Contracts Matt Rogers (classic children's novels TXT) 📖

Contracts

The King & Slater Series Book Two

Matt Rogers

Copyright © 2019 by Matt Rogers

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Onur Aksoy.

www.onegraphica.com

Contents

Reader’s Group

Books by Matt Rogers

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Part I

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

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

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

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

Part II

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Announcement

Afterword

Books by Matt Rogers

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Books by Matt Rogers

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)

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

1

Nepal

Aidan Parker hadn’t come here expecting sweltering heat.

It contrasted with the brochures, the word of mouth: hell, it even clashed with a simple Google search. Type “Nepal” into any internet browser and you’d come away convinced the only danger besides altitude sickness was the potential for hypothermia. Sure, the mountains were coming eventually. They were headed for Gokyo Ri, a snow-capped peak in the Khumbu region offering staggering views of Everest and the surrounding Himalayas. Temperatures plummeted at altitudes above thirteen thousand feet, but they weren’t anywhere near those heights yet.

They were low.

And it was hot.

In truth, it wasn’t that bad if you stayed still. Maybe low seventies if you checked the weather app on your phone. But for the past few days they’d been trekking, and trekking in Nepal involved excruciating ascents and descents in equal measure, which, complete with the sun beating down on the back of your neck, meant perspiring like there was no tomorrow. And when you started sweating one hundred feet into a five hundred foot rise in elevation, there was little chance of it stopping anytime soon.

But that was only half the reason Parker’s pores were working overtime.

His fourteen-year-old daughter, Raya, had deemed the trip the perfect opportunity to air years’ worth of grievances.

‘Did you even hear what I said?’ she said as they reached the top of a steep hill.

Parker paused for breath, sucking in air as he hunched over. ‘Hold on, Raya. Please…’

‘You’re not that winded,’ she said. ‘Stop making excuses.’

‘You’ve been running track for, what, three years now? I’m not on your level. Work keeps me—’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Exactly, Dad. That’s what I was saying. Thanks for bringing it up on your own. Work keeps you—?’

Parker’s heart rate settled and he said, ‘Busy.’

‘Understatement of the century.’

Parker flashed a glance over his shoulder. Sure enough, the rest of the party was in tow. It was, of course, a deliberate effort to hang back on their part. Both bodyguards had passed the request onto the Nepali guide and porter, so all four of them were a couple of hundred feet behind, ascending the mountain at a snail’s pace. It gave Parker breathing room to muster retorts to his daughter’s insults without having to deal with the added pressure of an uncomfortable audience, listening to everything that came out of their mouths.

He said, ‘That’s what this trip is about, Raya.’

‘No,’ she said, ‘it’s not. This trip is about you feeling less guilty, so when we get back home you can say, “But, honey, don’t you remember Nepal?” every time I complain about you not spending enough time with me.’

Parker threw his hands in the air — each clutching trekking poles — in exasperated fashion. ‘So you’re already writing it off? In that case, what am I supposed to do?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Maybe find a job that doesn’t need the presence of bodyguards whenever you step foot out of your office?’

‘It’s not like that.’

‘What’s it like, then, Dad?’

Parker wiped sweat off his brow to save it dripping into the dirt at their feet. ‘You know I can’t talk about my job as much as I’d like.’

‘Which is bullshit.’

He frowned. ‘It’s not. And you’re not going to speak to me like that. If you have problems with me, which you clearly do, you’re going to convey them to me like an adult. You can’t have it both ways. You’re pretending you’re not my daughter so you can insult me for giving this my best shot, so you’re going to do that civilly instead of swearing at me every chance you get. Understood?’

He’d been on the back foot the whole trip, and she hadn’t seen him riled up often.

It made her hesitate.

Raya said, ‘Okay, Dad. Sorry. I didn’t mean to swear.’

‘And I didn’t mean to bite like that.’

‘I just…’

‘What?’

‘I think you do a good job,’ she said. ‘You know … as a father. When you’re around. So I’d like to see more of it. But that’s tough when you’re at work twenty-four-seven. And I can’t talk to you about it because we’re sitting in teahouses every night with your two bodyguards awkwardly hanging around, making shit conversation. Sorry for swearing.’

‘It’s okay,’ Parker said. ‘I get it. Can we talk about it tonight?’

‘In front of Winston and Oscar? As usual?’

‘No. We’ll find somewhere private to talk. We’re only a couple of hours from Kharikhola. I’m not in the shape I