No Way Back: A Sheriff Duke Story (Forgotten Fallout Book 3)
Page 27
Isaac leaned over Natalia, who reached up to hug him. “Take care of yourself, Isaac,” she said.
“You too, Governor,” Isaac replied, kissing her on the cheek. “And tell Ginny she owes me a rematch.”
“Rematch?”
“I taught her how to play chess. And then she kicked my ass.”
They all shared a laugh.
“Time to go,” Rico said. “Ike, I assume you’ve never been in a starship before?”
“No, ma’am,” Isaac replied.
“You’re going to love the liftoff. The weeklong trip back to Proxima can be a little dry, but we’ll keep you occupied. And of course, you’re going to another planet, which I imagine must sound pretty cool.”
“That it does,” Isaac replied, laughing. “Besides, I can use a little more downtime after the last few weeks.”
“We’ll see you soon Sheriff, Governor,” Rico said.
“See you soon,” Hayden and Natalia replied.
The pair departed, closing the door behind them and leaving Hayden and Natalia alone.
“How are you feeling?” Hayden asked, kneeling down to eye level with Natalia.
“I’m okay, Hayden. Really. I was off my feet for two weeks and my body isn’t up to speed yet, but even Doc Hess said I’ll be fine.”
“That won’t stop me from worrying. I almost lost you.”
She reached over to cup his face in her hand. “But you didn’t. We won. And we might end up with the Others as an ally. Pretty good deal if you ask me.”
“All’s well that ends well.”
Natalia smiled. “Mostly.”
“What does that mean?”
“When we were testing the khoron’s link to the Collective, another signal came through. The computer translated it into English. He said his name was Sergeant Caleb Card.”
Hayden flinched with surprise. “A human?”
“That’s right.”
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know that either. But I think we should do whatever we can to find him. Before the Trust, the Axon, or the Relyeh do.”
Hayden nodded. “How about we add that to the list for tomorrow? Right now, I just want a nice, peaceful evening with my wife and daughter.”
“Daughters,” Natalia corrected. “Like it or not, Ginny is ours now.”
Hayden smiled. “Daughters. Sounds good to me.” He stood up and moved behind the wheelchair. “Might I escort you home, my love?”
Natalia reached up to put her hand on his. “I can’t wait.”
THE END
This is the end of Sheriff Duke’s fight against Shurrath, but it isn’t the end of the Forgotten Universe. Sheriff Duke returns in Forgotten Vengeance. mrforbes.com/forgottenvengeance.
This series is part of a larger, expanding universe. If you love Sheriff Duke, get his origin story here: mrforbes.com/forgotten. Also, Caleb Card has his own series, and you might want to pick that up to prepare for Forgotten Vengeance: mrforbes.com/deliverance. Or you can check out all of the books in the universe here: mrforbes.com/forgottenuniverse.
Already read them all? AMAZING! THANK YOU! Find another awesome book at mrforbes.com/books or check them out by flipping ahead a few pages.
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THANK YOU for reading these books. I know there are a lot of great authors writing a lot of great books, but you chose this one, and I appreciate you coming back for more.
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Cheers,
Michael.
Other Books By M.R Forbes
M.R. Forbes on Amazon
mrforbes.com/books
Forgotten (The Forgotten)
mrforbes.com/theforgotten
Some things are better off FORGOTTEN.
Sheriff Hayden Duke was born on the Pilgrim, and he expects to die on the Pilgrim, like his father, and his father before him.
That's the way things are on a generation starship centuries from home. He's never questioned it. Never thought about it. And why bother? Access points to the ship's controls are sealed, the systems that guide her automated and out of reach. It isn't perfect, but he has all he needs to be content.
Until a malfunction forces his Engineer wife to the edge of the habitable zone to inspect the damage.
Until she contacts him, breathless and terrified, to tell him she found a body, and it doesn't belong to anyone on board.
Until he arrives at the scene and discovers both his wife and the body are gone.
The only clue? A bloody handprint beneath a hatch that hasn't opened in hundreds of years.
Until now.
Earth Unknown (Forgotten Earth)
mrforbes.com/earthunknown
A desperate escape to the most dangerous planet in the universe... Earth.
Nathan's wife is murdered. The police believe he's the killer, and why wouldn't they? He's a disgraced Centurion Marine pilot, an ex-con, and an employee of the most powerful crime syndicate on Proxima.
The evidence is damning. The truth, not as clear. If Nathan wants to prove his innocence and avenge his wife, he'll have to complete the most desperate evasive maneuver of his life:
Steal a starship and escape to Earth.
He thinks he'll be safe there. He's wrong.
Very wrong.
Earth isn't what he thinks. Not even close. What he doesn't know isn't only likely to kill him, it's eager to kill him.
If it doesn't?
The Sheriff will.
Deliverance (Forgotten Colony)
mrforbes.com/deliverance
The war is over. Earth is lost. Running is the only option.
It may already be too late.
Caleb is a former Marine Raider and commander of the Vultures, a search and rescue team that's spent the last two years pulling high-value targets out of alien-ravaged cities and shipping them off-world.
When his new orders call for him to join forty-thousand survivors aboard the last starship out, he thinks his days of fighting are over. The Deliverance represents a fresh start and a chance to leave the war behind for good.
Except the war won't be as easy to escape as he thought.
And the colony will need a man like Caleb more than he ever imagined...
Starship Eternal (War Eternal)
mrforbes.com/starshipeternal
They are coming. Find the Goliath or be destroyed.
The chilling words are the first thing Space Marine starfighter pilot Mitchell “Ares” Williams hears after he is nearly killed. He tries to ignore them, convinced the voice in his head is a side-effect of his injuries.
It isn’t.
The warning is only the beginning. A glimpse
into a struggle against an enemy older than time.
An enemy that’s very real and much closer than he ever imagined.
An enemy that will do whatever it takes to keep him from finding the centuries lost starship and ending not only the fight but their very existence.
Narrowly escaping capture, Mitchell falls into the hands of the Riggers — a ragtag crew of black-ops commandos who patrol the outer reaches of the galaxy. Guided by a captain with a reputation for murder, they’re dangerous, immoral, and possibly insane.
They may also be humanity’s last hope for survival in a war that has raged beyond eternity.
(War Eternal is also available in a box set of the first three books here: mrforbes.com/wareternalbox)
Hell’s Rejects (Chaos of the Covenant)
mrforbes.com/hellsrejects
The most powerful starships ever constructed are gone. Thousands are dead. A fleet is in ruins. The attackers are unknown. The orders are clear: Recover the ships. Bury the bastards who stole them.
Lieutenant Abigail Cage never expected to find herself in Hell. As a Highly Specialized Operational Combatant, she was one of the most respected Marines in the military. Now she's doing hard labor on the most miserable planet in the universe.
Not for long.
The Earth Republic is looking for the most dangerous individuals it can control. The best of the worst, and Abbey happens to be one of them. The deal is simple: Bring back the starships, earn your freedom. Try to run, you die. It's a suicide mission, but she has nothing to lose.
The only problem? There's a new threat in the galaxy. One with a power unlike anything anyone has ever seen. One that's been waiting for this moment for a very, very, long time. And they want Abbey, too.
Be careful what you wish for.
They say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. They have no idea.
Man of War (Rebellion)
mrforbes.com/manofwar
In the year 2280, an alien fleet attacked the Earth.
Their weapons were unstoppable, their defenses unbreakable.
Our technology was inferior, our militaries overwhelmed.
Only one starship escaped before civilization fell.
Earth was lost.
It was never forgotten.
Fifty-two years have passed.
A message from home has been received.
The time to fight for what is ours has come.
Welcome to the rebellion.
Or maybe something completely different?
Dead of Night (Ghosts & Magic)
mrforbes.com/deadofnight
For Conor Night, the world’s only surviving necromancer, staying alive is an expensive proposition. So when the promise of a big payout for a small bit of thievery presents itself, Conor is all in. But nothing comes easy in the world of ghosts and magic, and it isn’t long before Conor is caught up in the machinations of the most powerful wizards on Earth and left with only two ways out:
Finish the job, or be finished himself.
Balance (The Divine)
mrforbes.com/balance
My name is Landon Hamilton. Once upon a time I was a twenty-three year old security guard, trying to regain my life after spending a year in prison for stealing people’s credit card numbers.
Now, I’m dead.
Okay, I was supposed to be dead. I got killed after all; but a funny thing happened after I had turned the mortal coil...
I met Dante Samghieri - yeah, that Dante. He told me I was special, a diuscrucis. That’s what they call a perfect balance of human, demon, and angel. Apparently, I’m the only one of my kind.
I also learned that there was a war raging on Earth between Heaven and Hell, and that I was the only one who could save the human race from annihilation. He asked me to help, and I was naive enough to agree.
Sounds crazy, I know, but he wished me luck and sent me back to the mortal world. Oh yeah, he also gave me instructions on how to use my Divine "magic” to bend the universe to my will. The problem is, a sexy vampire crushed them while I was crushing on her.
Now I have to somehow find my own way to stay alive in a world of angels, vampires, werewolves, and an assortment of other enemies that all want to kill me before I can mess up their plans for humanity’s future. If that isn’t enough, I also have to find the queen of all demons and recover the Holy Grail.
It’s not like it’s the end of the world if I fail.
Wait. It is.
Tears of Blood (Books 1-3)
mrforbes.com/tearsofblood
One thousand years ago, the world was broken and reborn beneath the boot of a nameless, ageless tyrant. He erased all history of the time before, enslaving the people and hunting those with the power to unseat him.
The power of magic.
Eryn is such a girl. Born with the Curse, she fights to control and conceal it to protect those she loves. But when the truth is revealed, and his Marines come, she is forced away from her home and into the company of Silas, a deadly fugitive tormented by a fractured past.
Silas knows only that he is a murderer who once hunted the Cursed, and that he and his brothers butchered armies and innocents alike to keep the deep, dark secrets of the time before from ever coming to light.
Secrets which could save the world.
Or destroy it completely.
About the Author
M.R. Forbes is the mind behind a growing number of Amazon best-selling science fiction series including Rebellion, War Eternal, Chaos of the Covenant, and the Forgotten Universe novels. He currently resides with his family and friends on the west cost of the United States, including a cat who thinks she’s a dog and a dog who thinks she’s a cat.
He maintains a true appreciation for his readers and is always happy to hear from them.
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