Book 3 of The Drone Wars Series

By Frederick Lee Brooke

As O.C. backed out of the space, the three agents burst out of the restaurant. Their Eliminator streaked ahead and hovered, staying ten feet in front of the windshield. Matt saw a pistol in the lead agent’s hand, then saw the others drawing as they ran after them. They were flicking off their safeties. His nightmare was unfolding as reality. He wanted to rip off the bandage, but that drone was getting a read on all of them now. This was outstripping his innermost fears. What the hell was the world coming to?

“Homeland Security, stop your vehicle or we’ll shoot.” The voice came out of the Eliminator, amplified to megaphone. It must have been audible across the road.

Matt was surprised when O.C. slammed on the brakes. They stopped in the middle of the lot, fifty feet beyond the lead agent. Maybe Sander had signaled it, or maybe O.C. decided on his own. Maybe they would have shredded the tires with bullets anyway if they’d made a run for it. The agents ran up on the left side and fanned out in an arc.

When O.C. rolled down his window, Matt did the same. Matt’s window stopped halfway, some child safety regulation, but halfway was enough. Had there been a camera in the restaurant? Luke had said most stores and restaurants had cameras linked directly to Homeland Security.

“Otis Curtis from up in Dalton, that correct?” the lead agent demanded in the same southern drawl O.C. had. The agent spoke in his own voice now, not using the drone. He stood twenty feet away and gripped a nine-millimeter pistol in two hands, a pro. That was how fast their facial recognition worked. Or maybe they had linked to O.C. through the vehicle registration.

“That’s me. Who’s asking?”

“Homeland Security, jackass. We’re most interested in Matt Carney, but we’re going to bring in you other folks for aiding and abetting. I want everybody out of the truck, and real easy.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” O.C. said.

“I said out of the truck!” the agent screamed.

The agent was still bellowing, eyes shut for a fraction of a second, when a bullet exploded in the middle of his forehead. Time slowed down. Matt saw blood pouring out. The agent staggered backward, his eyes losing focus.

Just as quickly, the second agent froze up like a brick wall and fell to the ground. The third agent was zigzagging towards them in a crouch as O.C.’s shots went high. The angle was bad. In one smooth motion, Matt brought up his slingshot and fired. Aiming was as close to instinctive as nine years of practice could make it. The ball bearing hit just north of the bridge of the agent’s nose, shattering bone and digging a crater in his brain, instantly ending motor functions.

Raine was screaming, covering her eyes. The fallen men were still visibly pumping blood as O.C. hit the gas, and tossed his weapon in Sander’s direction. A huge, long-barreled pistol. Sander caught it by the barrel and instantly dropped it in his lap. Sander blew on his burnt fingers, at the same time scanning right and left for additional threats.

Hitting the street on two wheels, O.C. swerved to the right without braking. He headed south without letting the pedal up. The whining old truck engine was almost as loud as Raine’s screams.

About The Drone Wars

Matt Carney has nailed every mission underground guerilla organization March22 has given him, beating the odds time after time. But when he gets his new assignment, he quickly sees his chances of success dwindling to zero.

“Find the man,” they tell him. Except the man he is supposed to find is at the top of Homeland Security’s Most Wanted list, an expert at escape and deception.

“Stop the man,” they tell him. Except the man he’s supposed to stop is plotting the murder of millions of Americans in a sociopathic quest for a new social order.

…and this man, the one they want him to find and stop, is his own father.

Malls, airports and factories erupt in pillars of fire, thousands die, and cities teeter on the brink of collapse as Matt and his twin brother, Luke, fight to stop a man on an apocalyptic quest to obtain the final piece of his deranged puzzle—a piece that will allow him to put into motion his plans for the complete annihilation of the United States.

120,000 dead. Entire cities devastated. The country a hair’s breadth from a fate worse than death. Can Matt and Luke stop this nightmare before the world as they know it comes to a devastating end?

Get it from Amazon.

About the author

Frederick Lee Brooke launched the Annie Ogden Mystery Series in 2011 with Doing Max Vinyl and followed with Zombie Candy in 2012, a book that is neither about zombies nor sweets. The third mystery in the series, Collateral Damage, appeared in 2013. Saving Raine, the first book in Fred’s entirely new series, The Drone Wars, appeared in December, 2013.

A resident of Switzerland, Fred has worked as a teacher, language school manager and school owner. He has three boys and two cats and recently had to learn how to operate both washing machine and dryer. He makes frequent trips back to his native Chicago.

When not writing or doing the washing, Fred can be found walking along the banks of the Rhine River, sitting in a local cafe, or visiting all the local pubs in search of his lost umbrella.

Visit his

• BestSelling Reads Author page
• blog and website
• Amazon Author page