Read Paradigm Rift: Book One of the Back to Normal Series for Free Online Page B

generally enjoyed the discipline and comradeship of Army life.
    As the final month of his enlistment drew near, many members of his new military family put pressure on him to sign up for a second go around. It was strangely tempting, but he had his sights set on a degree in economics, paid for courtesy of Uncle Sam. He had always been fascinated with numbers, financials, and the global market. The Army had shown him what the world of implemented national policy looked like, but economics held the promise of revealing a much bigger picture.
    Denver’s family had planned a tremendous welcome back home party for early October of 2001. That is, until nineteen terrorists mercilessly obliterated two towers, four planes, part of the Pentagon, and over 3,000 innocent American lives.
    More than airplanes were hijacked on that pivotal September day in America’s national history—Denver’s personal future suffered a violent takeover as well. Overcome with thoughts of justified revenge and brimming with patriotic fervor, many young men (including Denver and his younger brother, Dallas) either upped or re-upped. The attacks on the Twin Towers may have only temporarily crippled the U.S. economic system, but it indefinitely derailed Denver’s dream of a future in financials.
    In his mind, global economics could wait. It was time for global payback.
    His marksmanship scores and spotless evals landed Denver a role in Task Force Dagger, a few weeks before Thanksgiving 2001. Cave-by-cave, town-by-town, tribe-by-tribe, his unit (one of many under the command of Colonel John Mulholland) routed the Taliban throughout Afghanistan. Once the last stronghold of bitter enemy resistance in Kandahar fell in early December, Denver’s team relocated all across the unforgiving landscape until he left the army in the fall of 2005. It was a land of many contradictions, with nomadic herders subsisting in a culture that had changed minimally over thousands of years, yet communicating on satellite phones and email.
    But four brutal years of sleep deprivation, innumerable late night raids, countless IED’s, and far too many flag-draped caskets were enough for the twenty-five-year-old boy from New York.
    Like thousands who preceded and followed him, it was curiously difficult for Denver to make that sudden transition back to the soft civility of a civilian existence. The real world was an unfamiliar environment for those who had experienced the horrors of a land where life is cheap, and death is even cheaper.
    And now, in the last twenty-four hours, it appeared that Uncle Sam had once again dumped Denver into a world he was totally unprepared for.
    But this time, things were different.
    He now had experience. He had combat skills. He had an overriding desire to get back to his daughter. Denver was more than a decent human being, but he feared for the safety of any man who would stand in the way of him achieving that goal.
    Denver untucked his shirt and shoved the loaded pistol just inside his back waistband and jogged over to the jail cell. He pulled out the keys, removing the one for the squad car, and stuffed it back into his pocket. He locked the cell door, and then pitched the remaining keys into the cell. They slid along the smooth floor and Denver was halfway across the room before they came to a stop beneath the humble cot.
    He locked the front door from the inside and sped over to the gun cabinet. Four rifles and a shotgun stood at the ready. He stepped back, kicked in the thin, glass door, and began grabbing the firearms. Denver slammed them, one at a time, onto the hard concrete floor. By the time he was finished, the arms collection was reduced to a twisted pile of steel and splintered wood. He snatched several boxes of ammo and chucked them into the jail cell as well.
    He took one more look around and spotted the phone on the Chief’s desk. He started to grab it, but then reconsidered. They probably use radios or cellphones anyway. He set it