Whiskey Black Book Set: The Complete Tyrant Series (Box Set 1) Read Online Free Page A

ease.
    Monica turned the wall-mounted television on, only to see the news coverage of how just about every major American city was burning.
    “I’m likely to go to Chicago,” he said as he began lacing his boots. It was the last thing he did before grabbing his pack and kissing her goodbye.
    Carbondale Armory
    Murphysboro, Illinois
    July 13, 2031
    2:15 a.m.
    Captain Ebers concluded his telephone conference. He was more perplexed now than he was when he had left his home just a few minutes prior.
    “That redefined
briefing
,” he said out loud to himself. He was the only person in his area and found himself at the head of a southern Illinois mass callout of all guardsmen under his watch. He had very little information and was frustrated at the lack of answers he would be able to supply to his men. He knew their questions would be many, but his answers would be few. This left him feeling illegitimate in his own eyes, and he was afraid he would lose the confidence and respect of his men.
    With little information to go on, the captain pulled out his cell phone, scrolled to the group titled
Carbondale Armory
, and sent out a group message.
    We’ve been activated. National crisis underway. Report immediately. FPCON DELTA.
    FPCON stood for Force Protection Condition. It was a system set up decades earlier and was similar to the DEFCON (Defense Condition) system used decades prior to FPCON. Unlike the old nuclear threat level system, FPCON measured the threat level of terrorist-type attacks. A FPCON DELTA level informed military personnel that a terrorist threat was currently underway or had recently occurred.
    Captain Ebers was highly concerned that the information he had received was minimal, at best. There was a quick reference to an operation titled
Acts of Defiance
, which led him to believe the threat may not be foreign but domestic. He was feeling a high level of anxiety. The seconds that passed by seemed like minutes, and the minutes felt like hours. Ebers waited patiently to hear from his command sergeant that all members had replied.
    Ring, ring
, Captain Ebers’s phone rang out.
    Anticipating a phone call from Command Sergeant Thomas Damm, Ebers didn’t even look at the screen of his cell phone when he answered.
    “Sergeant, how many of our men have you heard from?”
    “Captain Ebers, this is Colonel Wright. Stand down.”
    Murphysboro, Illinois
    July 13, 2031
    2:24 a.m.
    Sam was still awake watching the news, but Stephen had fallen asleep with his head resting on her lap towards the TV. She could hardly believe how fast the United States was unraveling. She may not have been a politically minded individual, but she could see that things were already akindle before the President threw in her highly combustible speech.
    Her hand was resting on Stephen’s neck, her favorite spot to caress when he was lying close to her. Trying hard to savor the intimate moment alone with her husband, she tried to push all negative things out of her mind. The TV remote was in Stephen’s hand. Desiring to turn off the TV so she could push the negative things from her mind, she gently grabbed the remote, only to be interrupted by a vibrating notification from his cell phone.
    We’ve been activated. National crisis underway. Report immediately. FPCON DELTA.
    Vvv
,
vvv
, the phone rang out. It was sitting on the coffee table, which amplified its awakening effect on Stephen.
    Sitting up in a hurry, he wiped his eyes and grabbed the phone. Sam had a gut-wrenching feeling that it was the Guard calling him in. She gently grabbed his hand and simply said, “Please.”
    He looked at her, knowing she didn’t want him to leave.
    “Babe, you know I have to take this.”
    “They’re going to call you away from me.”
    He wasn’t a selfish man, and that was one of the things that drew her to him. It was his sense of selflessness that made him attractive to her. That being said, she was feeling a bit selfish for fear of losing him. She was