tains, casting long, bleeding
t men with wooden baseball bats flanked him. O
ive hunting knife, slowly whittling a thick tree branch. The met
four goons spread out, trying
on the left is standing on th
anding in the mud. The other three scrambled away in
the porch steps and slammed a thick stac
waiver for your old house, Combs. I'll get you a job
goon, his eyes glued to the h
ched for several agonizing minutes as his eyes meticulously tracked over the den
pretend you can read th
the hunting knife down. The blade pierced straight
ted exactly on a hidden
flat, devoid of any emotion. "If I sign this, I
deep suspicion. He snatched the document back, his fat fingers trembling as he squinted at the tiny print
counter-offer. I will permanently sign
in relief. He
tus, "I want the permanent deed to this cabin. And the fi
The shale land was toxic. Nothing grew there. It was a massive negat
s, searching Alton's de
out a ragged breath. "I just want a place where
ve ego. He grinned. He believed the pris
t Orville. "Change the contract ri
el. Alton didn't have a pen. He brought his thumb to hi
mbprint onto the signatur
hysterically. "You just traded a gold
limbed into the truck. The convoy sped
he porch. He looked at
d out a heavy, encrypted Nokia satel
shifting instantly into precise military
nt replied through the static. "Understood. Offshor
. He looked t
f the largest undiscovered rare-earth minera
ing knife back into its sheath. He had just won the fir
/1/113352/coverbig.jpg?v=519b3ebb697f49e015134d01ed4141bf&imageMogr2/format/webp)