Free Wild Hearts (Novella) by Tina Wainscott

father been eavesdropping on his conversation with Courtney? “Is that what you think I’m doing?”
    “Nearly killing yourself in the rodeo, chasing down terrorists in Afghanistan, and now running off to joining some security firm … yeah, son, I do. Nothing’s going to bring her back. Especially you dying.” His father put his hand on Knox’s shoulder. “Just keep that in mind as you find something new to sink your teeth into.”
    Knox’s throat tightened. This was the most his father had ever said about Callie’s death. Or his part in it. “I will.”
    “That ex-wife of yours is right. You do deserve to be happy. So go on and be happy. Find a job that you can’t wait to get up in the morning and get to. Find a woman who makes you feel the same way about coming home.”
    Knox swallowed the knot in his throat. “I’ll try.” He didn’t know if it waspossible. Wasn’t sure he did deserve it. There was a part of him that was shut down, and he wasn’t sure it could ever be revived. But he would try, because he owed that to them.

Chapter 7
    Risk Yarbrough pulled his laptop close and shifted to get comfortable on the hospital bed. The staff here was friendly and proficient, especially considering he was an American in Pakistan. One nurse was particularly friendly. He smiled, then frowned because she’d caught hell for it. Well, technically, it was the fact that she was giving him head—which, hey, is about as friendly as one can get—that got her into boo-coops of trouble.
    His torn-up leg was mending fast, and soon he’d be out of there. Where next? He Googled
BASE jumping locales
, looking for the next radical location. Trango Towers had been hell on him here. He’d had an off-heading canopy opening that had rammed him into the face of the rock. Which meant that he’d landed in a stunned and injured state, unable to fully get his balance. Not the best damned way to land.
    The doctors and nurses all thought he was crazy, jumping off a stationary object and pulling his parachute so low to the ground. They had seen injuries and fatalities from other jumpers, regaling him with the gory details in their lyrical accents. Like he didn’t already know, though he appreciated their warnings. He certainly couldn’t explain that jacking up his adrenaline had kept him sane when he was a kid. After his mother died and his father worked him to death and beat him to expend his own grief and anger, Risk had numbed himself. Jumping off the barn roof or taking the horse they called Insanity for a ride was the only way he ever
felt
anything. It still was, for the most part.
    Except his fingers weren’t typing anything about the jumping locations of buildings, antennas, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). They typed
Justiss Alliance Miami
. True to Chase’s word, there wasn’t much about it or him. In the world of transparency, one man and one company had eluded capture. Risk reached into his duffel bag, which he kept within a foot at all times, and pulled out the business card. It was bent and worn from the times when he’d been camping and the card had sort of ended up in his hand.
    His gaze fell on the bandages, slated to come off in the next day or so. The thought of heading off to some other location to sneak onto private property or violate apark rule wasn’t all that exciting at the moment. Injuries and near-death experiences had never deterred him. In fact, just the opposite. Figure out what went wrong and do it right the next time.
    Suddenly, risking his life for fun seemed … well, stupid. Nothing like raiding a compound in the desert or rescuing a hostage. Doing something meaningful rather than getting a rush that was over about an hour after his feet touched the ground. This was where he’d been a year out of high school, freezing his ass off in Yosemite Park, waiting for dawn to break so he could pull his first jump of the day. A need for purpose hit him harder than any mountain. He’d signed on