Note: this is an unedited excerpt from Forged in Doubt. Things might change before the final release. 🙂 Content warning! This excerpt contains discussion of prostitution and drug use.
Chapter 1
SUNSHINE
BEFORE
The farmhouse perched at the top of the hill, leering at Sunshine as she rested her cheek against the car’s passenger window. She forced her breathing to slow, pressing her fingertips under her thighs to try and stop them from shaking.
She glanced up at the clock on the dashboard, trying to calculate how long it would be until her next fix.
That number would consume her mind now.
She’d fixate on it, adding up the minutes and the seconds over and over until the needle was in her hand. Sometimes she’d be calm then, smiling at the sky as she tied the rubber tourniquet, squinted at the thin blue lines, and found the perfect vein.
She doubted it would be like that today.
“I don’t feel good,” she said.
It wasn’t true. She still felt okay. She still had a couple of hours before her stomach started to get upset. Her customers didn’t care about the shakes.
She knew what was awaiting her after the job was done.
The desperation as she begged someone else to inject her because her fingers wouldn’t stay still long enough to pierce her skin or compress the plunger of the needle.
She hated that part.
But then came the high.
The moment when heroin hit blood.
There was a science behind it, a chemical reaction, a surge of dopamine.
But mostly it was magic. Magic so bright and so glorious that everything else that had ever mattered or ever would matter to her just faded away.
“Sunshine, come on. You know we have to keep him happy.”
Her pimp didn’t even glance in her direction. He steered the car into the oncoming traffic lane, hitting the gas pedal hard and overtaking a lumbering tractor.
“Kyra said he hit her.”
“Kyra says a lot of bull,” he retorted.
“Ashley said he almost hit her too.”
“Ashley and Kyra both like ticking people off.”
“I don’t like how far away from everything this place is,” she argued. She was pushing it, but she had to try. “Why couldn’t you have just made him stay at a motel or something?”
She looked over at him, and he met her eyes.
She thought he looked a little worried, maybe. But it was hard to tell. The minutes and seconds were yelling at her from inside her head. She had to get this over with. She had to get her next hit.
And her pimp knew it.
“I’m a reasonable man. I can take you back to San Antonio right now.”
She bit down hard on her tongue. They both knew she had nowhere to go, outside of the apartment she shared with four other girls. The apartment he paid for.
And more importantly, she had no other way to pay for the drugs she needed.
“Whatever. Just don’t go anywhere, okay?”
He pulled the car into a long laneway that led up the hill toward the old house. Sunshine felt her spine jolting with pain as they bounced over an impressive array of potholes.
“When have I ever let one of my girls get hurt?” he said once the terrain evened out. The sun was setting now, casting a pretty orange glow over endless fields.
She almost brought up Kyra again. She’d seen her black eye.
She decided against it. She was good at keeping people in a good mood. Keeping the peace. It was likely that this customer would be no different.
She’d almost given Kyra a black eye herself more than once, anyway. The girl really did have an attitude.
Sunshine reached into the footwell of the car and grabbed her bag. Usually, she liked to freshen up a little before meeting customers, which also had a way of subtly encouraging the men to do the same.
This guy wasn’t ugly or old, at least. She’d seen him before, at a party she’d gone to with all of the girls.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
“I’ll come get you in two hours,” her pimp said, pulling out his cell phone and opening some kind of casino game. “If you need anything before then, call me.”
“And we’re seeing the dealer right after this, yeah?”
He didn’t look up from the bright lights and plinking sounds on his phone. A little fake robotic voice said something about winning the jackpot.
“Yep. I told him to meet us at the shawarma place so we can get you some food first.”
Her heart felt a flash of warmth. He always said he cared about his girls. Maybe he did.
She stepped out of the car and made her way across the deserted barnyard. Aside from the house, most of the buildings looked like they were about to fall over.
A fence ran along the edge of the lane.
It had been painted white once, but now the wood was grey, and the posts were crooked.
They reminded Sunshine of broken fingers.
She tried not to think about that image as she opened the front door of the house with shaking fingers.
Soon, she’d be high again.
Everything would be all right.
Chapter 2
JACOB
The sound of honking horns and shouting filtered up from the street below.
Jacob groaned and stretched a tattooed arm over his face, trying and failing to block out the noise. A square of soft pink light rested on the concrete wall above the plastic container he was currently using to store his clothes.
He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. At least he’d successfully slept through the blaring sound of the adhan for once. Though he admired the Muslim commitment to praying five times a day, he was thankful that his own faith was a little more friendly to sleep.
Not that he would be sleeping in today anyway.
The bustling city of Tripoli was already coming to life. From his window on the fourth floor, he could see the start of a traffic jam forming below. Several delivery trucks and motorcycles were fighting their way into the entrance of a narrow side street that led down to one of the city’s many outdoor markets.
Dozens of power cables stretched from building to building, and already he could see a few of his more industrious female neighbors hanging out wet laundry on their balcony rails. Though Jacob preferred the stillness of the desert, he could appreciate the frenetic energy of Libya’s largest city.
He just wished he was here as a tourist.
His cell phone buzzed from where he’d left it on his nightstand.
“Do you have news?” he said quickly.
“Hey, Jacob,” a familiar voice–though less familiar than that of his lawyer friend he’d been expecting–came over the line. “It’s Cameron.”
A familiar pang of guilt burrowed into his stomach.
Ever since he’d helped his brothers uncover a terrorist plot at an airport in Dallas, he’d been hearing from his family more and more often. After years of keeping them successfully at a distance, he’d started letting his walls down. But that didn’t mean he was ready to dive back into frequent small-talk calls.
Especially not when one of his friends had just been thrown in jail.
“I don’t have much time to talk today, bro. I’ve got a bit of a situation here.”
He heard Cameron sucking in a breath on the other end of the phone.
“It’s Dad. He’s in the hospital. It’s really bad.”
Jacob stared down into the street below, watching as three heavily armed men in drab fatigues banged on the door of what looked to be a repair shop.
Such sights barely registered in his mind after so many years in the Middle East and North Africa.
Now, he felt especially numb.
A call like this was always a possibility. Gabriel Forge Sr. was getting older, and that wasn’t even taking into account his cancer diagnosis.
He swallowed. “Sorry, can you repeat that?”
“Dad’s really sick, Jacob,” Cameron said. “He’s in the ICU. You need to come home.”
He turned away from the window and stared at the messy room he’d been living in for just over a week.
“I–I don’t know if I can,” he said, trying and failing to get his thoughts in order without stammering. “My friend just got arrested. Someone I was supposed to protect. I’m trying to find a way to get him out of jail. What happened to dad? How long has he been in the hospital? What did the doctors say?”
“We don’t know much. Gabe saw him last. Said he had been acting like his usual self. But by that afternoon he was in trouble.”
Before Jacob could formulate a response, Cameron continued.
“Look, man. I know you’re busy over there. Busy with important work. But I think the Bible is pretty clear about our duties to our own families.”
Jacob didn’t argue.
As much as he loved the people he served here, he couldn’t put them above his own kin.
But his brother wasn’t done.
“Honor thy father,” Cam recited gently. “And thy mother.”
The line went silent as Jacob’s guilt multiplied.
Cameron’s words were the kind of perfectly honed attack that only someone he loved could unleash.
Jacob had been well into his life of crime by the time their mother, Mary, died. She loved him until the very end of her life, but he knew she wasn’t proud of the path he’d been on. It broke his heart to know that he’d never be able to relive those final months with his mom and do things differently.
At least Mary had died before she had a chance to witness his rock bottom.
No, that honor had been reserved for a female rookie cop named Allie Parker, who was now serving as the Forge Brothers Security police liaison, and as a personal friend to his entire family.
Last Christmas, he’d been forced to seek her help during the terrorist plot incident.
Apparently, she still hated his guts just as much as she had before he’d moved overseas.
But his shame at the thought of seeing her again was hardly going to keep him out of Texas.
“You’re right, Cam,” Jacob said at last. He walked into the bathroom and started grabbing toiletries from the edge of the cracked ceramic sink. “I need to be there with him. With all of you.”
“When can you get here? Where are you right now?”
He’d talked to his brother Ben fairly recently, but all of his travels were quickly blending together. He’d visited three countries in the last month and a half, and each one of the trips had involved a brother or sister in Christ needing his help.
“Libya,” he said. “In the capital. And it’s a good thing, because if I was still in Murzuq, it would have been days before I could get home. Honestly, it might still be days, but at least here there’s a chance.”
“Okay. Text one of us when you know what’s going on.”
He could almost hear Cam’s smile over the phone, and it lifted his spirits. After everything he’d done, his brothers had never given up on him. And neither had dad.
He and Cameron said their goodbyes. His brother was in a hurry to get back to his dad’s bedside. Hopefully, the doctors would find some answers soon. In the meantime, he had to get moving.
He sat down on the bed for a couple of minutes, feeling suddenly like he could go right back to sleep. He was exhausted, and the thought of traveling across the world was far from appealing.
But if it was his dad’s time to meet the Lord…
No. He wouldn’t think like that. He’d have plenty of time to pray for his dad’s recovery on the way to America.
Chapter 3
JACOB
There was a lot that Jacob would miss about Libya, but its air transportation was not one of them.
He felt his entire body relaxing as he walked off of the plane and into Cairo’s modern international airport. Sure, it wasn’t up to American standards–he could especially do without the vague haze of cigarette smoke–but it was miles ahead of Tripoli airport’s broken air conditioning.
He headed straight for the baggage claim with a glance at his watch.
Really, he couldn’t complain much. He was grateful to have been able to sneak onto a flight relatively quickly. One down, two more to go.
On top of that, he’d gotten good news from his lawyer friend back in Tripoli.
His Christian contact was still in jail, but only for a few more days. By the sounds of it, the government decided they were happy with a slap on the wrist once they realized he had actual competent legal help on his side.
Even though he still felt nervous, God seemed to be blessing this journey home.
He considered calling his family to let them know he’d landed safely, but decided against it.
It was morning in Texas, but dinner time in Egypt, and he had to find something to eat before he fell asleep. Travel was always exhausting, but travel in this part of the world was on a whole other level.
He settled on a text to his oldest brother Gabe, who loved to be in charge and would no doubt make sure the rest of the family was kept abreast of his plans.
Jacob: Just landed. This airport has palm trees and decent food, so I’m going to grab a bite before my connecting flight.
Gabe: Praise God. Thanks for letting us know.
Jacob looked over at the food court. The delicious smell of well-seasoned meat was winning the battle over the constant scent of smoke. But there was one more thing he felt the need to say.
Jacob: Can you make sure that nobody goes telling the whole city that I’m coming back?
He was relieved when Gabe sent a thumbs up emoji with no follow up questions.
He still didn’t feel ready to go back home. Even if he wasn’t worried about his dad, he knew it would take him time to settle in and find his place in their family again.
But that wasn’t his main worry.
He made his way over to a food vendor, ordering a lamb dish and a cold sugarcane juice before settling down at a corner table.
All around him, local families and tourists were talking and eating together, sending the volume in the room to a near fever pitch. Jacob barely noticed. He could barely taste his own food as he got lost in his thoughts.
Going home and facing so many people he’d let down back in the day would be hard enough. But there were old enemies to consider, people who he didn’t want to ever run into.
And worse, there were old friends.
Tai Perry had been his best friend, once upon a time.
At least, Jacob thought he was.
He’d been too young and stupid to realize that Tai had been leading him down a path of sin that would completely shatter his life.
He swallowed a piece of spicy lamb too quickly, coughing hard enough to draw the stares of several giggling teenage girls in bright headscarves a couple of tables over.
There was no point in worrying about Tai unless he had to. San Antonio was a big city.
In any case, he had to hurry up and eat so he could catch his next flight to Washington, D.C. This would be the long haul, and then he’d be heading back to Texas.
Hopefully, he could visit until his dad got better, spend some time with his family, and then head back to wherever his mission called him without ever rubbing shoulders with his former life.
But there was one more problem he couldn’t shake off so easily.
Allie Parker would be hanging around, like she always did.
And she wasn’t quick to forgive.
Or forget.
ALLIE
Every time Allie finished filling out one of the forms waiting on the desk in front of her, another one seemed to take its place. She looked up at the big white clock on the wall and stretched her arms overhead in an exaggerated yawn. It was past 7 o’clock, and it was a weekend. Everyone sane who had the choice to leave voluntarily had long since done so.
She considered leaving some paperwork for the morning.
This recent shooting was driving her bonkers.
It seemed to be routine. Two gangbangers wounding each other in a territorial scuffle was hardly cause to get excited. But Allie had already noticed several irregularities in the documentation of the case. Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite be sure if evidence was actually missing, or if she’d just filed something wrong while running on coffee fumes after a sixteen hour shift.
She shoved the stack of files into a drawer and locked it. She’d ask around on Monday about the missing odds and ends, but for now, she was admitting defeat. Her stomach had been howling for food for about three hours.
Before she could get her computer shut down, however, the night shift desk officer stuck his head around the wall of her cubicle. “Yo, Parker, call for ya,” he announced. “From Forge Brothers Security. Gal on the phone says it’s personal.”
She plucked her phone from her pocket. Dead.
“I’ll take it in the conference room,” she said quickly. “Thanks, bud.”
She barely waited for him to reply before closing the door behind her and reaching for the ancient corded phone. As she waited for the familiar number to connect, she forced herself to breathe slowly.
She was getting hyped up about nothing.
Lauren was almost certainly safe.
Her old friend had the protection of both San Antonio PD and FBS itself. Not to mention her husband and FBS operative, Reilly, whom she had met when he helped her to escape the clutches of the Iron Prophets gang.
But when Lauren’s gentle voice came over the line, she felt a fresh wave of panic.
“Lauren, what’s going on? Are you okay?” Allie demanded.
“Calm down,” she said. “I’m fine.”
She was more confused than relieved.
“So what’s going on? Sorry if I missed your call, I–”
“Got totally obsessed with a super important case, stayed late by yourself on a Saturday, and let your phone die?”
Allie paused.
“Guilty. You know me too well.”
She and Lauren were rebuilding their friendship after years spent going down very different paths, and it wasn’t always easy. The woman’s presence had a way of reminding Allie of the darkness she’d left behind.
But even when she attempted to keep Lauren at an emotional distance, their bond was stubbornly strong.
“Anyway,” Lauren continued, “it’s my father-in-law. Gabe Sr.’s been in the ICU for 24 hours and it’s not looking good.”
She listened as her friend explained what was going on, though it didn’t seem like anyone knew very much. Allie paced around the conference table, twisting the handset’s long cord around her fingers.
“So what’s going on now?”
“Not much. Reilly’s still at the hospital with the twins. I’m at the FBS office trying to track down some files Gabe needs so he can stay with the rest of the boys at the hospital tonight.”
Allie didn’t need to ask why Gabriel Forge Jr. was worried about paperwork when his dad was in the intensive care unit facing an unexplained medical crisis. He was even more of a workaholic than she was.
“I’m leaving SAPD in a sec,” Allie said, “and I’ll be at the hospital first thing tomorrow morning. Can you call me on my cell if there’s any change?”
Lauren was quiet for a few long moments.
“I’ll charge it, promise,” she added.
“Jacob will be there in the morning, too.” Lauren said. “He flew out of Libya on Friday night. Well, I guess it was Saturday for him. I can’t quite get my head around the time difference.”
Allie wasn’t sure what to say.
The last time she’d seen the youngest Forge brother, he’d just gotten out of jail and was going around telling everyone about how he’d become a Christian. Supposedly, he was trying to apologize and right the wrongs he’d done, but Allie had never quite believed he’d changed. And as soon as his probation had ended six months later, he’d hopped a plane across the world and never came back.
Good riddance.
“Anyway, I’ve never actually met him in person,” Lauren continued with an awkward chuckle. “My own brother-in-law.”
“Right.”
“I know you’re not a fan of the guy, Allie, but I think you should give him a chance.”
Allie plunked down into a nearby chair, feeling even hungrier and more tired than she had a few minutes ago. She had enough to worry about already, but she couldn’t ignore Jacob completely. Not when his entire family seemed to accept his whole redeemed thug act.
If she told Lauren as much, though, her old friend would probably launch into some lecture about how Jesus forgave even the worst sinners. Allie could respect the Forge family’s faith, but she wasn’t in the mood to defend her own lack of belief right now.
“It’s not me he has to worry about,” Allie said. “He probably still has enemies here. Pretty brave to show his face. Or maybe stupid.”
“Just be nice, okay?” Lauren pleaded. “Gabe Sr. will be happy to see you, if he’s more alert tomorrow. Just forget about Jacob.”
Allie said her goodbyes and set the phone into its cradle with a satisfying click. She had dinner and a warm bed waiting.
She wasn’t going to let Jacob take up any more space inside her head.