Table of Contents

  Title Page

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Thank You For Reading!

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  HOUR OF WAR

  Impact Series, Book Four

  By Harley Vex

  Copyright 2022 by Harley Vex

  CHAPTER ONE

  BRETT

  He wasn’t sure if he was angry, terrified, heartbroken, or all three.

  Brett needed to escape from the backseat of this moving car.

  The engine seemed to whine higher and higher, getting into his head, and his teeth hurt as his heart pounded. He gripped the backseat as countless hills covered in thick trees rolled past. The road ahead curved out of sight, but he didn’t have to see to know where his sperm donor was taking him.

  Roni remained silent in the front passenger seat as she curled into a ball, but Brett didn’t dare hold on to her as the big man in the police uniform drove. The more they realized she mattered to him, the more they’d weaponize her to make him do what they wanted.

  He’d threatened to slit his dog’s throat if he didn’t betray his sister and get in the car. Roni was alive only to control him, and that could end.

  Larry sat beside him, right behind the driver.

  Brett could barely stand to look at his sperm donor.

  Larry held Brett’s pistol on his lap as if daring Brett to take it. He had Craig’s mean smile and the same nasty glint in his eyes. It made more memories of Craig’s insults and beatings roar back. Look at the nerd. Gonna close that book in your face, and maybe it’ll get even longer. With each passing mile, he remembered more details he’d spent the last three years shutting out.

  Tessa rid the world of Craig three years ago. Why hadn’t she just told him? Now Tessa probably thought Brett hated her.

  No one said a word as the car continued, and Brett looked back, hoping someone would give chase. But the people of Brandstand still needed to get a vehicle and fuel to Tessa and Alex, and that could take hours.

  Larry finally spoke, and his voice, though low, cracked through the silence. “They’re not coming.”

  Modern Truth had taken something dark inside of him, brought it to the surface, and warped him into a cop killer.

  And yet, he’d teamed up with one.

  “Oh, they’re coming, all right, and we’re ending them once we have the high ground.” The officer spoke, clearly in charge. Was he the police chief? The guy hated Alex, who shot his son. Nothing else made sense here.

  “I know that.” Larry kept his voice low, and Brett got he didn’t like their new alliance. Already, tension built inside the car until Brett could barely breathe.

  He should say something, but before he acted, he had to assess the situation. Hadn’t that famous psychologist written a book about fear, and how it could save your life? Brett skimmed it once, back before Larry lost his job and dragged them into Modern Truth, but he couldn’t recite any of the words to himself.

  Something felt very wrong about this arrangement. Larry kept eyeing the back of the officer’s head, and the officer looked over his shoulder constantly.

  “You didn’t back me up out there.” Larry hit on the officer’s seat, which got the other man to raise his shoulders. The officer took one hand off the wheel and grasped the butt of his shotgun, which he kept beside him, barrel down. Brett guessed he wore a pistol as well. “The guy you were looking for stood back there with Tessa.”

  Yes, this was the police chief. Larry worked his jaw. He could shoot the cop right now, but that would kill them all. The car would go out of control, and the cop knew. The land here was all woods and hills.

  Maybe that beat Modern Truth.

  Brett’s heart raced, and the dry throat of panic made him unable to speak.

  Assess the situation. You should have listened to your gut. Brett forced out a slow breath and took another, eyeing Roni curled up in the front passenger seat. Her small white and blond body trembled. Anything stupid he did would kill her, too, and that thought helped him maintain control.

  “I had no advantage back there, and that’s why we need to draw them after us and finish that kid before he has the chance to kill anyone else’s son.” The officer looked back at Larry, and Brett read nothing but malice and insanity in that stare. Yes, this was the police chief, and he must have spared Larry’s life after the arrest once he learned they hated the same people.

  He also reminded Brett of Craig.

  Brett couldn’t hold back anymore. “Tessa and Alex have guns, and they’re going to be mad about this.”

  “Are they?” Larry lifted his eyebrows at him as he cast that mocking stare that Brett knew all too well. He didn’t take Brett seriously, and never had.

  “You stayed in the car because they would’ve shot you.” Something dark rose inside. The police chief chose the coward’s way, holding a knife to his dog’s throat.

  “Tactical moves.” The cop shifted in his seat and drove around another curve, so fast that Brett seized the door handle to avoid crashing into the window. He wanted to let them know that trying anything meant destruction.

  Outside, the morning light brightened, and Brett considered telling them they had at least two other people on their side, but he held back. Once Tessa and Alex launched a rescue operation, Brett didn’t want them knowing extra people would come. His life and their lives depended on it.

  He’d ask as many questions as he could. “So, you’re going to lure them somewhere?”

  “Tessa’s killed people, just like that man she’s sleeping with.” Larry balled his fists and faced him, daring Brett to argue back. “If you’d stayed with her, then she would have turned on you, too.”

  He wanted to defend his sister—his actual family—with all his might, but the gun Larry now held reminded him he was not in charge, and he had no other advantage than his wits. Craig probably deserved his fate on the night of the raid. He’d found out Tessa stole a Proven’s phone and call the authorities about the bomb plot, and by then, Craig was on board with the Modern Truth movement.

  Now Larry could make up for both of them.

  They stared at each other as the curve straightened and more trees spread out. Roni let out a terrified breath. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what the chief would do.

  His best bet was to keep his voice neutral and pretend that the news about Craig disgusted him. If he did that, then he could at least let down his sperm donor’s guard and open his chances of making a move.

  Tessa said that after they left The Compound.

  “I can’t believe it.” Brett took his fist and hit the back of Roni’s seat, which prompted her to rise, look at him, and lower herself to the fabric again. “She really killed Craig?”

  Larry’s gaze softened, but then hardened a moment later. He was a means to an end. Maybe he’d even been a means to an end during the divorce proceedings, after his mother left. Larry hated her, and for a long time, Brett believed he made her bail out.

  “She did, and she stabbed your brother in the throat. Tessa never told you?”

  Silence dragged out. Brett had to force himself to stare at half the reason he was here. “No, she didn’t.”

  “Well, she got the Red called on our enclave, and then we had to move to a new settlement.”

  He could bet that was where Larry ultimately wanted to take him. “New settlement?” The Compound would have shut down, but the Shadow wouldn’t stop grifting people. Walton must have a mess in his hands when a real disaster happened. The young men sucked into Modern Truth were angry, and they wanted violence.

  “You’ll see it soon, and then we’ll take care of Caddy’s daughter so she can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

  A chill gathered under Brett’s heart, but he forced himself to breathe. Larry hated Tessa so much that he was shifting the blame for her on his stepmom, who Brett also hadn’t seen in years. Were they still married after all that? How could Caddy stay with him if she knew Larry wanted to murder her own daughter?

  Something was wrong there.

  “You want to lure Tessa there?” He would speak her name, always, even if he had to pretend his hate and disgust for her.

  Then the police chief—his name was Officer Allison, wasn’t it?—hit the brakes on the car for the first time, slowing them so rapidly that Brett almost fell into the seat in front of him. He wore no seat belt since it was no longer a habit for him.

  “Whoa, buddy. Your little cosplay won’t welcome me, so what are you playing at?” Allison looked back at Larry, ignoring Brett.

  Brett made note of that. “Yeah, Modern Truth doesn’t trust the police.” He spoke as if it were a dry fact, and he’d have to be Switzerl and until he figured out the police chief, who also wanted blood.

  Larry worked his jaw, and Brett watched his fists clench and his shoulders rise. The danger level in the car rose to a solid yellow, and it was slipping into orange. Red meant Tessa and Alex wouldn’t have the chance to catch up, but at least they might not fall into a trap.

  “They won’t, and that’s why we need to part ways as soon as we’re done dealing with our common enemy,” Larry said. “We need to leave them a trail to follow the moment the road splits.”

  “They’ll know they’re heading into a trap.” Allison tapped the steering wheel, but Brett read the malice in that, too.

  “That’s inevitable if we’re going to lead them along,” Larry said.

  He wouldn’t tell Brett where they were going, but he guessed it was still out in California somewhere, not too far from The Compound. Larry had taken a few days to get to Huntsville, so it made sense.

  What if he had to leave the clues himself?

  “Well, will they have any educated guesses?” Allison raised his voice, driving the conversation, too.

  “They’ll know we’re heading out west.”

  So, Brett was right. “Modern Truth’s still based in California?”

  Larry ignored him. “We’ll set the trap close to our stronghold if we want to survive.”

  “I’m not into cosplay, or whatever they call it nowadays.” Allison stopped tapping on the wheel and resumed his death grip. “How will they find this place?”

  Brett and Allison agreed, then. Neither wanted Larry to control their travel plans.

  He dared to speak again. “That’s a good point.”

  Larry reached out and seized his arm, squeezing so tightly that Brett’s nerves got cut off to his hand, and his arteries protested as pressure built inside.

  “You are not helping this situation.” Larry cast a glance at the back of Officer Allison’s head.

  Brett had forgotten about that dangerous glare, too, until now.

  He used it on everybody except for Craig, his favorite son, and on Walton, the Modern Truth leader, and it promised nothing but danger and pain.

  Brett sat at the right angle to see Roni’s shaking ear from around the seat.

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  Larry slowly released his arm, letting more precious blood flow back into his left hand. He couldn’t agree with Allison on anything, and it was his silent duty to help his sperm donor take care of this bully.

  Allison talked down to Larry. “Let’s try this again, shall we? How do we get these hooligans to go where we want, with no cosplay involved?”

  Larry let out a slow breath, and Brett detected a smoldering volcano underneath, ready to erupt. “We drop clues somewhere they’ll stop, or at the only store in this area, and Brett here is going to help us.” He turned to Brett, giving him no room for argument.

  Brett swallowed. “In what way?”

  Larry eyed Roni on the seat, who stayed low, making herself a small target. “You’ve always got your nose in a book, so get them to follow us, and we’ll make sure they don’t hurt anyone else ever again.”

  Brett could barely breathe, as he knew what would happen if he dared to refuse. “I understand.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  TESSA

  “We’re going to get him back, and I’ll follow them until we do.”

  Alex kept his arm wrapped around her, and she leaned into him, hating that she wasn’t strong enough to stand on her own. What was she doing? Her father always said that you couldn’t rely on anyone but yourself, and she’d followed that doctrine for the past three years, ever since his words came true and she took matters into her own hands.

  But she couldn’t pull away from him. She wanted his words to be true, despite Brett finding out the truth.

  She’d always known her secret would pull the world out from under her.

  Tessa looked around the parking lot of the Travel Buddy, gaze landing on the SUV where Mikey and Louie still held onto Zeke, the kid who tried to shoot them less than half an hour ago. They were far enough away so that they couldn’t hear her dirty secret. “He knows what I did. I really had to kill his brother, and—”

  “Death isn’t always a bad thing.” Alex trembled as he held her close against his body. “Protecting yourself comes first, and this Craig sounds like he was a real winner. I don’t think Larry is going to kill Brett, but he’ll shoot us, and we have to be careful.”

  “He was.” She hiccupped, hating her show of weakness. “Brett’s getting farther and farther away, and all this because he had to go find his dog.” How had it gone wrong so quickly? It seemed the universe had lined up the perfect punishment.

  Alex let a pause drag out as he slowly loosened his grasp around her arms and body. “Where is Roni, anyway?”

  “She ran off, and though I like her, she’s not our worry now.” Tessa hated to throw her aside, but as she turned to Alex, she realized there was more to his question than he let on.

  “What if Larry used Brett’s weakness against him?” Something dark came over Alex’s face.

  “His weakness?”

  Alex looked over Tessa’s shoulder and into the trees, which stretched over hills and shallow mountains. “It’s Roni, and I saw her down by the road right before we got separated. She was gone when Larry got here, and someone else was in the car.”

  “I saw that.” Tessa tightened her grasp around her weapon. “Larry brought a guy from Modern Truth, and he was in the driver’s seat. The only reason they fled was because we had our guns out, and they didn’t.” Her empty stomach threatened to expel its acidic contents, and Tessa gagged, but nothing came up. Why was Alex talking about this? Brett hated her, and she deserved her fate. If she got them off The Compound without killing his brother, he could’ve run from Larry.

  Something was wrong, though. She’d hear Alex out, because though he preached hope, he wasn’t the type to ignore reality.

  “It’s possible they threatened his dog. Abusers use animals against the people who love them.” Alex choked out the words, and he looked at the yellow, faded lines on the pavement.

  Despite her own situation, Tessa stepped closer, and she lifted her arm to wrap it around him. She caught herself and let her arm hover in midair, aware that Louie and Mikey were watching in confusion. “If someone hurt your pets, I’m sorry.” It would explain why Alex beat the guy who cut the black lab.

  “I was a kid.”

  “That makes it even worse, and if I could shoot whoever did that, I would.” Despite the horror of it, Alex made sense. She didn’t want to grab too tightly onto hope, but something was off about the whole Larry interaction.

  He eyed her arm, which still hung in the air, and slowly, she put it down. Zeke muttered something from across the lot, but his words fell to the concrete. He was no longer their concern, but Tessa wanted to deck him across the face. If he hadn’t shot at them, Roni wouldn’t have run off, and they would have been able to defend Brett from his capture. He wouldn’t have had to hear the truth from Larry’s lips, who wouldn’t have sugar-coated the event.

  Alex eyed the road and watched as if the green car would return to the Travel Buddy. “I’m sure they want us to follow them, and they’re going to set up a trap.”

  They’d need fuel, just as they did, and Tessa shuddered as she thought of how they’d get it. Modern Truth wouldn’t barter or save any trapped miners to get it.

  “They will. Larry only left without a fight because we had the bigger guns, and he could use Brett as a human shield.” Brett hated his father, but he could hate her, too. Yes, Alex was right that Brett wouldn’t have turned against them unless someone pulled his strings. Larry would rely on her guilt to get her to follow.

  Use your reason.

  Don’t think with your emotions, or you’re going to die.

  Her father returned, and for the first time, he sounded almost soothing. Like he understood her actions, and he didn’t judge.

  After Steve got here with the vehicle, they could reach Maine in under two days, provided the roads were clear and not clogged with refugees from the East Coast or from down south.

  “What do you think we should do?” Alex’s tone told her he’d go with her, no matter what, and Tessa took a breath, shocked at the dedication.

 

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