R Wesley Pate

Enduring Pride R Wesley Pate

Bobby Parker ran his fingers through his rapidly thinning hair, the color draining from his face."I said... a body was found yesterday on my property," the professor repeated. Bobby was staggered. No way! It can't be!"They say it's been there for years."His heart pounded in his chest."Bound to a tree in the middle of the woods."He tasted the bile rising in his throat."Nothing left but bones."Was it possible, Bobby asked himself, his body shaking as he hung up the phone. Could it be Raymond Allen, D-Company's sadistic Commanding Officer? Everyone hated him, and when he disappeared from the dorm in the middle of the night a quarter-century ago, never to be heard from again, no one shed a tear. Bobby had to talk to Jim McConnell, his longtime buddy from their days in the Corps. He'd been their rock 25 years ago, the person they'd looked up to almost from the start, and now they were going to need him again."It's got to be him," Bobby argued."How could it be?" Jim replied confidently. "You were there. You know. This is just a coincidence."But despite Jim's reluctance to accept the possibility, Bobby wasn't convinced. Yes, their planning had been sound, their preparation flawless, their resolve undeniable. And he had firmly believed that two decades of silence was proof the mission had been successful. But now he wasn't sure. Even in death, was Ray Allen back to continue wreaking havoc on their lives? Would the decades-old secret of his disappearance finally be exposed, their futures irrevocably changed? They'd barely survived once, a quarter-century ago, but would their pride and determination alone be enough to get through it again?