Page 18 of Resolution

Chapter Five

MIGUEL

I was quiet on the way home, scrolling through my phone as Raven drove. Vonne had called back asking for a forwarding address for Sutter and I’d laughed, telling him that when someone went into witness protection, the U.S. Marshals Service didn’t exactly give out addresses. When he’d asked if I could get a message to him, I’d replied that, of course, I’d do that. It made me really happy that the men had reconnected once again. After all the years my two buddies had been out of contact, it was nice knowing that at least they were going to try to make an effort to keep in touch.

When Raven said he wanted to stop at Trader Joes to pick up the raw almonds he liked to munch on in bed after sex, I simply smiled. I told him I’d wait in the truck, anticipating the night to come since he’d already told me how it was going to go. It had been a very long day and frankly, I was tired. I had no other thoughts but that I wanted to check out the new Nightcrawler review he’d put up last night and relax with my man for the night. The rest of the world be damned. After he went into the store, I scrolled to the Bestreads site and smiled as I began reading his latest offering.

Book title: A Farewell to My Arms

Author: Donald Blakeley

Publisher: Self-published

Genre: Autobiographical Fiction

Review/rating by Nightcrawler: 3 stars

Synopsis:

A bright-eyed, young journalist is suddenly thrust into the horrors of war after volunteering to cover it for a local newspaper.

My review:

First, if anyone can tell Nightcrawler what a fictional autobiography is, I’d sure as hell love to know. Unless, of course, the book was written by a famous political figure. In that case, I’d venture to guess…you could fill a library with books.

Blakeley’s particular offering was a bit of a surprise to me, but I kept turning the pages even when things got bloody. The author kept it interesting. You’ll see why in a minute. As the title and synopsis suggest, this is the story of a naive, young man who enlists in WWI to cover the frontlines. I am breaking my own rule here, by giving you a description of the story at length, only because I think it’s important in writing this review. So…spoiler warning here. If you’d just like to go and buy the book based on my generous three-star rating, stop reading here, otherwise…

Spoiler

When I opened this book, I was expecting a boring recounting of battle scenes, but my surprise came when instead of being caught up in frantic reporting, our hero instead finds comfort in a young nurse, diving into a passionate love affair. She soon convinces the young journalist to abandon his writing and start driving an ambulance to pick up the wounded.

Faced with true horrors of war for the first time, he insists on collecting body parts, carelessly tossing arms and legs into his vehicle along with dying men. Unfortunately, his decision to “rescue” the remains of men, results in an attack of extreme anxiety as he drives back to the hospital. The panicked young soldier finds it impossible to ignore the pile of limbs resting in the back of the ambulance withlivingsoldiers, so he abruptly stops the vehicle, throws open the door, and hurls the limbs willy-nilly to the side of the road. It comes as no surprise that this act caused great shock and revulsion from the very vocal, dying men.

Now, it may seem to you that the young soldier was following a noble calling, one which begs the question of morality. Nightcrawler asks you readers to ponder that question for a moment…and try to set aside your squeamishness when you learn that the soldier, once realizing that the wounded men have witnessed his actions, kills them all. He then hastily focuses on fleeing the scene of his horrific crime.

The karmic universe must have had other plans for the young soldier, however. Just as he’s intending to drive away, the ambulance is hit by a rocket, blowing off the young journalist’sownarms. He slowly bleeds to death, pondering his poor choices, unable to drive away into the sunset, never to see his beloved nurse again.

Nightcrawler gives a generous three-stars to this novel even though I don’t like unhappy endings. There were parts of the book which were poignant. The love affair between soldier and nurse was heartwarming, and the blood and gore expected. The fact that this “fictional autobiography” has been written by a soldier who’s become an anti-hero at its conclusion with the death of…well, himself…makes this book more properly listed as a mystery.

All in all, I’m giving it a perhaps overgenerous three-star rating.

I chuckled and looked up just in time to see Raven walking out of the store. He was smiling, carrying one of the reusable shopping bags we always kept in the car, when I saw a man step out of the shadows, his arm down by his side. I immediately went on high alert, tossing my iPad onto the driver’s seat, and throwing open my door.

Three things happened at once. The man, who was now following Raven, pointed a gun at my beloved’s back. Raven spotted me just as I whipped my Glock out of my holster and pointed it in my partner’s direction. His expression instantly turned to one of alarm, and I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Get down!”

For once, my gorgeous man didn’t hesitate and did exactly as I’d asked. He dropped to his knees just as a shot rang out. The bullet whizzed harmlessly over his head, following a trajectory which would have killed my man instantly had it made contact.

Innocent bystanders in the parking lot began screaming, scattering out of the line of fire. The attacker leveled his gun again, pointing at Raven’s back. I fired, missing the center of the man’s chest by several inches, only because I was running. Instead, my bullet hit him in the shoulder, jerking his arm to the side just as he fired again. The shot went wide but I charged at him. I sprinted across the asphalt toward him as he staggered, caught sight of me, and took off running, stumbling several times.

“Miguel!” Raven shouted, rising from his knees, the shopping bag forgotten as I ran toward him. “What was—”

I didn’t wait for him to finish, shouting as I charged by him.

“I’m going after him! Call the police!”

“What? I—”

I didn’t stop to listen as I caught the man disappearing around the corner of the grocery store as he ran from me. Sheer blood rage filled my body. Someone had tried to kill my lover, and all I wanted to do was catch him. He had a good twenty-five-yard head start, but he was wounded. As I rounded the corner of the building thirty seconds later, I spotted a smear of blood on the white, painted brick. In the back of my mind, I knew turning a blind corner like that was nothing short of stupid. Had my Marine Corps Special Forces training been at the front of my brain as I made the decision, I would have taken more precautions.

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