth itself. I’d also made a commitment to your father when he recruited me and I wasn’t about to resign. Don’t get me wrong, my family meant the world to me, but I also felt that if I’d left AL I’d be jeopardizing their safety as well as millions of other families. After your father disappeared I buried the thought of leaving AL.”
    “Ok.”
    “America is a great country Johnny, you know that, but she’s got new problems these days, both domestic and abroad: obesity, school-shootings, drugs; and that’s just within our borders. The world’s ecological stability is melting like the polar ice caps and meanwhile every terrorist group in the world wants to spread fear or detonate a nuclear bomb inside a major American city. Plus the newest danger— Time-Splinter Paradoxes—as I mentioned earlier. So while the CIA is busy dealing with international terror organizations bent on turning America into a radioactive wasteland, AL is trying to make sure that TSPs are nipped in the bud.”
    Johnny pondered Argos’ words as Gina continued cruised through the heavens. There would always be problems with the world. His father had told him about the Cold War which had lasted from the mid-1940s up until the early 1990s. But now America had bigger issues. He thought about the school-shootings that were common these days and was glad that his school hadn’t experienced such a calamitous event. There was bullying, but school security and teachers were always on the lookout for violators, and apart from the occasional school fight, things were as normal as any regular high school. He thought about all the terms Argos had dropped on him, Time-Healers, Time-Splinter Paradoxes and now Time-Killers. No wonder his father had kept his AL job a secret from him. He probably didn’t want to worry me, Johnny thought. Soon another question popped into his mind. “There’s still one thing I have to ask you Argos.”
    Argos shot a side glance at Johnny before turning his attention back to “driving.”
    “I’m curious, whatever happened to Rusty?”
    Argos sighed deeply and began the tale from his past.
(4)
    When the alarm buzzer sounded Argos banged his head against the bedpost. Seconds later, his hand dangled off the side of the bed, he felt something warm lick his forearm before jumping onto the bed. His wife let out a shriek as the Red Doberman began licking her face.
    “Not this four-legged menace again,” Argos’ wife said waving Rusty away.
    “Rusty, I told you a thousand times not to lick Gina,” Argos said.
    “Sometimes I think you let that dog get away with too much,” Gina said before donning her bathrobe and heading to the bathroom.
    “Honey, he’s just showing you some affection.”
    “Affection?” Gina called out from inside the bathroom. “Is that why he brutalized my fresh-baked brownies last week? I’d made those for the church bake-a-thon. I still can’t believe the amount of racket that dog can conjure up on short notice. Argos Haywood Better you may need to start looking for an adoption kennel. I don’t think Rusty was meant to be a house dog.”
    Argos’ heart leapt into his throat and he nearly gagged on it. “You can’t be serious, baby? I’ve only had him for a few days.”
    “Don’t you baby me, Argos!” Gina called out. “I don’t know what your