The Dogs of War

The First Betrayal

Jack Calloway never thought he’d be back in a war zone.

He had done his time—Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria. Three deployments, a chest full of ribbons, and an honorable discharge that meant nothing outside a recruiter’s office.

He tried normal. A house in Texas. A job. A woman who wanted him to stay put.

It didn’t take.

So when the call came, he answered.

Two hundred grand for three months of work.

Ukraine.

Jack knew what that meant.

No rules. No oversight. No Geneva Conventions. Just guns, money, and survival.

Not stolen. Not forced.

But taken all the same.

And for the first time in years, something inside him stirred.

Like a dog catching the scent of blood.