Sunday Snippet: Order of Aggression

What a rainy, miserable week. But hey, at least we didn't have any snow.

Not a lot of new television to watch, but the Bitten finale did not disappoint. Especially the ending. Whoa! If there's not a season three, there better at least be a movie to explain that whole dealio.

Finished up a rewatch of the X-Files. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the last two seasons, even without Mulder. Getting ready to begin Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and get back into Teen Wolf. Plus keep up with the last episodes of The Flash and Arrow.

Orphan Black is back next Saturday and I can't wait to get a double dose of clones. Looking forward to how the Castor guys fit into the story.

A final random note, I read Eliza Dushku is joining the cast of Banshee for season four and I have very mixed feelings. I thoroughly enjoyed her as Faith on Buffy, but her last few roles have underwhelmed me. Here's hoping she does a great job and fits in well with the cast.

Tonight's post is from Order of Aggression, a novella where my main characters are tasked with an impossible quandary, but are trapped by honor to carry out their orders.

Here's the tagline:

When Ames Braddock is ordered to take out an enemy outpost with possible civilian casualties, he calls on Parker Hart to be his second, but Parker balks at the idea. Ames isn't thrilled with the mission, but he needs Parker and he's not above using aggression to bring her in line, which gets the job done, but also backfires when she demands satisfaction.

And a preview snippet…

Parker Hart blinked. "Um, no. Uh uh. Absolutely not." Her head jerked back and forth. "Find someone else."

Ames Braddock squared his shoulders before crossing his arms over his chest. "Excuse me? Did you just refuse to follow an order?"

Parker held her ground, planting her hands on her hips. Ames could go into battle mode all he wanted. She wouldn't be his second for this particular mission.

She nodded. "Didn't know you considered asking me to help you take out an enemy outpost an order, but yeah, I guess I did." She didn't move or flinch when he narrowed his eyes.

He studied her for several extra-long moments. "You can't refuse, Parker. I need you on this." Something close to pleading crept into his gaze. "I don't trust anyone else. Just tell me why you won't help."

Her mouth dropped open. "Do you want the list numerically or alphabetically?" She finally broke her stance and started pacing back and forth.

He started to speak, but a quick flick of her wrist stopped him. He frowned but stayed silent.

"Geez, Ames." Her feet traveled the length of the room twice before she continued. "First, and seriously the deal breaker, is the civilians. I can live with collateral damage when it's not the human kind." She slid him a sideways glance. "You know this." She resumed pacing. "Second, we can't pull off taking out an outpost without using enhanced magic, right?" She stopped and met his gaze.

He didn't contradict her.

She grimaced. "You also know I hate being all jacked up, jumpy, and unable to control and direct the power as well as I normally can… which brings me back to potential civilian losses." She paused again. "I can't believe you're okay with innocents getting hurt." Whipping around, she didn't give him a chance to reply before she added. "And last, no wait, third, why the hell do you always come to me when you also know I can rarely say no?" She spun around, unwilling to let him see how much she didn't want to let him down.

He moved silently, but she counted his footsteps until he stood behind her. His hands grasped her shoulders, but he didn't make her face him. She sent up a silent thank you to the universe.

Giving her a gentle squeeze, he leaned a little closer. "Parker, I'm not thrilled we might see civilian casualties. You get that, right?" He waited for her nod before he continued. "And we'll exhaust every last option before seeking enhancement because I want to limit any possible chance of harming innocents." He dropped his hands, moving around to stand toe-to-toe with her. "And I already told you why I always choose you. I don't trust anyone else to care as much as you do." Using two fingers, he lifted her chin. "Your inability to say no never factors."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Bullshit. But okay. When you're ready, I'll have your back."

He gave her a wide smile. "Thank you. Plan on a forty-eight hour window. We'll leave at first light the day after tomorrow." He stepped aside and strode toward the exit.

Parker turned, but didn't follow. She needed a few minutes to swallow down the reservations fighting their way up from her gut. Ames would try, and fail, to avoid needing enhanced magic, which meant she had less than two days to get her head around being responsible for harming those who didn't deserve it.

And prepare to give up one more piece of her already running on empty soul.

This one started out as something of a speculative romance, but the sages kept saying it needed magic. They won. LOL

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye