by A D Davies
“Be glad to have you,” Dan added.
Charlie simply nodded and appeared to mean it.
Bridget said, “But I probably won’t be a part of it. Will I?” She focused on her father. “I don’t have a preference, Dad. Just choose somewhere for me. I’ll go wherever you want, and I’ll do my best, as long as you let Toby and whoever joins him continue working. The chateau, the airstrip… they’ll pay their way, but—”
“I’m glad you said that,” Roger interrupted, “because your mother and I have found a suitable college for you.”
“Oh.”
The table hushed. The fire crackled. Tane’s friends were plating up on a separate table—good friends to have, and they seemed happy to do him the favor. They’d foregone the traditional Maori outfits, of course, and they would join the team to eat rather than put on a touristy show.
Roger said, “You agreed you would study a proper subject. Something in business, science, or law or… something practical. No arts or humanity.”
“And I’ll stand by that,” Bridget said stiffly.
Jules watched on, forcing himself to disconnect from it. He didn’t like that Bridget kowtowed to the man this way, nor that Toby would let it happen. Frankly, he’d been surprised Toby hadn’t sought a better HQ, but Bridget had insisted on them staying in Brittany. All the work they’d put into the place, Charlie’s server that almost matched the spec of a supercomputer alone would cost hundreds of thousands to replicate or transport.
Roger said, “Given what we have seen of your resourcefulness this week, and the passion you clearly hold… not to mention that this may well grow into something of global significance, we have decided you should attend the Université Paris-Saclay. They do an excellent Bachelor of Science degree as well as a master’s option. In archaeology. To compliment the languages and history you took in England.”
All looked at them sharply.
Bridget again sped up her usual words. “You want me to… do a degree in the career I want?”
Audrey patted Roger’s hand. “All we’ve ever hoped for you is that you find something useful to do in the world. And with what we’ve seen so far, who better than a Carson to lead the way?”
“And,” Roger said, “I have offered them a funding proposal. Remember the dig in China that has delayed a different project?”
“The new warrior statue find?” Toby said, excitedly. “Bridget, that would be perfect for you, it—”
“Yes, exactly.” Roger smiled at Bridget. “What do you say? Not a top ten college, but a good one. With a science degree that you can fall back on if this whole Witnesses thing comes to an end and you need a career.”
“It’s a few hours from the chateau,” Audrey said. “When you’re done studying, you can go to see your friends, or they can drop in on you in Paris.”
“If…” Roger pointed… “If you’re not in China interning or helping manage the finds.”
Bridget gasped. She was too happy to speak. Jules put his arm around her, felt her grin against his chest.
He said, “Guess you get to go home after all.”
Before departing New Zealand, Jules insisted on saying goodbye to Gilim. It didn’t last long. It seemed neither of them were big on farewells.
“I’ll come visit,” Jules told him.
He couldn’t pinpoint when, exactly, this bond sealed tight between them. His recollection was that it grew out of trust, of understanding what needed to be done, and how to do it. At the end, when he thrust his hands into the orb, Jules simply knew it was the right thing, that he was the only one who could do it, and that Gilim’s presence allowed him to do it without risking destruction on a previously unheard-of scale or burning up himself.
He didn’t accept that he was “special” or that there was any such thing as “fate,” but he could not avoid the fact he was a pivotal part of the running of these machines. His mother must have been like him, a guardian in her own right rather than a direct part of the Guardians movement as Tane had declared himself to be… but custodian of the Aradia bangle rather than a shield. Add to that the education she’d imbued him with—her pushing to immerse himself in critical thinking and history, and even the martial arts in which he’d become so adept…
Yes, his father was also an expert in krav maga, but it was Jules’s mother who’d encouraged him to compete, to better himself. If it hadn’t been for her death—so painfully random, and the culprits already punished—Jules might have grown up in a healthier environment. But circumstances set him on this path.
As he departed Ahua and boarded the plane with Toby, Bridget, Dan, Charlie, and Harpal, with no intention of returning to New York for any reason other than packing a few items, he settled into one notion. Something he’d never felt before or, if he had, he’d pushed it away.
He was on his way home.
FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for reading my books. It gives me no end of pleasure knowing they bring even small pleasure to people I have never met.
This fourth book in the Lost Origins series takes a few chances with the story, possibly due to the way I wrote it. Not just the inclusion of actual giants in the modern world, but I found I was including more action than usual. However, it seemed the right way to pull Jules back into the fold, putting him through a situation that took him way out of his usual comfort zone in order to cement him back in his rightful home, even if it didn’t necessarily give him a fixed, ordered life.
I foresee the next book returning to a deeper mystery-oriented story, with action and adventure laced through. At the time of writing, I expect this to take place (or at least commence) in China, where the Carsons are funding an expedition.
To stay up to date with news on book #5 (release date TBC), with cover reveals, and my own updates, please consider signing up to the newsletter below:
addavies.com/lori-news
In the meantime, please check out my mystery and thriller novels:
Moses and Rock Novels:
Fractured Shadows
No New Purpose
Persecution of Lunacy
Adam Park Thrillers:
The Dead and the Missing
A Desperate Paradise
The Shadows of Empty men
Night at the George Washington Diner
Master the Flame
Under the Long White Cloud
Alicia Friend Investigations:
His First His Second
In Black In White
With Courage With Fear
A Friend in Spirit
To Hide To Seek
A Flood of Bones
To Begin The End
Co-Authored:
Project Return Fire – with Joe Dinicola
Standalone:
Three Years Dead
Rite to Justice
The Sublime Freedom
Shattered: Fear in the Mind
Lost Origins Novels:
Tomb of the First Priest
Secret of the Reaper Seal
Curse of the Eagle Plague
Guardians of the Four Shields
The Dead and the Missing
A missing girl. A PI out of his depth. A criminal network that won’t hesitate to kill them both.
Adam Park is an ex-private investigator, now too wealthy to need a job. But when his old mentor’s niece rips off a ruthless criminal and flees the UK, Adam tracks the young woman and her violent, manipulative boyfriend through the Parisian underground. Here, and onward in Asia, he learns of a brutal enterprise for whom people are just a business commodity.
To return the girl safely and protect the ones he loves, Adam will need to burn down his concepts of right and wrong, at any cost to his soul.
The 1st book in the Adam Park series is out now!
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His First His Second
Meet Detective Sergeant Alicia Friend. She’s nice. Too nice to be a police officer, if she’s honest.
She is also one of the most respected criminal analysts in the country, now assigned to a cold northern town, investigating the kidnap-murders of two young women. Now a third has been taken. But Richard—the father of the latest victim—launches a parallel investigation, utilising skills honed in a dark past that is about to catch up with him. As Richard’s secret actions hinder the police, Alicia is forced into choices that will impact the rest of her life.
The 1st book in the Alicia Friend series is out now!
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Fractured Shadows
A Moses and Rock Novel
Will his last chance with the police become the final nail in his coffin?
Paired together in the secretive intelligence unit Division 43, Moses and Rock think they’ve landed an open-and-shut murder case, quickly arresting the son of a brutal criminal. But when detectives from another station furnish the killer with an alibi, it is clear something deeply sinister is afoot.
As Moses and Rock delve into the worlds of organised crime and police corruption, they must survive an underworld expanding its reach, colleagues willing to commit murder to protect themselves, and a history that Moses strives to conceal from everyone, including his new partner.
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Project Return Fire - By Antony Davies & Joe Dinicola
* * * Exclusively on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited * * *
An inadvertent trip through time...
A battle to decide the fate of mankind…
One chance to set things right…
Deep in the Juras Mountains, Johnathan Santarelli's team of Army Rangers investigates a radioactive anomaly. Suddenly Santarelli and his men are transported to 1945 in German-occupied territory!
Far from their loved ones, the Rangers want nothing more than to preserve the timeline and get home, but when an elite Nazi unit captures future technology, and the Rangers are confronted with younger versions of important people from their present, they question if this trip was a coincidence after all. Before long, the U.S. team realizes it has a higher duty: stopping the Third Reich from turning the war in Germany’s favor.
Before they return home, the team must battle the Nazis for the future of time itself…
Project Return Fire is a military time travel action adventure novel set during World War II. If you like bloody battles, soldiers in action, combined with the shock of being ripped through time, then you'll love this action-packed thrill ride.
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