“I think Hawk and Alex are more than qualified to handle this job,” Blunt said.
“And you too, Senator Blunt,” Young said. “The Firestorm team isn’t complete without you at the helm.”
Blunt pulled out a cigar, clipped the end, and started to gnaw on it. “There’s a problem here.”
“What’s that?”
“We’ve gotten pretty comfortable working without some government entity babysitting us,” Blunt said before spitting a few stray pieces of tobacco over his left shoulder. “We’d prefer to remain private contractors.”
“I understand,” Young shot back. “But I also understand your funds aren’t unlimited and nobody has been bankrolling your projects lately. How much longer were you going to go without telling them?”
Hawk and Alex both shot glances at Blunt. He shrugged.
“What? So I hadn’t gotten around to sharing the bad news with you. The opportunity hadn’t come up yet.”
“I’m going to need your answer quickly,” Young said. “I was able to convince one of the senators on the defense’s budgetary committee to cull out some discretionary spending for the three of you. But the committee is about to pass the budget soon for next year, and I want this item to sail through without Michaels’s knowledge in case he returns.”
“You want to hide this from him?” Blunt asked.
“It’s the only way.”
“I’m in,” Hawk said. “Especially if we don’t have much funding left.”
“I’m with Hawk,” Alex said.
Young gazed at Blunt. “What about you, Senator Blunt? Are you with them?”
“What’s Firestorm without me?” Blunt asked.
“Excellent,” Young said as he stood and clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “Just one more stipulation.”
Hawk slowly rose to his feet. “What’s that?”
“I’m adding another member to your team. You’re gonna love him.”
* * * * *
Get the next book in the Brady Hawk series, SEIGE.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to so many people who have helped with the creation of this project and the entire Brady Hawk series.
Krystal Wade has been a fantastic help in handling the editing of this book, and Dwight Kuhlman has produced another great audio version for your listening pleasure.
I would also like to thank my advance reader team for all their input in improving this book along with all the other readers who have enthusiastically embraced the story of Brady Hawk. Stay tuned ... there's more Brady Hawk coming soon.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
R.J. PATTERSON is an award-winning writer living in southeastern Idaho. He first began his illustrious writing career as a sports journalist, recording his exploits on the soccer fields in England as a young boy. Then when his father told him that people would pay him to watch sports if he would write about what he saw, he went all in. He landed his first writing job at age 15 as a sports writer for a daily newspaper in Orangeburg, S.C. He later attended earned a degree in newspaper journalism from the University of Georgia, where he took a job covering high school sports for the award-winning Athens Banner-Herald and Daily News.
He later became the sports editor of The Valdosta Daily Times before working in the magazine world as an editor and freelance journalist. He has won numerous writing awards, including a national award for his investigative reporting on a sordid tale surrounding an NCAA investigation over the University of Georgia football program.
R.J. enjoys the great outdoors of the Northwest while living there with his wife and three children. He still follows sports closely.
He also loves connecting with readers and would love to hear from you. To stay updated about future projects, connect with him over Facebook or on the interwebs at www.RJPbooks.com and sign up here for his newsletter to get deals and updates.
State of Play
© Copyright 2017 R.J. Patterson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First eBook Edition 2017
Cover Design by Books Covered
Published in the United States of America
Green E-Books
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Boise, ID 83714
Table of Contents
What Others are Saying about R.J. Patterson
Other titles by R.J. Patterson
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Acknowledgments
Newsletter Signup
About the Author
Copyright Information
