The Relic Runner Origin Story Box Set by Ernest Dempsey (non fiction books to read TXT) 📕

give you as much information about myself as I can, if that will help."

"A man with no name and a mysterious past?" Tim shook his head. Then he swore under his breath. "Come on in. If you're here to kill us, you'd be doing us a favor."

"Timothy," Martha protested. "For all we know, he could be the one who took—" Her voice faltered before she could finish the sentence.

Dak stepped inside the darkened room and shook his head. "No, ma'am. I didn't take your boys." He eased the door shut behind him. "But I know who did."

A weak cough escaped her lips. Tim's eyelids tightened as he searched the visitor for the truth.

"What do you mean, you know who did?" Tim begged. "Why haven't you called the police?"

Dak turned and faced the man with a calm, disarming stare. "The police are good at their jobs, Mr. McDowell. But they have to play by too many rules. I don't. If I told them who I believe took your sons, it would be days before they could get a proper warrant—if they ever did. They can't do much on hearsay or conjecture. And then there's the little issue of me not wanting them to know who I am."

"Why's that?" Martha asked bravely.

Dak twisted his head toward her. "Because the man who took your sons tried to kill me when we were in Iraq. He and the rest of my team betrayed me and left me for dead in a cave in the Hamrin Mountains. You won't see it on any news channel or website, so don't bother looking. I've been hiding out, lying low while I track their whereabouts."

"So you can kill them?" Tim guessed.

Dak didn't look over at him this time. "That's right. But right now, my revenge story takes a back seat to what's going on with your sons."

"And you think… one of the soldiers you served with took them?" Martha asked.

"I do. His name is Nathan Collier. He was spec ops and I'll leave it at that." Dak pulled a small tablet from his jacket and pressed the button to activate it. He turned the screen toward Tim and indicated the man look at it. "This is a map," he said, pointing out the obvious. "Where exactly were you camping the day your boys disappeared?"

"What?"

Dak sighed and forced patience into his mind. "The Daniel Boone National Forest is an enormous place. Lots of ways to get lost in there. But your boys didn't get lost. They were taken. That's how I'm looking at this. If that is the case, then I need to get an idea of where they were."

He didn't tell them he believed he'd already located the farm where their boys were being held. Doing so might incite them to call the police. The best-case scenario for that would be cops showing up at Collier's and making him paranoid. People who get spooked do erratic things. He might skip town, and worse, dispose of the boys before leaving.

"What makes you think you have information the cops don't?" Tim argued. "They've checked with every house within a ten mile radius of where the boys went missing. That search turned up nothing."

"I'm sure they did. Except that I have no intention of knocking on doors. My plan is to knock them down. I just need you to confirm the location of where you were camping and about where your boys disappeared. Can you point that out on the map to me?"

Tim exhaled. The breath, laden with despair and impatience, flapped his lips as he took the tablet from the visitor and zoomed in on the area where he believed Jamie and Oliver were taken. "Not sure why you have to come here like this," he commented as he inspected the map. "The news outlets have been showing this nonstop the last few days."

"I don't exactly trust the media," Dak said. "Sometimes they get information wrong. I had to be sure."

Tim looked up from the tablet, gauging the visitor's face. Then he nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. One local paper spelled Oliver's name Olivier."

Dak snorted, and the tension in the room eased.

"Here is the spot," Tim said, indicating an area by the creek on the map with his finger. "That's where they—" he stopped.

"I understand."

"What do you think," Martha faltered, "what do you think this Collier is going to do to our boys?"

"I don't know, ma'am. But I'm not going to let it happen, whatever he has planned. I'll take care of him before he can harm your sons."

There was no way Dak could know that. They might already be dead. But he had to give the mother some sense of hope, even if it was false.

He turned to leave. Tim stopped him.

"That's it? You're leaving?"

Dak paused and looked back over his shoulder. "Yep. You confirmed my suspicions. That's all I needed to know. You two stay here. And please, I don't think I need to tell you not to mention my presence to the cops. That would complicate things, and I prefer to keep it simple. Understand?" It wasn't a threat, but if they took it that way Dak didn't mind.

They both nodded nervously in agreement.

"Good. See you soon."

He opened the door and stepped outside, closing it again without looking back.

His intel had been spot on. The boys disappeared within a few miles of Nate's new farm. There was no telling what his ex-teammate was up to. All Dak knew for now was that it couldn't be good. He'd have to move fast to recon the property. Luckily, he had the right tools for the job.

Seven

Brown’s Ferry

The lights in the basement flickered on, casting a dim glow into the cell Jamie and Oliver shared.

"Breakfast, runts," their captor growled.

The smell of sausage and oatmeal filled the room and immediately caused Jamie's stomach to rumble hungrily.

The man holding them prisoner had been feeding them regularly since they arrived, but he had never spoken to them—not even in a demeaning