Knuckle Bones
Page 4
“I know what you boys are up to and it’s admirable, but I’m not going back,” Phillips called down, “And I can see what you’re doing down there. Trying to triangulate on my position. I’m going to shoot you long before that happens… that is, if you don’t step on one of my bombs down there first. It’s amazing what you can pick up from the impound lot.”
“Shit,” Harry muttered.
“I have a proposition for you, fellas,” he called out again, “You just hop back in your chopper, head back to the embassy and tell them you couldn’t find me.”
Harry shuffled a few feet. The ground popped in front of him and scrabble flew up from a warning shot from above.
“Hold it right there, kid,” Phillips said, “you don’t know what you’re getting into.”
Troy held up his hand in a stop gesture and stood up.
“Sir,” he said smoothly, “we just want to help. There’s no reason for anyone to get hurt.”
Again, Phillips laughed, “If you wanted to help, you would’ve dropped my money in the right place. Damned if you didn’t try to drop it in a terrorist hot spot. If you had been able to pull off that simple exchange, everything would be okay.”
Without warning, Harry jumped up and aimed his rifle at the hill. He shot a couple of times. Troy yelled at him to cease fire, but he couldn’t hear him. Harry took two steps to the right and that’s when it detonated.
The entire lower half of his torso exploded. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. His torn body crashed to the ground and stopped moving. Troy was knocked backward from the blast and his head rang from the sound. His hearing was muffled, but he didn’t care. His right leg was screaming in pain. He looked down to see the ragged piece of shrapnel buried in his knee. He dragged himself over to Harry, but he was gone. He laid there waiting for the shot that would end him… but it never came.
He slid into darkness.
11
Home
Troy woke to the sounds of silence. He lifted himself up on his elbows to see that he was lying in the medical building. He blinked his eyes as a cute nurse walked over to him.
“How are we feeling?” she smiled at him and looked at a clipboard at the foot of his bed.
“I feel like a hundred bucks,” he said rolling his head around, cracking his neck.
“Good,” she replaced the clipboard, “can I get you anything for pain?”
She nodded at his leg. It was bandaged and held in place with a large leg brace on his knee.
“How bad is it?” he asked.
“Your ACL was shredded,” she said, “but given the situation, it could’ve been much worse. You’re lucky that Dr. Samson was here. He’s an expert surgeon.”
“Awesome,” Troy flashed her a thumbs up, “so, when am I back on duty?”
“Oh, you’re not going back on duty with that injury,” she shook her head, “you’ll be going home.”
* * *
The debriefing was thankfully short and sweet. Apparently, Harry had somehow gotten off a shot that struck Ambassador Phillips in the head and killed him. If he’d only stayed in the same spot, he wouldn’t have triggered the bomb. Poor Harry. Inside the cave, they found Aasif’s parents, bound and gagged. Alive and mostly unhurt. The worst of it was that the man had his fingers removed from his left hand and his mother had one toe removed from her left foot. Phillips had been a doctor before being appointed to his post and had done a reasonable job of surgery to remove the digits.
They were reunited with Aasif and paid the hefty sum of 1.5 million dollars for their trouble. Sedra’s body was returned to them and Uncle Ramin had sent a hand-written note to Troy thanking him for his effort to save her.
Troy was awarded a Purple Heart for injury officially caused by hostile forces, since the I.E.D. had originally come from the Taliban. He was honorably discharged and spent a week in the medical building flirting with the nurse. After that, he was shipped back to the states… some reports indicate that he is living in Las Vegas, working as a D.J. at the Peppermint Hippo Strip Club…
… but that is another story.
Afterword
I wrote this prequel of sorts for an anthology that included a group of really good Indie Authors. It was on the market for a year and I would recommend it, but it has been taken down so that the authors included could use the stories for their own purposes.
I’m introducing it to my readers now as a way to understand a little more about the man, the myth, the legend: Troy Clint Bodean. It is a pretty cool little story and I enjoyed discovering some of what makes Troy tick as well. Keep in mind, this is before the iconic cowboy hat, but I think he’s still an interesting character. Hopefully, you’ll want to read more!
If you liked it, please be sure you check out all of the other Troy Bodean Adventures. They are complete crime novels that all have an island or beach theme. Each of them has a dramatically different flavor, but they satisfy the craving for more of the zany, wacky fun that is Troy.
The rest of the Troy catalog contains:
0. Back Roads - A Free Short Story Collection
1. Hat Check
2. Ocean Blue
3. Blight House
4. Stealing Savannah
5. Nags Head - Coming Soon!
And if you want to connect, be sure to check out:
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