The Marauder

THE MARAUDER DANTE JACOBY SERIES BOOK 4 MATT ROGERS Copyright © 2023 by Matt Rogers All rights reserved. Cover design by Onur Aksoy. www.onegraphica.com CONTENTS Reader’s Group Socials Books by Matt Rogers Prologue Part I Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Part II Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Part III Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Part IV Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Part V Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 Epilogue Afterword Afterword Books by Matt Rogers Reader’s Group About the Author Join the Reader’s Group and get a free 200-page book by Matt Rogers! Sign up for a free copy of ‘BLOOD MONEY’. Meet Ruby Nazarian, a government operative for a clandestine initiative known only as Lynx. She’s in Monaco to infiltrate the entourage of Aaron Wayne, a real estate tycoon on the precipice of dipping his hands into blood money. She charms her way aboard the magnate’s superyacht, but everyone seems suspicious of her, and as the party ebbs onward she prepares for war… Maybe she’s paranoid. Maybe not. Just click here. Want more from Matt Rogers? Watch or listen to my podcast, “Heroic Traits,” where I break down life lessons from the Dante Jacoby Series: https://linktr.ee/heroictraits Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattrogersbooks Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattrogersauthor If you enjoy the book, make sure to leave a review! Your feedback means everything to me, and encourages me to deliver more books as soon as I can. BOOKS BY MATT ROGERS THE DANTE JACOBY SERIES Be Somebody (Book 1) Double Life (Book 2) Dark Mirror (Book 3) The Marauder (Book 4) THE JASON KING SERIES Isolated (Book 1) Imprisoned (Book 2) Reloaded (Book 3) Betrayed (Book 4) Corrupted (Book 5) Hunted (Book 6) THE JASON KING FILES Cartel (Book 1) Warrior (Book 2) Savages (Book 3) THE WILL SLATER SERIES Wolf (Book 1) Lion (Book 2) Bear (Book 3) Lynx (Book 4) Bull (Book 5) Hawk (Book 6) THE KING & SLATER SERIES Weapons (Book 1) Contracts (Book 2) Ciphers (Book 3) Outlaws (Book 4) Ghosts (Book 5) Sharks (Book 6) Messiahs (Book 7) Hunters (Book 8) Fathers (Book 9) Tyrants (Book 10) Monsters (Book 11) Rogues (Book 12) Legends (Book 13) Smugglers (Book 14) Daggers (Book 15) Heroes (Book 16) THE LORE OF KING & SLATER SERIES Recruited (Book 1) Thin Air (Book 2) LYNX SHORTS Blood Money (Book 1) BLACK FORCE SHORTS The Victor (Book 1) The Chimera (Book 2) The Tribe (Book 3) The Hidden (Book 4) The Coast (Book 5) The Storm (Book 6) The Wicked (Book 7) The King (Book 8) The Joker (Book 9) The Ruins (Book 10) PROLOGUE Las Vegas Nevada At eight a.m. sharp, George Hughes shuffles outside to tend to his garden. It’s already pushing seventy-five degrees as he fetches the watering can and shakes a few drops over the sticky purple geraniums and desert marigolds. He takes care not to get carried away: the plants are native and therefore drought-tolerant. It makes the daily sprinkling unnecessary — he could just soak them properly once a fortnight, which is apparently better for them than frequent watering anyway — but for six decades George has treasured routine, ever since those first twelve weeks of basic training at Fort Dix before they shipped him off to Vietnam. In the jungles themselves, he learned self-efficacy. He would scrawl a list of small tasks for the following day in a journal he kept by his bunk, mostly concerning basic measures of hygiene. It first proved to him the importance of setting yourself daily duties. He managed to stay only moderately filthy as, one after another, those in his barracks who ignored personal maintenance succumbed to skin infections and trench foot. He’ll never forget the humidity. Its choking oppressiveness was the stuff of nightmares. Like his beloved native plants, George thrives in Nevada’s dry heat. Robin doesn’t like any sort of heat, but her whole life she’s been an unwavering optimist, so she was happy to make the move from Oregon when he suggested a change of scenery. It’s been nearly ten years since George chanced upon the brochure for Blue Waters Summerlin, a newly constructed senior community in the Las Vegas Valley sporting an indoor spa, tennis and racquetball courts, even a miniature golf course. Now pushing eighty-five, George never wound up taking advantage of the recreational facilities the way he hoped he would. Regardless, he and Robin consider the place paradise, probably for wholly different reasons. George is the quiet introvert, his wife the social butterfly. The contrast suited them their whole working lives in Portland, and suits them equally splendidly here. George begins each day not a minute past eight at his garden, which kickstarts a slow chain reaction of pottering around the house, fulfilling his self-imposed duties. His chores usually extend well into the afternoon, interspersed by long bouts of sitting or napping. Years back, a doctor told him ten thousand steps per day was the best method for reducing all-cause mortality. According to his little Fitbit, George doesn’t get close to that number anymore, but he remains undeterred. You’ve got to adjust your expectations in your eighties, relinquish a little control. But he’s never had a problem with that.