This was the kind of power Shelby Trust craved—a life at his whim.
Trust reclined in his desk chair as far back as it would go. The leather along with the two mounting springs at its base creaked in unison. He swirled the oversized glass of brandy and buried his nose into it so deep that the edge of the glass touched his forehead. He inhaled the intoxicating liquor. But the euphoria he was feeling did not come from the glass, it was from the image on the screen in front of him.
“What to do? What to do? What shall I do with you?” Trust quietly whispered to himself, knowing that if he spoke too loudly, Tide might misconstrue his words and send the round to its mark.
Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He removed it from the inside of his dinner jacket liner and held it out far enough from his face so he could see it without using his reading glasses. “Oh,” he said as he simultaneously hit the mute button on his radio transmitter to Tide. He put on his reading glasses to verify the number.
“Well, I’ll be,” he remarked as he sat up straight in his chair and accepted the call. “It’s been a long time,” he said with a hint of friendship and an overtone of surprise. “I see you still have a flair for nostalgia. You called from our old phone. It is so good to hear from you.”
Trust stood and started pacing about his office. He finally came to rest at the corner of his desk as the conversation came to a conclusion. “I will get in touch with you tomorrow. Yes, I understand. Go ahead and make the arrangements. And it is good to hear from you, my friend.”
Trust sat back in his chair and reactivated the audio on his computer so Tide could hear him.
“Stand down, Tide. Stand down and verify, over.”
“Roger, I verify. Stand down,” Tide replied as he cleared his weapon and started gathering up his gear to return to Morehead and wait for his next instructions. Shot or no shot, he would still be paid the same. His purpose was over, for now.
Trust cut off the screen and retrieved his glass of brandy so that he might attend to his guests topside. He glanced at the screen, now blank.
“Not today, Scott. I don’t think I will kill you today. You and I have much more to do together.” He slowly closed the door to his office and activated the alarm.
The End of Book One
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Houston, Texas, in 1959, Kenneth L. Capps joined the US Marine Corps in 1979 for a thirteen-year career.
In 2009, Ken won honorable mention in nonfiction in the New Bern Literary Symposium in North Carolina for. The next year, in 2010, he placed second in fiction in the same contest.
His debut novel, Forgiving Waters, was published in 2012. In the same year, it won the Readers Favorite Award, and in 2013 was the Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in the First Novel category.
Ken’s writing career started at 50 years of age in what he considers to be the best years of his life.
Shadows at War Page 21