Cannibal

Home > Mystery > Cannibal > Page 36
Cannibal Page 36

by Jeremy Robinson


  King watched as Chambers stepped onto the dais and took his place at the lectern adorned with the Presidential Seal, but as the president began talking, he noticed something else. At first, he tried to dismiss it. Just one of those things. But as the president offered his assurances that the crisis in North Carolina was over, and he was rewarded with a round of applause led by the other people on the stage, King felt compelled to take a closer look. He let go of Sara’s hand and moved forward until he was just a few feet away from the screen.

  “Jack?” Sara asked. “What is it?”

  King shook his head, still unwilling to believe what his eyes were telling him, and he continued to stare at the screen. “Can we pause this? Or run it back?”

  “Sure,” Aleman said. “Just say when.”

  “Now.” He said it without any urgency. Although the camera view was centered on the president, the person just behind his right shoulder had been in the shot the whole time. Now that the frame was frozen, King focused his attention on the figure standing there, hoping desperately to find something that would allow him to dismiss the matter altogether.

  Sara came alongside him and took his hand. “Jack, what is it? What do you see?”

  He touched a finger to the face frozen on the screen. “It can’t be her. It’s not possible.”

  His long life had taught him one other lesson: nothing was impossible.

  “That’s Julie. That’s my sister.”

  Coda

  Virginia Colony, 1588

  After the surviving colonists, just two dozen of them, made their peace with the natives and returned to the mainland to permanently join the tribe—the only conditions under which the native chief would agree to shelter them—the privateer known to the colonists as John King made his way back to the abandoned village.

  He had what he wanted now. He had the answer to one of the most enduring mysteries of all time. But that answer was something he could never share.

  It was not merely the horror of what the colonists had done to each other, so they could live a few days longer. In extremis, such moral lapses were forgivable, if not quite universally acceptable. No, it was not the fact that some had fallen to cannibalism that frightened the man who called himself John King, but rather the possibility, however slight, that the truth—the final truth—about the fate of the colonists might one day be used for a terrible purpose.

  Over the next few weeks, he set about disassembling the settlement. He ripped down the houses, carrying the wood to the shore where he used it to build a small boat—just enough to bear him south, where he would be able to find passage aboard a Spanish galleon or perhaps sign on with an English privateer. He scattered the stones of cook fires and forges. He kept some of their goods—a few tools and some clothes to replenish his own. The rest he pitched into the sea.

  When others arrived, as they surely would a few years hence, they would find no trace at all of the colony. They would assume, correctly, that the colonists had been assimilated by one of the local native tribes. They might, in time, learn about the wendigo curse, and how the natives had unleashed a horror upon the colonists who had broken the tribe’s most sacred taboo. And someday, someone would wonder if the power of the wendigo might be used as a terrible weapon. He could not allow that to happen, and the only way to ensure that no one ever stumbled across the truth was to give the world something else to think about.

  Borrowing a page from sleight-of-hand conjurers, he would use misdirection to hide the truth.

  With his boat ready to sail, he returned to the site one last time. All that remained to mark the place was the wooden palisade, part of the old fort built by the expedition that preceded the colonists. In time, that too would disappear, its exact location lost to memory. There was one thing however that would never be forgotten.

  Using a chisel, he carved a message onto the palisade. A single word, not at all cryptic. If taken literally, it would prompt future searchers to look for the missing colony to the south, on Hatteras Island, instead of inland. But King knew that as the years passed, the message would take on a mythical, haunting quality. One word that, despite meaning very little, would forever evoke a sense of both mystery and terror:

  A NOTE FROM JEREMY ROBINSON

  Dear Reader,

  I wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading CANNIBAL. I hope you have enjoyed this new Chess Team adventure. If you did enjoy the book, please show your support by posting a review at your online retailer. E-book websites work on algorithms, meaning the more people review my books, the more the e-book retailers will recommend them to other readers. And the more people buy my books, the more I get to write them, which is a good thing for both of us (assuming you enjoyed the book). If we can get CANNIBAL moving off the virtual shelves, there will be more Chess Team adventures to come.

  Thank you!

  —Jeremy Robinson

  (Coming Soon)

  ENDGAME

  A Jack Sigler & Chess Team Universe Guidebook

  By Jeremy Robinson

  with Kane Gilmour

  Description:

  The Jack Sigler / Chess Team series now spans eighteen titles, with two more on the way in 2015. This guidebook provides detailed summaries of the previous full length novels and the ‘Chesspocalypse’ (or ‘Callsign’) novellas. There’s also a small nod to the ‘Jack Sigler Continuum’ short novel, Guardian. Filled with character biographies, a roster of villainous threats and descriptions of devious creatures that have all appeared over the course of the series, Endgame is the perfect reference book for your Chess Team questions.

  The book also contains twenty illustrations of the main characters, as well as a section of ‘eye witness sketches’ of creatures and events by Jeremy Robinson and fans of the series. As if that weren’t enough, the whole book is wrapped in a short story about the team’s handler, Deep Blue, which reveals the aftermath of the new novel Cannibal.

  Delve deeply into Deep Blue’s personal files on the team and its supporting cast, to either catch up so you can jump in with the current novels, or to relive your favorite moments from this explosive series.

  Jeremy Robinson and Kane Gilmour, the international bestselling duo behind Ragnarok and Omega, bring you this comprehensive guidebook and a surprising short story framing sequence sure to have die-hard Chess Team fans salivating for the next book in the series.

  HERCULEAN

  (Coming Soon)

  HERCULEAN

  A Cerberus Group Novel

  By Jeremy Robinson

  and Sean Ellis

  Description:

  This description is still designated: Top Secret.

  (Coming in 2015.)

  Jeremy Robinson and Sean Ellis, the international bestselling team behind Savage and Cannibal, will be returning in 2015 with the explosive beginning of an all new series, featuring George Pierce from the Chess Team books.

  PATRIOT

  (Coming Soon)

  PATRIOT

  A Jack Sigler Continuum Novel

  By Jeremy Robinson

  with J. Kent Holloway

  Description:

  Jack Sigler was a modern soldier. First for the Army, then for the anti-terror Delta unit known as ‘Chess Team’ and finally for Endgame, a black budget organization specializing in fending off strange and otherworldly global threats. After several brutal, yet successful missions, the man known by the callsign: King, found himself torn away from his family and thrust back in time, abandoned in the year 780 BC. But that’s not where his life would end. He was gifted with regenerative powers, making him nearly immortal. He heals quickly. Doesn’t age. And he’s nearly 2800 years away from his daughter and fiancée.

  Now, the only way he can return to his own time and his family is to live, fight and sometimes wage war through the oncoming centuries, carrying on Endgame’s mission: to protect the weak, right wrongs and send the world’s monsters back to whatever hell spawned them.

  Patriot, the second tale in the ‘
Jack Sigler Continuum’ series, takes place after King has lived in the past for 2500 years…

  Jeremy Robinson and J. Kent Holloway, the international bestselling duo behind Guardian, return in 2015 with another rampaging tale of Jack Sigler torn out of time.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Jeremy Robinson is the international bestselling author of fifty novels and novellas including Uprising, Island 731, SecondWorld, the Jack Sigler thriller series, and Project Nemesis, the highest selling original (non-licensed) kaiju novel of all time. He’s known for mixing elements of science, history and mythology, which has earned him the #1 spot in Science Fiction and Action-Adventure, and secured him as the top creature feature author.

  Robinson is also known as the bestselling horror writer, Jeremy Bishop, author of The Sentinel and the controversial novel, Torment. His novels have been translated into twelve languages. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three children.

  Visit him online at www.jeremyrobinsononline.com.

  Sean Ellis is the international bestselling author Magic Mirror and several thriller and adventure novels. He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, and he has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Policy from Oregon State University. Sean is also a member of the International Thriller Writers organization. He currently resides in Arizona, where he divides his time between writing, adventure sports and trying to figure out how to save the world.

  Visit him on the web at: seanellisthrillers.webs.com.

  Older E-reader device? Click here for e-book store.

  (Click here for older devices.)

  ALSO by JEREMY ROBINSON

  Standalone Novels

  The Didymus Contingency

  Raising The Past

  Beneath

  Antarktos Rising

  Kronos

  Uprising (aka: Xom-B)

  MirrorWorld (2015)

  Nemesis Novels

  Island 731

  Project Nemesis

  Project Maigo

  Project 731

  SecondWorld Novels

  SecondWorld

  Nazi Hunter: Atlantis

  The Antarktos Saga

  The Last Hunter – Descent

  The Last Hunter – Pursuit

  The Last Hunter – Ascent

  The Last Hunter – Lament

  The Last Hunter – Onslaught

  The Last Hunter – Collected Edition

  The Jack Sigler/Chess Team Thrillers

  Prime

  Pulse

  Instinct

  Threshold

  Ragnarok

  Omega

  Savage

  Cannibal

  Jack Sigler Continuum Novels

  Guardian

  Patriot (2015)

  Cerberus Group Novels

  Herculean (2015)

  Chesspocalypse Novellas

  Callsign: King

  Callsign: Queen

  Callsign: Rook

  Callsign: King 2 – Underworld

  Callsign: Bishop

  Callsign: Knight

  Callsign: Deep Blue

  Callsign: King 3 – Blackout

  Chesspocalypse Novella Collected Editions

  Callsign: King – The Brainstorm Trilogy

  Callsign – Tripleshot

  Callsign – Doubleshot

  Horror Novels

  (written as Jeremy Bishop)

  Torment

  The Sentinel

  The Raven

  Refuge:

  Night of the Blood Sky

  Darkness Falls

  Lost in the Echo

  Ashes and Dust

  Bonfires Burning Bright

  Refuge (Omnibus)

  ALSO by SEAN ELLIS

  Jack Sigler/Chess Team Series

  Callsign: King - Book 1

  Callsign: King - Book 2 – Underworld

  Callsign: King – Book 3 - Blackout

  The Brainstorm Trilogy

  Prime

  Savage

  Cannibal

  Cerberus Group Novels

  Herculean (2015)

  The Nick Kismet adventures

  The Shroud of Heaven

  Into the Black

  The Devil You Know

  Fortune Favors

  The Adventures of Dodge Dalton

  In the Shadow of Falcon’s Wings

  At the Outpost of Fate

  On the High Road to Oblivion

  Dark Trinity: The Mira Raiden Adventures

  Ascendant

  Descendant

  Jade Ihara Adventures

  Oracle

  (with David Wood)

  Standalone Novels

  Magic Mirror

  The Sorcerer’s Ghost

  Flood Rising

  Secret Agent X

  The Sea Wraiths

  Masterpiece of Vengeance

  The Scar

  David Wood’s Dane and Bones Origins Series

  Hell Ship

  Steven Savile’s Ogmios Team

  Wargod

  Edited Anthology

  The Game

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Epilogue

  Coda

  A Note from the Jeremy Robinson

  About the Authors

  Also by Jeremy Robinson

  Also by Sean Ellis

  Copyright ©2015 by Jeremy Robinson

  All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Jeremy Robinson at:

  [email protected].

  Cover design copyright ©2014 by Jeremy Robinson

  Visit Jeremy Robinson on the World Wide W
eb at:

  www.jeremyrobinsononline.com.

  Visit Sean Ellis on the World Wide Web at:

  seanellisthrillers.webs.com.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

 

‹ Prev