Chapter Two
Marcus Knight opened his eyes, squinting against the harsh glare of sunlight as it sliced between the curtains, rudely reminding him that the sun had risen another day and he had absolutely nowhere to go.
This day, like so many others, would be filled with boredom and regret as he waited for the hours to tick by until another day passed.
He laid there for a moment, trying to recall his dreams, knowing full well that he probably wouldn’t be able to. It was the same old story, just a different day.
The alarm on his clock radio went off. The sounds of Metallica bounced against his bedroom walls. The lyrics to Enter Sandman began to echo inside his mind.
It was a tune that didn’t just hold memories of his days in the Marines, it also was filled with a deeper level of meaning that only the brothers he served with could possibly understand.
He reached over and slapped his hand down on the off button, wondering why he ever bothered to set it in the first place. He hadn’t needed something to wake him for the last fifteen years. His internal clock always did a better job than anything else. Being out of the Marines and in a civilian mode, he should’ve been taking advantage of lazy days and sleeping until noon. Though he knew that was far from being realistic.
He groaned as he sat up in bed. Leaning forward to touch his toes and stretch his back, he cursed against the shooting pain that shot up his back. The nerves along his spine felt like they were being crushed together with a vice grip.
Glancing over at his bedside table he glared at the bottle of prescription pain pills which reminded him that he was, for all intents and purposes, disabled.
He swung his legs over the bed and swatted at the pill bottle. It shot across the room and fell to the floor.
He hated those pills.
He hated his disability.
He hated that a bullet still lodged in his back a mere inch from his spinal cord was the reason he was no longer serving his country.
Awake for only minutes and he could already tell his mood would be piss poor just like it was each and every day for the past six months.
His cell phone rang, and he snapped out a greeting to the unlucky caller. “Yeah?”
“Knight.”
The one-word reply wasn’t a question. It came out more as a matter of fact statement. And Marcus didn’t need to ask who it was. He knew that voice just like he knew his own. Serving five years on missions with someone did that to a person.
“Romero.”
Dan Romero was a teammate of his back in his early days of Force Recon. No longer in the Marines, Romero, along with other special forces veterans run The Phoenix Agency. An agency that takes on cases that no one else wants to, in order to protect those who are in need and have nowhere else to turn.
When he was still a newbie and had so much to learn, Romero had been the one to take him under his wing, making sure he developed the instincts needed in their elite branch of the U.S. Military’s Special Forces.
“I got a job for you. Are you up for it?”
Marcus cursed himself silently. He didn’t have the physical prowess he once did. And no matter how much he loved and missed what he used to do, he wasn’t about ready to enter a mission with the possibility of his injury putting others in harm’s way.
He swallowed his pride and answered. “Sorry, man. I want to, but my back… I don’t want to be the reason that –.”
“Shut the fuck up.” Romero cut him off. “I don’t want to hear no pathetic crap about your injury. This isn’t just an ordinary mission. This is one that requires a special skill set. One that only you can perform.”
Marcus sat up in bed. Not everyone that he had served with knew that he held the ability of remote viewing. It was something he’d struggled with since his youth. The Marines didn’t even know. It was a closely guarded secret that he let no one know. No one except his teammate Dan Romero, that is.
Marcus didn’t need to know anymore. If there was a way he could help the Phoenix team and in turn help someone else as well, he was there, on board and fully committed.
“Tell me what you need.”