Thy Kingdom Come: Book One in the Sam Thorpe series

by Helin, Don

  O’Brien stood, then slumped back down again. “Course it didn’t help that I kept after her. Told her what a great agent she’d make. I tried to get her into the CIA, but she had her heart set on the FBI.”

  “We both gotta quit this crap. Alex knew the risks like we all do …” Sam’s voice trailed off. O’Brien knew all that, too, but none of that seemed to help. He couldn’t believe Alex wouldn’t make it. How could he live with himself after he’d failed to save her?

  O’Brien stood and looked out the window into the dark night. “Somehow none of that makes me feel any better.”

  Sam managed a weak smile. “I feel like shit. She knew when to throw in some humor; when silence was golden.” He laughed. “Although I don’t think silence was her favorite thing.”

  A woman in a set of blue scrubs, her blond hair up in a ponytail, entered the waiting room. She looked around at the eager faces. “Hernandez?”

  A group of seven, ranging from a young man with tattoos to an elderly woman with gray hair and a black shawl draped over her head, rose in sync and hurried over to the doctor. They formed a semicircle around her.

  She whispered to the group. Sam heard a chorus of “Thank God.” The elderly woman bowed her head and began reciting “Hail Mary’s.”

  The doctor talked to them some more; then the Hernandez family hurried back to their chairs, gathered their things, and moved out of the room in a cluster.

  Their departure left only one other couple besides Sam and O’Brien in the waiting room. The couple raised their eyes and looked over, then dropped their eyes again, probably wondering who would be next.

  Jackie McCarthy hurried into the room, her black trench coat flapping against her legs. She grabbed Sam’s arm. “How is she?”

  Sam wrapped his arms around Jackie, put his chin on the top of her head, and just held her for a moment. Then he whispered, “It’s gonna be close.” He stepped back and held her out from him. “The FBI must have released you.”

  She nodded. “When I got word that Oliver was in custody and Alex had been shot, I jumped in my car and made a beeline for here. Tell me everything.”

  “Alex was able to get on the inside of the group by flooring one of the biggest guys in the militia.”

  “I heard that.” Jackie laughed. “I would have given anything to have seen it.”

  Sam summarized the plan, the convoy, and Oliver taking off with Alex in the back of his Jeep. “Alex took a round in the chest. I don’t know if she’ll make it.”

  Jackie pulled a tissue out of her purse. “She’s just got to.”

  “I’m so sorry about those guys who came to your house. When we planned the trip to Montreal, I had no idea Oliver would come after you.” Sam glanced at O’Brien. “Do we know for sure it was Oliver’s men who attacked Jackie?”

  O’Brien shook his head. “We don’t yet, but there’s little doubt in my mind.”

  “Thank God for that TV system you installed.”

  Jackie nodded. “It probably saved my life.”

  Sam looked at his watch. “They’ve been at it almost two hours.” Sam started toward the door. “The doctors should be able to tell us something.”

  O’Brien jumped up. “Wait, Sam. It’s not gonna help to push. They’ll tell us when they know anything.”

  A man in blue scrubs came into the room. Sam jumped up.

  “Patterson?”

  The other couple hurried over to him, the woman sniffling into her handkerchief. The doctor said something to them, and the woman collapsed into sobs. Her husband knelt down, put his arm around her, and let her cry. Finally, he gathered up their belongings, and the two left the room arm in arm.

  Sam resumed pacing. “Come on, dammit! Tell us something.”

  About five minutes later, a bald man in a long white coat appeared in the doorway. He looked around the now almost empty room. His eyes settled on Sam. There was no smile on his face.

  Sam hurried over to him, followed by Bob and Jackie. He put his hand on the doctor’s arm and looked in his eyes. “Tell me.”

  The doctor looked at the floor. Shook his head. “I’m sorry. We tried everything.”

  Sam stared, then dropped his hand and turned to walk toward the wall. He slumped in a chair, head in his hands. His body shook with silent sobs. It felt as though the air had been sucked out of the room. Sam couldn’t catch his breath. Alex, Alex, why did you take that slug?

  He banged his fist against the wall. “It’s so unfair. So much to offer.” He remembered that little blonde with the spiked hair who had first met him at the Barnes & Noble. He didn’t think she had the guts for the job. Was he ever wrong! Then the time she had flattened Buster flashed through his mind. She couldn’t be dead. Not Alex.

  He leaned forward, and his face fell into his hands again.

  “Sam …”

  It was as if a voice kept trying to reach him through a muddy swamp. “Sam …” Jackie grabbed his shoulder. “You did everything you could.”

  “I failed her.”

  Jackie took him in her arms.

  Bob O’Brien put his arm around both their shoulders. “We all failed. There’s plenty of blame to go around. But we stopped Oliver. That would have made her happy.”

  Sam didn’t know how he could get past this. He didn’t think anything would ever be as painful as his sister’s death, but this was. He had failed his sister, and now he’d failed Alex. He looked up at the ceiling. Then it dawned on him—a crushing thought. He had to tell her family. She would have wanted him to do it. But where were they?

  Sam stared ahead, his hands gripping his head. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

  The doctor stopped at the doorway and turned back. “What do you mean, ‘she’?”

  Sam’s hands froze in midair. “Are you talking about Alex Prescott?”

  “No. I thought you were waiting for information on Quentin Oliver. I knew the two of you came in with him.”

  “What about Alex Prescott?” Sam held his breath, afraid to ask. But he had to.

  “I don’t have any information on her.”

  Sam jumped up and grabbed the doctor by the arm. “Goddamn, you’ve got to tell us something! Can you find out something. Please. I’ve got to know!”

  The doctor pulled back and gently pushed Sam away. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

  He turned to go out the door when a skinny young man in blue scrubs appeared in the doorway. His black hair was pulled back in a ponytail reaching his shoulders.

  “Colonel Thorpe?”

  Sam held his breath. “Yes?”

  “We’ve stabilized Ms. Prescott. The bullet entered right below her chest, piercing her stomach wall. She’s lost a great deal of blood. In her favor is the fact that she’s in extraordinary condition. I believe she’s going to pull through, but it will be a long recovery.”

  Sam grabbed the doctor’s hand and shook it. “Thank God.”

  “Ah, that’s okay.” The doctor pulled his hand back from Sam’s grip.

  Jackie put the tissue to her eyes. “She’s going to be all right.”

  The doctor smiled and nodded toward Sam. “She’d like to see you. But only for a minute.”

  O’Brien swung his hand in the air, ready to high-five anyone he could find. “Tell her ‘hi,’ Sam.”

  Sam followed the doctor out of the waiting room. They walked down the hospital corridor, past two nurses pushing a cart up the hall. One of the wheels kept squeaking.

  The doctor stopped at a uniformed police officer. “This is Colonel Thorpe. Ms. Prescott asked to see him.

  The officer nodded and reached over to push open the door.

  They entered an open room with one bed in the center. A heart monitor beeped. IVs on both sides of the bed dripped life-giving liquid into Alex’s arms. Sam felt like he should walk on tiptoes.

  He stood by the bed and reached down to kiss her cheek. “Welcome back, princess.”

  Alex opened her eyes and smiled. “Princess … I
like that.”

  He took her right hand. “What’s your secret? You took one hell of a hit in the chest.”

  She motioned with her head, and Sam bent down with his ear to her mouth.

  “Big boobs.”

  Sam threw his head back and laughed. Laughed like he hadn’t for weeks. He laughed until the tears came.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Sam sat in an oak armchair across the desk from General Paul Gerber. Eight o’clock in the morning at the Pentagon and the deputy chief of staff for operation’s office was already humming. Sam missed this constant energy and excitement, though he was still glad he had decided to retire. Tomorrow he’d be back in Minneapolis, jogging around Lake Harriet with Emily. That made him happy.

  The wall behind the general’s desk contained a career’s worth of memorabilia: pictures of the general in the field and at change-of-command ceremonies, certificates of merit and achievement, and action shots of soldiers jumping out of airplanes and charging across fields. General Gerber’s first love, after his wife and family, were his soldiers.

  “I heard you’ll be here in the Pentagon for awhile more, sir.”

  General Gerber leaned back in the black leather chair and rocked. He brought his hands together and pointed his fingers toward his chin. “I was looking forward to a command in Europe, but the chief of staff has other ideas. He wants me to stay focused on this terrorist threat. His needs trump mine. But I guess being deputy chief of staff for operations isn’t all bad.”

  “Sounds great to me, sir.”

  General Gerber smiled. Something Sam didn’t see very often from Gerber, a tough man to read.

  Sam leaned forward. “Alex is doing great. I understand they’ll move her up on the ward in a day or two. She’s one tough lady.”

  “Do I detect a personal interest in Ms. Prescott?’

  Sam flushed. “Right now, I don’t know anything. All I know is that I’m on the way to Minneapolis to see Emily. I’ll let things perk back here for awhile.”

  General Gerber had become Emily’s godfather when Sam worked for him in Europe. “Be sure to greet her for me,” Gerber said. “I received a letter from her thanking me for my birthday present and updating me on the Minnesota scene. She’s quite a young lady.” He paused and picked up a note. “Oh, I spoke again with Senator McCarthy. He realizes the stakes that we faced and has heard that you’re a hero.” Gerber smiled. “I suspect he’ll be a bit more cordial to you now.”

  Sam wasn’t sure he cared, but all that would have to wait. Emily came first.

  General Gerber sorted some papers on his desk. “We’ll need you back in a couple of weeks to testify against the professor and Aly Kassim.”

  “Oliver might have been the brains of the operation, but Aly’s company was the supplier. Do we have enough to go after him?”

  “The attorney general thinks we have a case. The corporation will claim that Kassim acted on his own. You know, they’ll say they didn’t know anything about what he was doing. That sort of thing.”

  “Right.”

  “A lot is going to be determined by whether or not we can turn the professor. He knows the stakes. I believe we’ll be able to gain his support in exchange for a lighter sentence. He’s got personal information about Kassim’s involvement. I think the testimony of the two of you could hang them high.”

  “What about Dubois?”

  General Gerber shook his head. “He’s slipped under our screen. We’ve alerted the Canadian government. They’re watching the restaurant and his wife. We’ll find him.”

  Sam wondered if the Canadian government would find him. Dubois had shown himself to be a slippery character … someone who could carry a grudge for a long time. Something about his getting away ate at Sam and made him uncomfortable. “And Elizabeth Henley? What’s going on with her?”

  Gerber looked down at a paper. “Apparently she’s disappeared, too.”

  “I heard from Bob O’Brien they have a lead on Sergeant Bacher. He’s a dedicated soldier gone bad.”

  “I’m afraid the Army has a number of Bacher’s in the system. With all the problems we’ve got in retaining soldiers, recruiting command has dropped a number of enlistment requirements. Now we’re receiving reports of groups of neo-Nazis in the military. We’re a victim of our own high quality training programs.”

  “And the public’s frustration with the war in Iraq isn’t helping with recruitment and retention in the Guard.”

  “All true, I’m afraid.” The general stood. “Sam, I’d like to personally thank you for taking on this assignment. I know that you had reservations about it. A tough job. You did it well. Your country thanks you.”

  Sam stood and shook the general’s hand. “I’m glad about the way it turned out. It could have been so much worse. I’d better get moving, sir. I’ve got some shopping to do before I catch my plane.”

  “And I’ll bet a stop to see Alex.”

  Sam flushed, then grinned. He couldn’t help himself. “Well, I guess that too.”

  “Chernobyl Murders is a page-turner of the highest order: from the compelling characterization to the vividly described landscape of a devastated Ukraine to the stunning cover art, Beres has penned himself a winner.”

  —Paul Goat Allen, Chicago Tribune (September 13, 2008)

  MICHAEL BERES CHERNOBYL MURDERS

  1985, a year before the Chernobyl disaster. Hidden away in a wine cellar in the western Ukraine, Chernobyl engineer Mihaly Horvath, brother of a Kiev Militia detective Lazlo Horvath, reveals details of unnecessary risks being taken at the Chernobyl plant. Concerned for his brother and family, Lazlo investigates—irritating superiors, drawing the attention of a CIA operative, raising the hackles of an old school KGB major, and discovering his brother’s secret affair with Juli Popovics, a Chernobyl technician.

  When the Chernobyl plant explodes scores of lives are changed forever. As Lazlo questions his brother’s death in the blast, Juli arrives in Kiev to tell the detective she carries his brother’s child. If their lives aren’t complicated enough, KGB major Grigor Komarov enters the fray, reawakening a hard-line past to manipulate deadly resources.

  Now the Ukraine is not only blanketed with deadly radiation, but becomes a killing ground involving pre-perestroika factions in disarray, a Soviet government on its last legs, and madmen hungry for power as they eye Gorbachev’s changes.

  With a poisoned environment at their backs and a killer snapping at their heels, Lazlo and Juli flee for their lives—and their love—toward the Western frontier.

  ISBN# 9781933836294

  Hardcover/International Thriller

  US $25.95/CDN $28.95

  Available Now

  www.michaelberes.com

  MARK OF THE DEVIL

  a Matt Berkeley novel by

  WILLIAM KERR

  From Florida’s northeast coast and the unnerving underwater exploration of a sunken corpse-filled WW-II German U-boat to the ancient city of Koblenz, Germany, former Navy Special Warfare officer Matt Berkeley searches for identification of the submarine, its mission and a long-hidden document locked within its hull.

  Berkeley’s pursuit of the truth leads him not only to the vaults of the German National Archives and a nightmare of gunfire and murder, but also to an elderly widow and her horrifying memories of the Auschwitz death camp. Ultimately, the search takes him to the submarine’s most guarded secret, a revelation that could forever disgrace the Catholic Church in the eyes of the world. Each mind-shattering event plunges Berkeley down a path littered with lies, betrayal, death, and the discovery of a single gold ingot bearing … the Mark of the Devil.

  ISBN# 9781934755532

  Trade Paperback / Thriller

  US $15.95/CDN $17.95

  Available Now

  DEVILS GOD

  Julie Korzenko

  Chastised for not cooperating with the oil company giant New World Petroleum, zoologist Cassidy Lowell is reassigned from the jungles of the Niger Delta to Yello
wstone National Park, where wolves are disappearing. Jake Anderson, Special Forces operative, is working within the shadows of Cassidy’s organization, Zoological Environmental Bio Research Agency. His mission? To determine the threatening connection between ZEBRA and NWP.

  An alarming genetic mutation of the parvovirus is discovered: CPV-19: human parvovirus merged with canine. And the virus is loose in Yellowstone. Murder, execution, and deadly helicopter rides lead Jake and Cassidy down a road rife with double-crossing and an underlying plot that forces them back to the Niger Delta and into the heart of NWP.

  This is the twenty-first-century gold rush—welcome to the dark side!

  ISBN# 9781934755556

  Hardcover/Fiction

  US $25.95/CDN $28.95

  Available Now

  www.juliekorzenko.com

  VICKI HINZE

  KILL ZONE

  Psychologist Morgan Cabot commands a special military support team that provides a unique service. While they are highly trained for military combat, their special abilities don’t require training—they are gifts. Dr. Cabot and her teammates, Taylor Lee and Jazie Craig, are “highly intuitive”: they hear, feel, and see things that others can’t. They are the Special Abilities Team, and they function outside of normal protocol—and the American public can never know of their existence.

  The Secretary of Defense of the United States has called upon Cabot’s team to stop Thomas Kunz, a sadistic terrorist who specializes in black market arms sales and intelligence brokering.

  Kunz’s brand of terrorism threatens the United States on multiple levels—his funding is infinite and his reach is global. His modus operandi, using doubles to infiltrate and gather classified information, puts him in a unique position to make the fears of every American citizen a reality.

  Colonel Jackson Stern and his brother, Bruce, a biological warfare expert, have become Kunz’s lastest targets. When Bruce’s wife is found stabbed to death, Jackson dedicates himself to a quest for the truth.