Joe Ledger (35 page)

“It’s not about being tougher than your enemies, Joseph,” she said. “After all, the Red Knights are bigger, stronger and much faster than anyone. Certainly much more powerful than my mother, and she’s personally killed thirty-one of them.”

“Christ.” I glanced at the closed door. “That still leaves ten of them, two of us, and an explosive environment, honey.”

“The reason my mother has survived this long is that in combat she was always smarter than whoever she fought. Always.” Violin placed her palm on my chest, right between the two flash-bang grenades clipped to my Hammer suit. “One of these days, ask Mr. Church how he killed his first Red Knight.”

“Huh?”

“He and my mother would have made a very good pair.”

She removed one of the flash-bangs.

“Whoa, now. Wait, we can’t,” I said. “Too much methane.”

Violin ignored me. She pulled the pin on the grenade but left the spoon in place. Then she carefully fitted the flash-bang into the space between the doorknob and the frame.

It was so simple an idea that I felt like kicking myself.

Violin stood on her toes to kiss my cheek. “Time to go.”

We stepped slowly, softly and quietly away. We didn’t start to run until we were fifty yards down the tunnel. And then we ran like hell.

It was just beginning to rain as we emerged from the darkness via a duct near the Seine. The water was stingingly cold, but it washed the filth from us.

We knew exactly when the assassins left the chamber with their stolen bones. We could tell down to the second. The blast blew manhole covers into the air for twenty blocks. Towers of flame shot a hundred feet into the air, transforming the City of Lights into a city of fiery red and gold and yellow. The earth shook beneath us. Windows exploded outward all along the avenues. People screamed and panicked and ran as if the world itself was exploding.

Violin and I sat on either side of the open duct as a fireball belched out between us. We were laughing like fools.

Like lunatics.

Like children.  

I tapped my earbud and called it in. Church only said, “Good work.” Nothing else. Some instinct told me that he wanted to say more, but I knew he wouldn’t.

Bug said that he would make sure that no trace of DMS involvement hit anyone’s radar. As for the lab down in the sewers? Tomorrow someone would go in.

The fire brigades, the police.

Maybe the
Brigade des Forces Spéciales Terre.

Who knows, maybe even Interpol.

They’d go in looking for the source of the explosion. If the right people went in, there was a marginal chance they’d find the bones. Many bones now. Charred beyond recognition. The DNA in the marrow utterly destroyed, and all the potential for corrupt science to borrow the unnatural power there gone.

There would be nothing worth salvaging. And nothing worth learning. No secrets, no horrors, no nightmares.

And for once I’d come out of it whole.

It was a strange fact of my life that when I went to work I seldom came away with a whole skin. This time…I hadn’t so much as skinned my knee.

It felt weird.

When the flames died down, I crossed the open duct and sat down next to Violin. The night was alive with sirens and car alarms and shouts. None of that mattered. The danger was over for now, even if we were the only two people in Paris who knew it.

“Look,” she said, pointing.

Far above us a falling star carved a white line across the sky.

It was so corny that we both laughed. So poignant that I sought out her hand and when I took it she gave me a squeeze.

“Make a wish,” I said.

I expected her to laugh at that, too. But instead she turned away, and in the light of stars and moon and Paris I caught the tracery of silver tears on her cheeks. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her against me.

“The war never ends,” she whispered. Softly, more to herself than to me.

For that I had no answer.

What response is really adequate when we both knew that, for us and those like us, the war could never really end? Ever. I thought about Lilith, the hell she lived in and the war she fought. I thought about Church, whose war was ongoing, fueled by some personal reasons I doubted I would ever fully comprehend.

Violin was a child of conflict and atrocity, bred as a slave, forged into a weapon.

I had been reshaped by horror and loss into a killer.

People like us were meant for war, and that is a tragedy I can’t look too closely at or I start to really lose it. Four people who craved peace—and who understood both its cost and its vulnerability—but who would never be allowed to share in it. Even if we somehow managed to win this unwinnable war.

Violin leaned into my arms, and I bent and kissed the silver tears on her face.

We sat there on the edge of the river and above us the wheel of night turned from this day toward the next.

~The End~

THE GOOD GUYS

JOE LEDGER

Combat Call Sign: Cowboy

Rank: Captain

Brief Bio: Joe Ledger is a former Baltimore cop recruited by the Department of Military Sciences to head a team of special operators against terrorists with cutting-edge bioweapons. Joe is a dangerous man but a badly fractured one. The victim of terrible childhood trauma, Joe has three separate and distinct personalities inside his head: The Civilized Man—that idealistic and moral part of himself; the Cop—the investigator who is all about control; and the Warrior, also known as the Killer—who is savage and unforgiving. Thanks to years of therapy with his doctor and friend, Rudy Sanchez, Joe is able to use all three of those aspects and keep them under control. Joe Ledger is tough, resourceful, and a professional smartass. Ask anyone.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

MR. CHURCH

Combat Call Sign: Deacon

Real Name: Classified

Rank: Director

Brief Bio: The enigmatic man known variously as Church, the Deacon, the Sextant, Colonel Eldridge, Dr. Pope, St. Germaine, and a dozen other names, is the founder and director of the Department of Military Sciences. Brilliant, cold and dangerous, Church brings enormous financial and technological resources to bear in his crusade against terrorism. He is apolitical, ruthless, and well-connected. The running bet is that he’s a former Cold War era special ops shooter. But that might be simply another layer of cover.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

DR. RUDY SANCHEZ

Combat Call Sign: Aztec (honorary)

Rank: Chief Medical Officer

Brief Bio: Mexican-born Rudy is now an American citizen and the Chief Medical Officer for the DMS. A psychiatrist specializing in post-violence trauma, Rudy was one of the doctors who helped Ground Zero workers cope with their experiences after 9-11. Since coming to work for the DMS, his job is to help the field teams cope with the horrors they encounter and the violence they’re forced to commit.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

AUNT SALLIE

Combat Call Sign: Auntie

Real Name: Classified

Rank: Director of Field Operations

Brief Bio: Only Mr. Church knows who Aunt Sallie really is. And, though she could pass for Whoopie Goldberg’s twin sister, she has none of the actress’ charm and compassion. A former field agent and assassin, Aunt Sallie is the only person who knows Mr. Church’s secrets. She runs the Hangar, the DMS headquarters located at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

First Appearance:
The King of Plagues

DOCTOR WILLIAM HU

Combat Call Sign: Dalek

Rank: Science Director

Brief Bio: Dr. Hu is one of the most brilliant scientists in the world—proof that Mr. Church never hires second best. He runs the advanced sciences division of the DMS and oversees research and development. He and Joe Ledger have failed to bond on a spectacular level.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

DR. CIRCE O’TREE

Combat Call Sign: Greek Fire (honorary)

Rank: Director of Strategic Intelligence

Brief Bio: A bestselling author whose books explore the ways in which religion and political ideologies are used as the basis for war and terrorism, Dr. O’Tree joined the DMS to help stop the terrorist organization known as the Seven Kings. She has since become a valuable member of the team and, most recently, the wife of Rudy Sanchez. Only a handful of people know that she is the only known surviving member of Mr. Church’s family.

First Appearance:
The King of Plagues

LEROY WILLIAMS

Combat Call Sign: Bug

Rank: Director of Computer Sciences, Deputy Director of Field Support

Brief Bio: Bug is the heart and soul of the DMS. His genius with computers brought him to the attention of Mr. Church, who hired him to manage the supercomputer MindReader. Bug and his team also provide real-time intelligence support for DMS field teams. He’s one of Joe’s most trusted allies and closest friends.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

GRACE COURTLAND

Combat Call Sign: Amazing

Rank: Major, Special Air Service, UK (deceased)

Brief Bio: Grace Courtland was the first woman to make it through the experimental program for women soldiers in the SAS. After distinguishing herself in that notorious boys’ club, she helped Mr. Church form Barrier and later its American counterpart, the DMS. She and Joe Ledger became lovers for a brief time before Grace died a hero’s death saving billions from ethnic genocide.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

VIOLIN

Combat Call Sign: Violin

Real Name: Classified

Rank: Arklight Senior Team Leader

Brief Bio: Violin was born into horror, as the child of one of the breeding slaves kept by the horrific Red Knights. When her mother, Lilith, escaped the Knights and formed the covert counterterrorism hit-squad Arklight, Violin quickly rose to prominence as their top field agent. Beautiful, deadly, and not entirely human. She is Joe Ledger’s former lover and sometimes ally.

First Appearance:
Assassin’s Code

JUNIE FLYNN

Combat Call Sign: Bookworm (honorary)

Rank: n/a

Brief Bio: Junie has a complex past as the subject of a breeding program initiated by the Majestic Project in the years following the Roswell Crash. She is the former host of a conspiracy theory podcast and an author, and currently heads up a foundation dedicated to repurposing technologies illegally developed by the Majestic Three. She and Joe Ledger became romantically involved during the Majestic Black Book affair.

First Appearance:
Extinction Machine

GHOST

Combat Call Sign: Ghost

Rank: Sergeant

Brief Bio: A big, strong, occasionally goofy and entirely dangerous white shepherd who is partnered with Joe Ledger. He has been awarded official rank as a sergeant in the DMS.

First Appearance:
Dog Days

BRADLEY SIMS

Combat Call Sign: Top

Rank: First Sergeant, Army Rangers

Brief Bio: Top Sims is Joe Ledger’s strong right hand and the most trusted field agent in the DMS. A former Ranger who came out of retirement after his son was killed and his daughter wounded in the early days of the Iraq War, Top now runs Echo Team.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

HARVEY RABBIT

Combat Call Sign: Bunny

Rank: Staff Sergeant, USMC

Brief Bio: Bunny is a big, blond, former competitive volleyball player who joined the Marines and went from Force Recon to the DMS. He and Top are best friends, and they joined Echo Team at the same time as Joe Ledger.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

LYDIA RUIZ

Combat Call Sign: Warbride

Rank: Chief Petty Officer, USN

Brief Bio: Apart from Top and Bunny, Lydia is the most experienced DMS field agent. Quick and ruthless in a fight, she’s been on some of the most terrifying missions with Echo Team.

First Appearance:
Assassin’s Code

SAM IMURA

Combat Call Sign: Ronin

Rank: Lieutenant, US Army

Brief Bio: Sam is one of the best snipers in the U.S. military. Cool and patient, he provides Echo Team with long-range punch.

First Appearance:
Extinction Machine

MONTANA PARKER

Combat Call Sign: Stretch

Rank: FBI Special Agent (retired)

Brief Bio: Montana is a former FBI agent and the newest member of Echo Team. Tough, outspoken and reliable, she fits in well with the other top professionals on Joe Ledger’s top squad.

First Appearance:
Code Zero

SGT. GUS DIETRICH

Combat Call Sign: Bulldog

Rank: Command Sergeant Major, retired; US Army (deceased)

Brief Bio: Retired Command Sergeant Major Dietrich was Mr. Church’s personal assistant, aide and bodyguard. Bulldog tough and fiercely loyal, Dietrich was one of the few people Church trusted completely.

First Appearance:
Patient Zero

BRICKLIN ANDERSON

Combat Call Sign: Stonewall

Rank: Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Army

Brief Bio: Brick Anderson is a former DMS field agent who lost a leg in combat. He originally ran the Field Support team for the Hub, the Denver Field Office, then worked out of the Warehouse before becoming Mr. Church’s personal assistant and bodyguard.