BLOOD TIES (Decklan Jennings Thriller Book 1) by Philip Duncan (book recommendations for young adults txt) 📕

something that he could do all day every day. Being with his family, no matter what they were doing, was the only thing on this earth that brought him true peace and happiness. Bang! Bang! Gunshots started ringing through the salty air. He could hear bullet after bullet flying past their heads. He looked around to see where the shots were coming from, but it appeared to be just them on the beach. And then the unimaginable, the sound of bullets hitting human flesh. And then again, and another. Before he had the chance to get up from his chair, he spotted two little lifeless bodies in the sand. Once again, his two babies were taken from him.

How could this be? What the hell is happening?

“Babe, get up! We need to go, now,” he shouted as he reached over to grab his wife’s hand. But when he went to pull her up, she didn’t move. He looked down and saw a single line of blood running straight down her forehead between her eyes. He began screaming as loud as he could, “Help! Help! Please, somebody help!”

He looked around, still seeing no one else around. He didn’t understand what was happening, but before he could, he woke up.

His heart was racing, his shirt was soaked from sweat, and he was trying to catch his breath. His body felt like it did after an intense workout, but he had been sleeping.

“What the hell was that?” Decklan said out loud, not expecting anyone to respond.

“Looked like you were having a nightmare,” Langley replied, sitting up and conscious.

“Holy shit! Langley, you’re okay,” Decklan replied. “How do you feel?”

“Besides the fact that I was shot, I feel like a million bucks,” Langley replied, trying to make light of the situation.

They both shared a laugh, even though Decklan was still trying to gather himself from that treacherous nightmare.

“Are you okay?” Langley asked. “Whatever you were dreaming must have been pretty bad. I was going to wake you up, but I can’t exactly move too quickly right now.”

“It was my family. I was dreaming they were taken away from me again, only this time I was there and saw the whole thing,” Decklan said.

“That must have been awful. It’s bad enough losing them once, but to feel like it was happening all over again…well, that shit isn’t fair,” Langley replied.

Decklan shook his head like someone trying to get rid of a bad thought. “It was just a dream. I will be all right.”

He looked over at the clock again to see how much time had passed since he fell asleep: 7:15 pm. He had been asleep for over two hours, but it had felt like ten minutes. Langley seemed to be feeling okay and it appeared that he had got all his color back.

“Can you stand?” Decklan asked.

“I think so, why?” Langley replied.

“You should try getting cleaned up and getting some clean clothes on. Just leave your dirty clothes by the guest room door and I’ll toss them in the washer,” Decklan said.

“Good idea,” Langley said.

Decklan sat there, alone in the living room, wondering what was going to happen next. He figured that it wouldn’t be long before Vladimir caught wind of what happened, especially if that guy Langley shot made it back alive. His door could be kicked in any second and they would be caught with their pants around their ankles.

“How’s the wound?” Decklan asked as Langley came slowly walking back in the living room.

“Not too bad. You make a surprisingly good medic,” Langley replied. “I think as long as I keep the bandage clean it will be okay. I’ve had worse.”

“Worse? You’ve been shot before?” Decklan asked curiously.

“Sure have. Back on one of my tours. Me and my team got pinned down by suppressive fire while we were trying to perform a hostage rescue. I was held up behind a concrete wall and a stray bullet managed land flush in my right thigh. I couldn’t stop fighting to manage the bleeding, so I grabbed my tourniquet from my pocket and managed to get the bleeding under control. By the time we got out of there and back to base, it was progressively worse. They took me straight to the medic tent, but it was already infected, and the infection was starting to work its way through the rest of my body. They had to knock me out so they could take care of it without having me squirm like a little girl from all the pain. When I woke up, they told me I was lucky and if we hadn’t made it back when we did, I would have lost my leg, and possibly my life.”

“Holy shit!” Decklan replied. “Sounds like someone was watching out for you.”

“I like to think so,” Langley replied.

Decklan went to get a glass of water for Langley so he could rehydrate from all the blood he lost. Just because he was feeling better and managed to escape death, didn’t mean he was completely out of the woods yet.

“Let me know if you need anything for the pain,” Decklan said. “I have some painkillers leftover from my wife’s surgery last year.”

“Thanks, but I should be okay,” Langley replied. “I try to stay away from that shit if I can. I have seen too many good people taken down by pills.”

Decklan didn't reply but understood. Once again, they found themselves at a disadvantage and stuck having to make up lost ground. Now that Vladimir knew who they were and that they couldn’t be left alive, they were going to have to constantly be on the lookout and be ready to fight for their lives at the drop of a hat. They weren’t sure how many men he had working for him, but they had already managed to take out two, maybe three, depending on what happened to the guy Langley shot. What was worse was that Vladimir knew there were only two of them. He knew Decklan was a highly trained