by SD Tanner
Her astute observation made him smile. “I didn’t know you knew math.”
“Seriously, Ark, this is stupid. We need a better plan than this. All that’s gonna happen is we’ll be killed in one of these scraps. Someone’s gotta get us better organized than this.”
It wasn’t like Lexie to worry about the bigger picture, and if even she knew there was a problem, then everyone else must know it too. “What do you suggest?”
“We need a leader. It can’t be Bill, ‘cos he’s just wants to find the killing blow, and he’s ignoring everything else. It can’t be Leon, ‘cos he’s too focused on a single fight. It can’t be Jo, ‘cos she doesn’t know anything about army stuff. It can’t be Jonesy, ‘cos he’s gone crazy. It can’t be Dunk, ‘cos he’s…well, it just can’t be Dunk.”
Her last comment made him laugh. It was difficult to explain what was wrong with Dunk. He was an excellent engineer, but something about the man put everyone offside.
While he chuckled, she added, “It has to be you. You have the army experience, you see everything in the command center and you understand the tech. People listen to you, so it has to be you.”
Without a formal structure, they didn’t have to do anything he suggested, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to lead the group. “I don’t think anyone will agree to that.”
“That’s not true,” she replied firmly. “Leon will follow you and so will Jo. Forget about Jonesy, he’s gone. It’s only Bill, but even he knows he doesn’t have everyone’s confidence. I think Leon argues with him just to remind he’s not the boss. You have to step up, Ark, or we’re all gonna die out here doing something stupid that we didn’t need to do.”
“We needed to go to NORAD.”
“Yeah, we did, but Leon didn’t need to go to Seattle. If he’d gone to NORAD first as Bill suggested, he would have known that going to Seattle was pointless. Jonesy shouldn’t have gone to Vegas. If he hadn’t gone there then Jas would still be alive, and maybe he wouldn’t be crazy now. We’re running around doing stuff and getting people killed. I’m not doing it this way, Ark. I don’t mind you putting my life at risk, but I’m not going to keep following these guys around if they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Out of the mouth of babes comes the truth, he thought. Lexie was right and he didn’t blame her for wanting to walk away. Something had to change or they would die one-by-one until there was nobody left. He didn’t want the critters to win, but being unable to walk, he didn’t see how he could lead the group.
“I can’t go outside the wire, Lexie. It’s a serious limitation.”
“You don’t need to. You have eyes on everything. I’m your legs, Ark. I’ll go wherever you tell me to go. I’ll see what you need to see, and you’ll keep me alive out here.”
Hearing the truth in her words, he began to think about how to make it happen.
EPILOGUE
The minds had told him the chamber under the mountain was important and now they’d lost it. There was more than one type of dominant species on this planet. Being bigger and dressed in armor, this other species could defeat his weapons. It was a threat and risk that none of the minds he’d absorbed knew anything about. He needed more information. Across the electronic spectrum, he sent a message and all the other primaries like him registered the requirement.
Also by SD Tanner
Books in NAVIGATOR Series
Book One:
ENEMY LINES (Purchase Now)
Book Two
BLIND SIGHTED (Purchase Now)
Book Three
KILLER EDGE (Purchase Now)
Book Four
BROKEN ARROW (Purchase Now)
Books in Hunter Wars Series
(Series One of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
EVE OF THE HUNTER WARS (Purchase Now)
Book Two:
HEAVEN MEETS HELL (Purchase Now)
Book Three:
ARMY OF ANGELS (Purchase Now)
Book Four:
GIFT FROM GOD (Purchase Now)
Book Five:
RIGHT TO RULE (Purchase Now)
Book Six:
CALL TO WAR (Purchase Now)
Books in Eden Lost Trilogy
(Series Two of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
HIDDEN EVIL (Purchase Now)
Book Two
DEAD ALIVE (Purchase Now)
Book Three
DIVINE DEATH
(Release: 2016)
Standalone Books
TIME TO DIE (Purchase Now)
TWISTED DAZE (Purchase Now)
Also by SD Tanner
Books in Hunter Wars Series
(Series One of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
EVE OF THE HUNTER WARS (Purchase Now)
Gears, Pax and TL are brothers and soldiers in the US Army when the world comes to an abrupt halt. Thrust into the apocalypse, they decide mankind deserves another chance. Their ruling puts them at the center of an epic battle between good and evil, and they uncover the hidden truth behind the Devil in the land of the undead. Along the way, they meet a woman they name Ip and their true role is revealed.
Forming the first of their bases, they call survivors to their side and unwittingly make enemies of the undead and the living. Determined to succeed, they take drastic steps to secure safe havens for those left alive.
Book Two:
HEAVEN MEETS HELL (Purchase Now)
New friends are found, but the face of evil makes its presence known in the safety of their bases. Pax makes a mistake and Ip pays the price, but Gears refuses to let his new enemy rule the day.
Book Three:
ARMY OF ANGELS (Purchase Now)
Determined to fight fire with fire, Gears offers the survivors the choice of infection. Mackenzie does the unthinkable creating a remarkable outcome that makes Gears question everything he knows about life.
Book Four:
GIFT FROM GOD (Purchase Now)
Desperate to find safe land where they can grow food, they take the drastic step of seeking safer shores. The Devil takes Pax to a place he never knew existed and Ip learns who she really is. Captain Ted makes a mistake that Gears must undo or they'll lose everything they've gained.
Book Five:
RIGHT TO RULE (Purchase Now)
Fed up with the Devil’s play, Gears is determined to enforce his right to rule. The Devil disagrees and does something they didn't expect, setting them back again. Captain Ted is forced to make a terrible choice and they stand to lose more than they gain. The land is dying and hunger grips their world.
Book Six:
CALL TO WAR (Purchase Now)
Gears witnesses the impossible and they learn there's more that the Devil can do. Faced with disaster, he calls the game to an end and prepares for a final battle. Mankind must make their true intent known or all will be lost for a thousand years.
Books in Eden Lost Trilogy
(Series Two of The Hunter Wars)
Book One:
HIDDEN EVIL (Purchase Now)
It's been five years since they put the Devil in his place, but all is not well in Eden and our Horsemen have dug their way out of their graves. It seems the Devil wasn't done and neither were they. Gears must uncover his new mission, and he believes he needs another army to defend his right to rule. America is at war with itself and he needs to know why.
Book Two
DEAD ALIVE (Purchase Now)
The hunters have returned, but they're not the same as they were. Gears, Pax and TL decide they need to look for the problem in Eden and uncover more than they ever expected. Ruler is playing them all for fools, and Gears finds a unique solution to save America.
Book Three
DIVINE DEATH
(Release: Scheduled 2016)
Books in NAVIGATOR Series
Book One:
ENEMY LINES (Purchase Now)
After nearly being executed in a war zone, Staff Sergeant Leon Shie
ld finds himself urgently recalled from deployment, and lands back home to a defeated country. In a matter of days, and without a single shot being fired, a new species has taken over the world. Determined to survive Armageddon, the only chance to fight back is to find a man called Ark, and use an untested technology to become Navigators.
With hydraulics, armor and advanced vision, Navigators are soldiers of the future, and in the game of survival of the fittest, they become the only hope man has to fight for their right to dominate.
Book Two
BLIND SIGHTED (Purchase Now)
Leon and Ark elect to train their new Navigator squad outside the wire, while Bill works with the weapons engineers to solve the bigger problems. The medical team are taking the critters apart, desperately looking for anything that will give them an edge.
Book Three
KILLER EDGE (Purchase Now)
Our team match the enemy by creating a little critter magic of their own. New forces join them, and survivors add their weight to the fight, further changing what becomes possible. First contact is made, and believing they are running headlong into failure, Ark learns to take the lesser loss.
Book Four
BROKEN ARROW (Purchase Now)
The aliens take a step too far and Ark decides it's time to go all in. Sending all of their Navigator battle teams to the nests, they uncover unexpected allies in a final showdown that will determine which side will rule earth.
Standalone Books
TIME TO DIE (Purchase Now)
Jack Locke was an Army Intelligence expert and a criminal investigator. In 2050, scientists learn how to extend life by five hundred years, but the technology also opens the way for race-based genocide and genetic engineering.
Struggling to deal with his tragic past, he finds himself trying to stop the President from using DNA-based biological warfare to cull an over populated world. Locke must protect the world from a technology that aimed to help, but could change what makes us human.
TWISTED DAZE (Purchase Now)
Serena and her husband moved back to the US after living abroad. Renting an old property in the country, a series of odd events take place that cannot be explained. Questioning her sanity, she slowly realizes that there's something very wrong, but the truth is nothing she could ever have predicted. This is a psychological thriller with a paranormal twist and it starts with the Ouija board.
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