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 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 ‘HARD IMPACT’. Experience King’s most dangerous mission — action-packed insanity in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. No spam guaranteed. Just click here. 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
