The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1) by Scott Kotrous Read Free Book Online

as I hear back from them. Thank you for your time, sir.” He begins typing on his computer.
    “No— thank you, you’re doing a great job, and keep up the hard work.” John shakes Adam’s hand and exits the room, thanking the rest of the crew on his way out. He exits the building and briefly looks up at the sky, wondering if any kind of drones or surveillance planes were still up there, maybe just out of reach of their security surveillance. He scratches his chin, jumps on this horse, and rides down the mountain to his house, still filled with frustration and anger.
    He gets to the house and hands his horse off to one of the stable girls, thanks her, and walks to the house. Upon entering, he is met with the pleasant scent of fresh-baked cookies, and for a second he forgets about the conversation he just had. He enters the kitchen to see Kate and the two girls laughing, singing, and dancing to the music playing in the house. John stands in the entrance of the kitchen with a small grin on his face. He takes a deep breath and just shakes his head.
    “What are you three beautiful ladies up to?”
    “Daddy!” Erica and Ashley both drop what they’re doing and run to hug him, but John sees that they are covered in chocolate.
    “Whoa, slow down there, you chocolate-covered munchkins. I don’t want to look like you two!” John playfully puts a hand on their heads and stops them from hugging him.              
    “We missed you, Daddy, and just wanted to give you a big chocolaty kiss!” Ashley swipes at her daddy’s legs, trying to get a hold of one of them.
    “You aren’t coming near me with those chocolate-covered hands. You two must be crazy.” John laughs and turns them around by their heads.
    “Oh, fine, Daddy, then you can’t have any special, yummy chocolate chip cookies,” Ashley says, finally giving up. She and Erica walk back to the counter.
    “Watch me.” John walks over to Kate and lightly kisses her on the cheek, grabbing a hot cookie off the counter and almost dropping it. “Wow, that’s hot! Holy cow! Hey, babe, you won’t believe the conversation I just had.”
    “Hi, honey. Why? What’s up? Is everything okay?” Kate briefly looks up but then goes back to stirring the batter.
    “Well, to start, the government has at some point done some kind of surveillance on this place by way of drones or something. They are requesting they be briefed on all of our weapons modifications, along with wanting to come tour all our facilities and make sure we’re not building any bombs or something, I guess.” John blows on his cookie and takes a warm and gooey bite.
    “Wait, what? Back up. The government thinks we’re making bombs? Honey, what are you talking about!” Kate puts down the spatula and focuses her attention on John, but then remembers the children are still in the room. “Kids, can you please go in the other room? Your father and I have to discuss a few things.” Both girls roll their eyes as Kate hands them a warm towel and they wipe their hands. They grab Markus’s hands and lead him out of the room.
    Once they are out of sight, John proceeds. “First off, don’t overreact. I added the part about them thinking we’re making bombs. I just said that because I know how sensitive the outside world and especially our government is about terrorists, foreign and domestic. I’m sure they are just taking extra precautions and making sure we’re not a bunch of crazy militants held up in some compound and making weapons to attack the U.S.” John goes over to the refrigerator for a glass of milk while stuffing another cookie into his mouth.
    “Oh, well, that’s good. I’m glad the government doesn’t think we’re a bunch of crazy terrorists! So what now? You’re going to let them come and tour the facilities, aren’t you?” Kate says with question, knowing her husband.
    “Hell no! Not a chance. Like I told Adam, I spent way too much money on this land to allow weapons