Entrenched

By Wanda Buchanan

The Georgian family is back together again after being separated by a tour of duty. Alex thought he had retired, but they go from one extreme to another. As one chapter closes, another one starts, and there are things in his past that won’t let him and his family go until the job is finished. In this last mission, this man goes through mountainous terrain and back to save his family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781640962231

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Entrenched

Wanda Buchanan

Copyright © 2019 Wanda Buchanan

All rights reserved

First Edition

Newman Springs Publishing

Red Bank, NJ

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2019

ISBN 978-1-64096-222-4 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64096-223-1 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

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

1

One day when I was ten and went out in my own backyard for some adventure, I decided to take a walk down to the lake, which was okay with my mother because it wasn’t that far from the house. All my friends were going to be there. It was hot, and the humidity made it very uncomfortable, so I knew the girls were going to be there. Gina was the one whom I was interested in. I thought that she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen.

Malie was the first one their swimming in the lake that was adjoined to his property. This lake had clear turquoise-green water and was excellent for swimming. The air was a warm pacific breeze that draw the kids down to the lake, and of course, once they were there, they jumped right in and began splashing the water all over Maliek. They all were around the same age, but out of all the boys, Maliek was the smallest and, therefore, picked on by his friends because of his size, but loved by the girls, which kind of made up for all the name-calling that he received. However, he’d always take time out of his busy schedule to take a dip in the pool of water. He knew this was where his friends would be when they needed to cool down.

At home, Maliek had a baby sister, one year old (her name was Kendra), which made him the older brother. The house he lived in with his mother and father and his sibling was a big southern-style mansion. A beautiful white brick complete with an attached garden and backyard pool. His mother, Miriam, was born into wealth, having the finer things in life, which made a difference to her. Education was a must in her family. Miriam was well educated, with a PhD in education. However, Miriam never got to use her degree. She was swept off her feet before she was able to accept a job offer in Edmond University, where she attended college. Miriam married Alexander Hamilton II and moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Soon after they were married Miriam was pregnant and was a stay-at-home mother. Alex started a financial company with the money that her father left after he passed away. The education Alex received was from when he was in the military. Five years later, she was pregnant again and then hired a housekeeper to help out around the rather-large house. With two young children, she chose to stay at home.

Maliek realized it was getting late, so he and his friends decided it was time to go home. After getting out of the water, he reached for his towel. Gina beat him to it and then handed it him. As she smiled and said hi to Maliek, Maliek said hi back and took his towel and began drying off. Gina said, I was watching you swim today.

Oh yeah? said Maliek, and they began walking down the path together home. His friends waved at him and said, See you two lovebirds later, and his other friend said, You know, she come down here just to see you, as they rode away on their bikes, laughing. Maliek just shook his head and put his towel around his neck and continued walking. Gina said goodbye to Maliek as she turned down the street where she lived. Before she crossed the street, she turned and blew him a big kiss. Maliek pretended not to see the big kiss she just blew at him and just kept walking with a big smile on his face. Maliek was thinking to himself on his way home, Someday I am going to ask her to be my girlfriend. Ya, before the summer is over with Gina will be my girlfriend. When Maliek reached the backyard, he noticed a man working over in the garden. It must be the gardener. Maliek waved and nodded his head as he walked past.

Once Maliek entered the house, he yelled out for his mother, I’m home! His mother came out of the living room and into the kitchen, where Maliek was sticking his hand in the cookie jar. His mother said, Maliek you have to be quiet. Your sister is sleeping in the other room, and I don’t want you to wake her. He followed his mother back into the living room, where the baby was sleeping. Maliek stood beside his mother as she checked on the baby to make sure she was still sleeping. When Miriam looked down at Maliek and saw that he was all wet, she said, You have been down at that watering hole again.

It’s not a watering hole, Mom. It’s a lake where we all hang out.

Well, I don’t know why you choose to go down there when you have a perfectly fine swimming pool in your own backyard.

Remember what Dad said? I can’t have all my friends over in our pool all the time, so we decided to meet down at the lake from now on. Besides, we have more private time there.

Well, you’re wet, so I want you to go upstairs and change your clothes and get ready for supper. Maliek did what his mother told him and went upstairs, showered, and put on a change of clean clothes. When Miriam walked past the staircase, making her way into the kitchen, she hollered out, Supper will be ready in ten minutes.

It was time for little Kendra to have her bath and something to eat. Her mother began fixing her bathwater and warming a bottle of milk in the bottle warmer. As soon as she picked little Kendra up, she awakened with a small cry at first, and then as she undressed the baby, the crying picked up. It went from a whine to a scream. And then it went even louder when she was submerged her into the water. Then her mother started talking to her while bathing just to calm her down. The baby was wide awake and had calmed down by the time her mother had gotten her dressed. Miriam wrapped the baby in a warm blanket and sat down in the rocking chair and took the bottle out of the warmer and began feeding the baby. Just then, a call came in. The housekeeper picked up the phone, and it was Mr. Hamilton calling to say he would be late getting home tonight. Okay, Mr. Hamilton, I will let Mrs. Hamilton know. Maliek looked up from his plate of food and said, I guess that was Dad. Did he say he was going to be late again?

Yes, said the housekeeper. Now finish eating your food. She walked into the next room and let Miriam know that her husband was going to be late getting home tonight.

Everyone had eaten and was watching TV in the living room Miriam was still rocking in the rocking chair, but the baby had already fallen asleep. Maliek, let’s get ready for bed. Turn the TV off, and go up to your room. They all went up the stairs together, and as the boy went into his room, he said good night to his mother. She took the little baby into her room and laid her down gently and watched her for a while. Then she went over and turned the lights out and crossed over the hallway and into her room. She sat on the bed and grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, and the late show was on. She got up and took her a shower and put on her robe. It had been a tiring day, and so she went straight into bed and was trying to stay awake for her husband, but sleep got the better of her, and off she fell into a sound sleep. All at once, she jumped up, awakened by what was called mother’s intuition. She got out of bed and went across the hall and checked on Maliek first and made sure he was asleep and turned off his TV. She walked over to the next room to check on little Kendra. She was sleeping soundly, and Miriam placed a kiss on the baby’s forehead. Then back across the hall, she entered her bedroom and went back to bed. She glanced over at the clock on the wall to check the time and noticed it was getting pretty late and wondered where her husband was. With the TV remote in hand, she changed the channel and found a movie to watch, not realizing how truly tired her body was before she could get into the movie good. Miriam drifted back off to sleep.

Alex Hamilton was working away hard to bringing in new business to his company, hoping to make it a multimillion-dollar company so someday he could hand it down to his own son. He was focused on his work, trying to finish up what he was working on so he could go home and be with his family, like everyone else did in the office building. That was Alex’s routine for now until the company was running in the red. It was quiet, and the lights were dim, and he knew was he tired as he began rubbing his eyes.

He raised his head and blinked his eyes and then decided to get up from his big desk and walk to stretch his back and legs and noticed a shadow underneath the door. Then an envelope was shoved up under the door. Alex thought to himself, Everyone is usually gone for the day by now. He spoke up, Who’s there? Again he asked, Who’s there? No one answered, and then he walked over to the door and opened it quickly and found no one there. Then he walked over to the stairs and looked down. Still, no one was around. He walked back to the office and picked up the envelope lying on the floor and walked back behind his desk and sat down in his warm big leather chair and leaned back, looking at the envelope, and realized that it was from the agency, the military special operation. He opened it quickly and read it. Alex found out that his services were required immediately and he must report to Washington, DC, right away.

Then he remembered he had to burn the letter after reading it. So he got out his lighter and lit the paper on fire and dropped it in the large ashtray on his desk. After learning the contents of the letter, he decided it was time to get out of there and go home. He grabbed his coat and hat, and out the door he went. Out to the parking lot, as he unlocked the car door to his Mercedes, he noticed someone coming right at him out from the shadow of the parking garage. He just stood still, looking to see who it was, then he asked, Can I help you? The man got close and said, Hey, Alex, it’s me, Grant.

Grant! We were in the military together. Oh, Grant, hey, man, how are you?

Good.

So you were the one leaving me the note under my door.

Ya, and I hope you didn’t forget what you are supposed to do with it afterward.

No, I didn’t forget, it’s taken care of. So how are you? Where you been?

Oh, I’ve been around, said Grant. I received my letter yesterday, and I thought I would stop by here and see if we could fly out together and be there in the morning.

Why don’t you come over for a while, and we can go over old times and have a couple of drinks? Come on, get in.

Wow, this you, man? This is all right. You must be doing good, Alex. I am proud of you man.

As Grant exited the car, he said, I’ll meet you at your house later.

All right, said Alex as he drove away on the way home. He took the long way home, which gave him time to think. This letter just wasn’t sent to him by the way of an old friend for nothing. This meant something, but what? Alex took a deep breath and said to himself that this must mean trouble as he remembered the content of the letter. We need you immediately.

Something was in the works and needed him the whole crew, and the type of man Alex was, he would never let the crew down. He remembered the rules from ten years ago: never make any phone calls once you’ve been contacted. And he had forty-eight hours to report in person to Washington. The suspense was killing him. Not even aware he was, once deep into his work, trying to finish what he had started, all work dropped right out of his thoughts. What was the situation like? Could they all be in trouble? What would he be walking into once he reached the military office in DC?

He finally tore his mind away from what he was about to do, to what he must do now, which was to keep his mind on what he had to do for work. He only had forty-eight hours, and ten of those hours would be for sleeping. He would call his business partner and let him know first that he would be out of town for a while, but he could tell him what for, so he would just tell him it was for work and to leave him with some instructions on where he left off with his work. Now for my wife, I know I haven’t been spending much time with her and the kids and know I have to tell her that I need to leave out of time for military assignment. That’s not going to go over well with her, then again, she knows I am a military man, and when duty calls, I have to go. I will get my assistant to make my fight reservations tomorrow.

He just made it home, and as he drove his car through the gates heading up his driveway, he noticed a car parked on the side from the street. He pulled all the way up next to the house and got out of his car and heard his name being called and saw a man standing at the gates, waving his hands. It was Grant. He pushed the button on his key ring that opened up the front gates and let him in. Then he went to the front door of the house and held the door open for Grant and told him to go right in and make himself right at home. Grant leaned over and extended a handshake to Alex, then Alex pulled him in for one of those men hugs while they were still shaking hands. Then he told Grant, "Take your coat off and stay