Matt Archer: Monster Hunter (Matt Archer #1) (27 page)

June

“Matt, stop fidgeting. Pacing won’t make this go any
faster,” Mom said. She was as nervous as I was, and she took it out on me by
nagging. I flung myself down in a chair next to her.

The airport was quiet this late. The flight from Chicago had
been delayed to Billings due to thunderstorms, so we twiddled our thumbs at
baggage claim. Only a few other people waited with us. One set was an older
couple who had the look of grandparents awaiting the grandkids. The other was
an unbelievably hot woman who kept glancing at her watch. She had long dark
hair and big brown eyes, and she wore a skirt that showed off great legs. Brent
and I took turns checking her out on the sly.

“Would you two stop gawking at that poor lady?” Mamie said.

Mom’s mouth twitched, like she was trying not to laugh.
“Mamie’s right. Quit staring; it’s impolite. Besides, the plane’s here.”

Passengers from the Chicago flight came pouring out the
doors to baggage claim, looking tired and a little airsick. We jumped to our
feet and Mamie held her sign up. She’d made it out of a bright-green poster
board with “Welcome Home Uncle Mike” painted on it in glitter and sparkles.

“Think he’ll like it?” she asked.

“Just what a returning war hero needs—glitter and sparkles.”
I said, then ducked as she tried to smack me upside the head with the poster
board.

“I see him,” Brent said, interrupting the ruckus.

Mamie waved her sign like crazy and Mom stood, a grin
spreading across her face. My stomach soared. I’d waited for this day for six
months. It was even better that I hadn’t had to wait a year. It had taken
General Richardson several weeks to come through on his promise, but here we were.
Finally.

Mike pushed through the door. His muscles were bigger than
ever and he was darkly tanned, his skin brown against the sand-colored BDUs he
wore. He set his duffel bag down and gave us all a long look. He laughed when
he saw me.

“Chief, you weren’t lying about getting tall.”

I nodded, not sure how to answer him. Kind of awkward, but
what do you do or say after being separated for six months? None of us seemed
to know. Mike shifted from foot-to-foot, glancing around baggage claim, as if
reminding himself what home was like. Then his eyes fixed on something and he
gasped. Before we could ask what was up, he walked away without another word.

All of us turned around, jaws dropped, wondering where in
the world he was going. The lady Brent and I had been checking out jumped to
her feet, a huge smile on her face. Mike threw his arms around her, leaned her
backward and gave her a big kiss.

Mom squeaked out a hysterical giggle.

“Oh, my God, he’s gone crazy,” Mamie whispered. “What’s he
thinking, kissing a strange woman in the airport?”

“Mamie, don’t be stupid,” Brent said. He called out to Mike,
“Yo, Unc, where did you find a woman in
Afghanistan
?”

Mike let the lady go. She laughed and cried while trying to
wipe lipstick off his mouth. “Um, this is Julie, everyone, Julie Hunter. My
fiancée.” He kissed Julie again. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

Mom staggered their direction, us in tow, and said, “You
mean there’s a woman on God’s green earth brave enough to marry you, Mike?”

“Yeah, finally.” He wrapped his arms around Julie, looking
all gooey. Brent made a gagging noise behind me. I tended to agree. Adult PDA
was gross.

Mom wasn’t done scolding yet. Looking a little hurt, she
said, “And you didn’t tell us?
Michael
!”

“I just asked her two weeks ago. By then I was on my way
home, so I thought I’d tell you in person,” he said. “I didn’t know she’d be
here to welcome me back. Honest.”

Mom gave him “the stare,” then held out her hand to Julie.
“I’m Dani, this idiot’s older sister.”

Julie shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Then we all stood there, staring at each other, until Brent
said, “Well, that’s enough family togetherness for me for one night. Nice to
meet you, too, Aunt Julie. I’m going out to the car.” That made everyone laugh
and Brent waved at us as he left the building, phone already out to text his
girlfriend.

While Mom grilled Julie about her life history, Uncle Mike
pulled me aside. “Thanks for bringing me home, Chief. I mean that. I was
shocked when General Richardson’s office called.”

“Well, if I’d known
she
was waiting for you, I would’ve
asked sooner.” I gave Mike the stink-eye. “But Brent’s right. Where’d you find
her? If you tell me a dating website, I’m gonna hurl.”

“Hardly. I met her on tour. You know that web conference I
had with you and Mamie? Julie’s the one who interrupted us.” He leaned in close
and we both stared at his fiancée. She was so hot, it was kind of hard not to.
“I was late for a briefing, so she came to get me.”

“Ah, now the flirting makes sense. I wondered about that,” I
said. “But what was she doing over there with you?”

He smiled. “She’s Military Intelligence.
Desertflower424—remember? The Twitter accounts were her idea.”

“M.I?” I said. “Her? She looks like a supermodel, man.”

“Yeah, but she could also kill both of us with just her
thumbs,” Mike said with obvious pride.

I stole another glance at my soon-to-be aunt. She waggled a
thumb at me behind Mom’s back, and winked. I got lightheaded. Whether from the
idea that Julie could kill me with her bare hands or from her smile, I didn’t
know.

“She couldn’t have heard us, could she?”

“She reads lips, Matt. Most spies do.”

“Wait…you’re telling me that you came home to a lip-reading,
mutant-thumbed, supermodel spy?”

“Yep,” he said. “I’ve met my match, I’ll tell you that right
now.”

“No doubt.” A smile spread across my face. Badass Aunt Julie
had a nice ring to it. “Hey, you finally did what I said.”

Mike laughed. “Yeah. I found a wife.”

Preparing to publish a novel doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and
I’ve been very fortunate to have significant assistance, encouragement and
support from a large group of people while bringing Matt Archer to life. I owe
my most humble thanks to:

My editor, Cassandra Marshall, for her swift turnaround and
keen eye.

My cover, webpage and interior layout designer, Glendon
Haddix and the Streetlight Graphics team, for amazing artwork and technical
support.

The best group of critique partners a girl could have: J.R.
Hochman, Lindsay Buroker, Crash Froelich, Elizabeth Hull, Jeanne Haskin, Liz
Coley, Ladonna Watkins, Stefanie DuBois, and Kristen Pham. Y’all read this
book, from beginning to end, more than once. Thank you from the bottom of my
heart for your help, insight and humor.

The Online Writers’ Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy
and Horror and the great readers I met there, including, but not limited to:
Gio, Erin, Lisa, Michael, Laura, Brit, Bobbie, Corie, and the wonderful
Lorraine McKay, my first workshop friend, who taught me the ropes for
navigating OWW as well as how to critique.

My beta readers: Ryan Highley, Arthur Stewart and Kristi
McAndrew.

My tween/teen beta readers, who taught me a lot about my
target audience: Simon, Eric, Rachel—y’all rock! And Tanner, thanks for being
Matt’s number one fan.

My father, for teaching me to love books before I could even
read and for helping me bring Matt Archer into the world.

My mother, who we lost much too soon, but not before telling
me at the tender age of fifteen that I should write a book. It may’ve taken
twenty years, Mom, but the idea stuck.

My sister, Kristi (aka my fiercest supporter), who even
asked her book club to read for me.

My children, Tanner and Alexandra, for being so patient and
good-natured about seeing their mom roam around the house talking to herself
before dashing off to her laptop. Your love and enthusiasm means the world to
me. So does your willingness to scrounge for clean socks when I get behind in
the laundry.

Finally, my husband, Ryan, who made my dream happen. This
book is as much yours as mine.

Kendra C. Highley lives in north Texas with her husband and
two children. She also serves as staff to two self-important and high-powered
cats. This, according to the cats, is her most important job. She believes
chocolate is a basic human right, running a 10k is harder than it sounds, and
that everyone should learn to drive a stick-shift. She loves monsters,
vacations, baking and listening to bad electronica.

More information about the Matt Archer universe, works in
progress and the nature of the Higgs Boson* can be found at
www.kendrachighley.com

(*Yeah…not really. We’ll let the scientists handle that
part.)

Twitter:
www.twitter.com/kendrahighley

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/kchighley