Within The Light's Shadow

Kenneth Kirkwood

Description

Follow James, John, and George as they
add members to the PTF to stop the
chief engineer’s mutiny on board the
USS Bunker Hill CG 52. After the tragic
death of Captain Silverton, George, and
his team help Commander Johnstone
navigate the USS Bunker Hill CG 52
through a storm and a mutiny to reach
Australia safely. Once they are in port,
George offi cially becomes Commander
Johnstone’s assistant as they prepare
for the Peace Accords.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 30 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798369402573
• Langue: English

Extrait

WITHIN THE LIGHT’S SHADOW
 
 
Shadow of Doubt
 
 
 
 
Kenneth Kirkwood
 
Copyright © 2023 by Kenneth Kirkwood.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2023912410
ISBN:
Hardcover
979-8-3694-0256-6
 
Softcover
979-8-3694-0258-0
 
eBook
979-8-3694-0257-3
 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 07/29/2023
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
844658
 

CONTENTS
Dedication
Chapter 1Janis’s Destiny
Chapter 2USS Bunker Hill CG 52
Chapter 3The PTF’s First mission
Chapter 4Framing Mr. J.
Chapter 5The Merger
Chapter 6Escaping the Threat
Chapter 7Donna’s Plot Revealed
Chapter 8Jesse and the Commander
Chapter 9Jesse and Sophie
Chapter 10JoAnn Is Safe
Chapter 11The Emmys
Chapter 12JoAnn’s Escape
Chapter 13Saving Jesse
Chapter 14James Returns Home
Chapter 15Truth Comes Out
Chapter 16Mission Begins
Chapter 17Christy
Chapter 18The Storm
Chapter 19On the Bridge
Chapter 20The Captains Sick
Chapter 21The Munity begins
Chapter 22The Final Battle Plan
Chapter 23Commander Johnstone is safe
Chapter 24Retaking the Ship
Chapter 25Hero’s Welcome
Chapter 26George’s Abduction
 

DEDICATION
My third book in the Searching for the Light Series: Within the Light’s Shadow: Shadow of Doubt, is dedicated to my students at PWT Academy. I have been teaching poetry and creative writing at a private school for twenty years. Over the years, I have watched how my writing inspired many of my students, and it pushed me to want to express myself through my writing to others.
I am very excited to complete my first trilogy, Within the Lights Shadow , as I continue to work on Searching for the Light and expand my writing. I have also decided to join allpoetry.com (Skypoet40) and express myself through poetry. I am “The Poet Who Didn’t Know It.” This is the name a close friend often called me before he passed away in 2007. I hope you enjoy my writing and are inspired to express yourselves. Knowing that no matter how small or big the scale of your writing, your voice can be heard.
 
CHAPTER 1 Janis’s Destiny
I felt lost, not being able to associate with my best friend Scott. It was creating a hole in my life the commander would never understand. It had gotten to the point where I felt like I was completely alone. I was slowly becoming another person.
However, that did not matter anymore as I would finish my National Security Agency training, and I would be reporting to the USS Bunker Hill CG52 as an undercover operative for the NSA. Yet, I was still having a tough time comprehending how Steve would drug his son Scott, thus destroying our friendship. My biggest fear was that my family would find out the truth behind my deception and they would go crazy. However, I did not realize that things had changed since the incident with Steve. It seemed like my parents were more supportive of Scott than ever. My father was still mad at me for not supporting my friend after Steve’s death. Thus, they would disown me if they knew the truth about my relationship with Scott.
In hindsight, no one understood the relationship between me, Scott, and Janis. While everything seemed hopeless for the three of us now, Janis’s father seemed to be the only one who understood that Scott and Janis were George’s loyal friends, and no matter what happened, we would always remain friends. Our friendship is something no one could break, and one day it would be our strength to help rebuild this crazy world from the horrors of Donna’s treachery. Thus, it was breaking my heart that I had put a wedge in our friendship.
Meanwhile Janis’s father discovered that Janis was asking Cindy questions about how to get a hold of Scott, so she could get a message to me, he knew it was time to put his plan into action. Because he knew I was about to complete my NSA training and would become one of the most respected operatives the NSA had ever known.
When Cindy sent a message for Janis to meet Chief Petty Officer Escondido, my recruiter. Janis was elated that she had finally found a way to contact me, and she skipped her classes and went straight to the naval recruiting office.
When she got to the office, she was greeted by a lady who looked at her like she was crazy when she asked about Chief Petty Officer Escondido. “Ma’am, Chief Petty Officer Escondido was sent to our Spokane office six months ago. It was right after the last group of recruits he enlisted, and if I am not mistaken, your friend George was one of those recruits. I wish I could help you. To track down Chief Petty Officer Escondido, you must go to the navy administration office. It seems like after he got transferred to Spokane, there was an incident and he retired. No one has seen him since.”
Janis put her head down and calmly thanked the lady. Once the lady was sure Janis was out of sight, she called Chief Escondido, “Sam, there is some crazy lady who just left the office. She wanted to talk to you about George. I told her you had retired. I am unsure how you want to deal with the situation because she does not seem like someone who will say she needs to talk to George without having a reason. To her it is a matter of life or death.
Chief Escondido replied, “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll take care of it and make sure no one knows about her coming to the office today. You need to shred all the records, ‘cause if anyone finds out, I am still around, it will create a lot of trouble for George and his family.”
She immediately destroyed the records and made sure that no one knew that Janis had visited the office asking about George or Chief Petty Officer Escondido. However, one of Donna’s men saw Janis go into the office. A few minutes later, he came into the office and said he thought his girlfriend might have come by and wanted to know if anyone had seen her.
The lady looked him in the eye and told him, “Sorry, mister, I have not seen any woman this morning. I saw quite a few yesterday. Maybe you got the day’s mixed up because we had about five ladies enlist yesterday.” The man thanked her and left.
Immediately after he left, the stranger contacted Donna. “Donna, something is going on with Janis. She might have found a way to contact George, but the lady lied to me and said she had never met Janis.”
Donna was silent for a few minutes before she said, “Just keep me updated. She is the clue to finding George and Scott. Ever since Steve died, they fell off the radar. Let her do the work for us. She had me and Steve fooled. After we find George and Scott, we will kidnap her to verify that George is still her lover boy.”
Meanwhile, when Janis saw she could not talk to Chief Escondido, she went into a slump and started crying. As she was walking back to her car, she began wondering why everything was so hard when it came to George. All she wanted was a normal life. She told herself she might as well go back to the house and lock herself in her room for the next few days. No one would miss her.
Before Janis went off the deep end, a man walked up to her car and tapped on the window. At first, she didn’t recognize the man, but then he said his name, “Don’t worry, ma’am. I am Chief Escondido, and I will help you get a message to your friend.”
She turned and wiped away her tears. To her surprise, she discovered that the man was her father. “Dad, what are you doing here?”
“Did you write your Dear John letter to George. Don’t you remember I told you it was imperative that you mail the letter before he reports to his first assignment on board the USS Bunker Hill CGN52. I also told you I would return in a few months to take you away from all this. It’s time for your training.”
Janis looked at him and said, “What are you talking about? I am not about to leave all my friends, and I told George that I was going to wait for him.”
“Daughter, that is about to change. I told you your life was in danger if you continued to try and contact George. Right now, too many red flags are going off and Donna will soon figure out your secret about your love for George. Thus, you will blow my cover and we will all be captured by Donna.”
Then he told her to get out of the car and take a walk with him. He said he had something he needed to show her. When they got to the end of the parking lot, he said, “Do you recognize this man? He was following you this morning when you went to the recruiting office trying to find Chief Escondido.”
When she saw the man she slumped down near the tree and was about to scream. “Dad, what did you do? This man needs help!”
He quickly put his hand over her mouth. “You need to be quiet. All I did was put him to sleep so he