Soldiers of Fame and Fortune Full Series Omnibus: Nobody’s Fool, Nobody Lives Forever, Nobody Drinks That Much, Nobody Remembers But Us, Ghost Walking, 12 Book series...

by Michael Todd

  When she entered the first door, she found Amanda behind the counter, putting up the cash and such for the night. “Hey there. I don’t usually catch you at work.”

  Amanda rolled her eyes. “Because work is absolutely exhausting. But you look like you know what I mean.”

  Holly laughed. “Yeah, I am starting to get it.”

  The armorer picked up her wallet. “Well, get some rest. I’ll lock up when I go. I have a hot date to get to.”

  “Have fun.”

  She paused as she entered her home and looked around to find it empty. Butterflies shifted in her stomach when she accepted that Billie wasn’t home. She’d expected her to be back by then. Immediately, worry set in and she felt considerably less tired than she had while she walked over.

  Holly groaned and tossed her stuff on the bed before she sat and opened her laptop. She would put some work in and try to see if she could identify any more chemicals from the samples she had picked up. She opened the stolen files and set her lab up on the kitchen counter. One by one, she went through her samples, took notes, and compared the different plants. The night wasn’t a bust, at least. She recognized the chemical compositions in three of the samples that seemed to be the same one in the goop and JB’s blood sample. Holly had a hunch that this was the compound that helped the healing.

  Another chemical she managed to find similarities with was one already listed in the research material from Shou Industries. It was the compound that was currently hailed for its anti-aging effects. While there were a number of earth-bound products claiming that exact thing, when they said anti-aging in relation to the Zoo, the tests seemed to show more reverse aging than anti. People somehow lost years in the blink of an eye and looked twenty-five when they were in their fifties. It was astounding.

  While there were breakthroughs there, she was stumped on three of the others. She sat at the computer once more and wrote a plan of attack. She would need three times as much goop and the other chemicals in order to give JB a really potent dose. Hopefully, that would help hold back or even begin to reverse whatever now tried to kill him.

  Flashing lights outside the window from a vehicle broke her concentration. She stared at the people who walked up and down the street below. Some were headed to the bars and others simply looked ready to get home. In the distance, lights from what she assumed were JLTVs headed toward the town—most likely mercs who had made it out alive from their trip into the Zoo. Holly still couldn’t believe that not only had she been in twice at that point, but it felt more and more like a familiar place. All the stories JB had told her about it and the experience being addictive were absolutely true.

  Holly yawned loudly and folded her arms on the table to rest her head on them for a moment while she tried to collect her thoughts. As she sat there, the comforting silence of knowing that nothing would eat her as she slept sunk in and slowly, she drifted off to sleep.

  The sound of honking cars and skidding tires dragged Holly out of sleep. She looked around for a moment, distracted by the intrusion into her rest. She leaned back in her chair, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and realized that she had been so tired that she had slept the entire night with her head on the desk. As soon as the pain radiated through her spine, she completely regretted it.

  Holly rubbed the back of her neck and grimaced at the tightness there before she squinted at the sun that now shone brightly outside. The tantalizing aroma of coffee billowed through the apartment. She looked at the coffee maker with a frown. “I thought I turned the automatic setting off.”

  Her eyes widened and she looked hastily around the room, but she was definitely still alone. She stood and walked to the counter. Her coffee cup waited there, clean and ready with a note beneath it. Holly snatched the note and opened it. I’ll be back. Check the fridge.

  She smirked and dropped the note on the countertop. “Oh, good. Hopefully, she got me some of those waffles from down the street. I love those damn things.”

  Holly’s mouth almost watered at the thought and she opened the fridge, then tilted her head to the side in bemusement. In large plastic bags on the top shelf, three sacs filled with blue goop from the T-Rex drew her attention immediately. All three had a crazy glow to them, even in the internal light of the fridge. She sighed and shut the door for a moment before she grabbed her coffee cup as a whisper of relief and a silent shout of excitement surged through her. With renewed purpose, she filled the cup and took a long sip before she set the cup down and cleared some space on the counter.

  Ready to work, she opened the fridge again and grinned at the bounty. “This is the first time in my life I have been happy to open my fridge and find whole organ-like things waiting for me.”

  She shrugged, grabbed one of the bags, and placed it carefully on the counter. Holly rubbed her hands together and smiled mischievously. “JB, I’m going to make you my bar bitch yet.”

  Author Notes - Michael (Todd) Anderle

  January 20, 2019

  THANK YOU for not only reading this story but these Author Notes as well.

  (I think I’ve been good with always opening with “thank you.” If not, I need to edit the other Author Notes!)

  RANDOM (sometimes) THOUGHTS?

  As I type this, we will be going into production on SOFF12, and then we will change things up just a little. The problem is I am going out of my damned mind trying to keep up a production of these smaller 25,000 word books and getting them released each week, so I’m going to take our favorite set of characters and do a larger trilogy. BUT—here is the challenge. In order for it to work with our present methodology, I can only keep them online for a week wide” (meaning on all major e-book distribution platforms). Then I will have to put them on our main distribution platform for three months minimum.

  So, I’ll mention this in most of the next few Author Notes, since this series (Soldiers of Fortune and Fame) will finish with SOFF12 for now. We will then go to a full-length trilogy (probably 80k-100k each) with these characters as I take them forward, and then we will see if we come back and how we do it. However, these twelve books are going to be placed into omnibuses (or boxed sets) soon and also released wide.

  AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

  One of the interesting (at least to me) aspects of my life is the ability to work from anywhere and at any time. In the future, I hope to re-read my own Author Notes and remember my life as a diary entry.

  Bangkok (still)

  I’m writing these notes just after writing the author notes for Apocalypse Paused book 04. Funnily enough, that means I’m still in Bangkok.

  It’s a fairly smoggy day here (it has been mostly nice all week) and it has been pretty pleasant

  Except, OMG—I forgot to mention The Mexicana. Ok, I was about to say I miss my favorite foods but Holy Sh#t, I forgot about the Mexicana restaurant (obviously Mexican) food. Not only Mexican food, but TEX-MEX.

  Dennis (the owner) came around and spoke with Judith and me about his restaurant and the food. He imports the peppers and other ingredients he needs from either Mexico or the United States, so it tastes just like it would back in the US (or Texas for me. Yes, often those from Texas think “It’s us…and the other fuckers.” I can’t help it—it’s true.) If you are in Bangkok, and crave Tex-Mex and agave tequila margaritas or whatever, do yourself a favor and eat there. ESPECIALLY the taquitos if you like little rolled-up fried pieces of heaven. Damn, now I’m really hungry, and that place is a good thirty minutes away.

  …

  Shit.

  FAN PRICING

  $0.99 Saturdays (new LMBPN stuff) and $0.99 Wednesday (both LMBPN books and friends of LMBPN books.) Get great stuff from us and others at tantalizing prices. Go ahead, I bet you can’t read just one. Sign up here: http://lmbpn.com/email/.

  HOW TO MARKET FOR BOOKS YOU LOVE

  Review them so others have your thoughts, and tell friends and the dogs of your enemies (because who wants to talk with enemies?)… Enough said ;-)

&nb
sp; Ad Aeternitatem,

  Michael Anderle

  Ghost Stalking

  Soldiers of Fame and Fortune Book Eight

  Chapter One

  Holly’s team woke early and planned to head out of the Zoo.

  They needed to get back but would stop along the way to collect Pita if they found any. Billie took the lead as she had previously, but the team had looked to Holly for answers as to what they needed to find. She wasn’t used to being a leader and most of the time she worked solo, but she took it with grace and sent them each pictures and stats for the plants she still hadn’t found.

  As they moved toward the crest of one of the small hills, Alvin stopped and turned to them from slightly ahead. “Well, this may not be one of the plants on your list…” His somber expression broke into a smile. “But it is one fucking giant payday.”

  The team hurried up the hill and stood silently in shock. Billie sighed as she looked around. “Get what you can.” She looked at her HUD. “We have approximately twenty minutes before we have to move on. We are out of rations and we need to be out of the Zoo.”

  The team acknowledged, rushed down the hill, and worked as fast as they could to clip the petals without bruising them.

  Holly wandered up beside Billie. “Damn, that’s a lot of Pita.”

  Her friend didn’t say anything but was instead focused on the screen in her HUD. Holly asked, “Are you okay?”

  Billie cleared her throat. “There is something moving toward us—something huge.”

  They both turned when they felt the ground shake beneath them.

  Standing in the trees was a giant animal that resembled a T-Rex but with long, strong arms. When it moved, it ran like a gorilla and put its fists down as it galloped through the trees. Even in the daylight, the beast seemed to give off a blue hue.

  Holly gripped Billie’s wrist, her eyes bright with excitement. “This might be the animal that holds the key to JB’s cure. Hell, that there might be enough goop in that thing for everything I need. I bet there are sacs.”

  It took a moment before Billie clicked her x-ray vision on. She’d never used it before and had forgotten she had it. She scanned the beast and located four large sacs along its spine. “There sure are.” She clicked on her radio to the team as she needed to reach everyone with the message. “We need to take this bitch down, but no one—and I mean no one—shoot its back.”

  The others had heard the commotion and stood in the Pita patch with their weapons raised. “Roger that, no spine,” Alvin replied.

  Adisa added, “Shoot the spine, got you.”

  Holly clicked on. “You do that, I’ll shoot you. Or worse.”

  “What could be worse?” The humor in his voice was evident as they moved into position.

  “No liquor at FUBAR,” Holly replied.

  “No spine,” Adisa immediately replied.

  The battle erupted almost immediately.

  Alvin and Adisa showered the animal with a volley of bullets while Misha circled, dodged through, and slashed its thick skin with her daggers.

  Adisa growled as he yanked his sword from his back and dropped the machine gun. He ran forward, pushed with one foot off an outstretched leg, and lunged upward to stab the beast in the neck. It roared loudly and raised a clawed hand to pick Adisa off him like a tick.

  The wicked claws slashed down his right leg and the creature threw him to the right. He landed hard enough to lose his breath with the impact. “Don’t try that at home, boys and girls.”

  His loud groan spurred the others to try to do battle without being wounded in the process. Billie stepped in front of them in her armor. “Get your man out of here. I got this. Move!”

  The team didn’t argue but moved to their teammate.

  Alvin and Misha worked to lash a stretcher together while Holly talked to Adisa in an effort to stop him from passing out. They rolled him onto the stretcher and looked up in disbelief as Billie grabbed a Pita and ripped it out of the ground. She yelled over her shoulder. “Get out of here!”

  Hickok didn’t wait to watch as the team hastily complied.

  She clutched the Pita tightly and almost choked on the pheromones that erupted from its center. While she couldn’t smell it like the animals did, she could definitely taste the bitterness in her mouth, even with the filtration system inside her suit.

  Something thrashed in the underbrush and yanked her attention back from the momentary distraction.

  Billie snatched a quick intake of breath and used a nearby tree to boost herself forward, over the patch, and in the opposite direction to that which her team had taken.

  The dino-like beast they’d seen earlier thundered through the jungle and trees slammed down as the earth shook as it thundered after the Ghost.

  Hickok resisted the urge to look behind her, hurdled a log, and flailed in an effort to halt her momentum the moment her feet touched the ground. Directly ahead with their venomous teeth bared, three large jags blocked her path.

  All stared angrily at the Pita plant in her clenched fist.

  “Dammit!” she hissed, exasperation in her voice as she ducked a low tree limb. “I don’t fucking have time for this.” She yanked her dagger out as she bolted toward them. They lowered themselves in preparation for attack. She slid as if she went in for a steal on second base and thrust her knife upward to slash the first creature through the jugular.

  It uttered a single agonized cry before it dropped. She twisted, backflipped, and turned to take the narrow window of opportunity.

  “Sorry, guys,” she muttered at the startled animals before they could react to the death in their midst. “I don’t have time to fight you right now.” She jumped a man-sized hole. “I gotta find a safe location to kill the giant bitch on my tail before it kills me.”

  The jags growled and snarled in response. Hickok knew they’d likely join the chase as soon as they regrouped but T-fucking-Rex back there would hopefully overtake them. If not…well, she’d deal with that if and when it happened.

  As Billie continued her headlong flight, it dawned on her that her feet moved faster than usual. Damn, this new suit is seriously nice.

  It almost moved her legs for her, which meant far less strain on her muscles and joints and was no doubt the reason why she managed to stay ahead. Still, she huffed loudly, a little out of breath as she hightailed it through the jungle. “Leave it to Marcus to come up with a suit that will prolong my life,”

  Marcus cleared his throat. “You do realize that I can hear you, right?”

  Billie snorted in startled response. Duck, jump, slide left, slide right and we start all over again! “Nope, but I do now. I’m glad I didn’t say any more.”

  “Okay. Besides the giant dinosaur gorilla thing and the two revenge-hungry jags, a locust plague is headed your way.”

  She listened carefully to her surroundings as she continued to run. A mild buzzing seeped between the howls of the jags and roars of the beast but grew steadily louder by the second. “Great. It’s hard enough to kill this motherfucker, but the whole fucking Zoo wants to join the party?”

  He chuckled. “I’m not sure what you expected. I know you are carrying a full Pita plant.”

  Billie shook her head.

  He was right of course. She’d known exactly what would happen when she pulled the damn thing, but a girl could bitch, right? “The less you know about that particular fact, the better off you’ll be. Show me a map of the next clearing in the jungle—preferably not occupied by anyone. I don’t have time to protect others.”

  Marcus pulled a map up on the screen in the upper right of her HUD. She glanced up and identified herself as a little red flashing dot. “It looks like you have one in about a half-mile, directly ahead. I detect no other heat signatures in that area.”

  She narrowed her eyes and pushed herself to increase her speed. “Perfect. That will give me the space to work with this thing.

  She tripped on a branch but her suit stabilized her and she co
ntinued her sprint. “I hope this place is nearby. Those wings sound awfully close.”

  He said nothing for several moments before he exhaled a long sigh. “Whatever you have to do out there, I need you to do it in double-quick time.”

  She snatched a large limb and swung herself to the right to follow the map toward the clearing. “That is my preference as well.” Duck, jump, slide left, slide right. “But why?”

  “You have a new gig and it needs to be done before this person gets away,” he replied.

  Hickok raised an eyebrow. “Okay, and what exactly does that mean? Are they a fugitive?”

  Marcus chuckled. “Like you handle small shit like fugitives. No, you need to track down and silence a reporter. They might very well leave the Zoo with too much information for their own good.”

  Billie shook her head. “I honestly don’t understand why people think they will get away with this shit. Haven’t they watched enough movies to know that the more you know, the worse off you’ll be?” She glanced at her HUD to confirm that she was still on track to the clearing. “They always ignore it and pretend that the man won’t come for them.”

  He laughed. “Or, in this case, the woman. Anyway, if you don’t catch them in the Zoo area, you will need to track them down to wherever they went. I figured it would be easiest for you if they were still out there. Otherwise, you would have to leave for a while.”

  She took the last few steps toward the clearing and leapt up to seize hold of a nearby branch. Her momentum enabled her to swing her legs up and she scrabbled for purchase and shifted onto the limb before she began to climb. When she reached about halfway up, she stopped and turned to peer through the branches of the surrounding trees for any movement.

  The last thing I need is a shit-ton of monkeys to attack me.