“Well, then, that means you have the time to buy an old woman a drink.”
Niles held his arm out, and Alice took it. She smiled, and they both rejoined the party.
* * *
Jack, Carl, Charlie, Jason, and Will stood and talked. Jack had never once believed he could become so close to those he served with. After so many years of wars fought and lives lost, he thought he had forced himself to stop caring so much. In the end, he learned that to be a good soldier means to never stop caring. After Operation Overlord had taken so many friends, he found out that these brilliant people needed him; they needed Carl and Will and Jason. These men and women were the best of them, and with Niles leading the Group, he knew that the department, as well as the country, was in the hands of men and women who had one goal—to be the best human beings possible. It was that simple.
Xavier Morales rolled over with a tray of drinks placed in his lap. Jack saw him weaving in and around people, and then he smiled as he ran over Master Jenks’s foot with one of his wheels. Xavier sped away before Jenks could yell and blubber. The children around him laughed and thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen in their young lives as Jenks hopped around on one foot, cursing.
Xavier was relieved of the tray of drinks by Charlie Ellenshaw. Charlie passed out the drinks and then smiled at Collins.
“With your permission, Colonel?” he said to Jack, who accepted his drink, as did the others.
The others went silent as Ellenshaw raised his glass. “For those we left in paradise, Russian, British, and American.”
They all nodded as they raised their glasses and drank the toast.
“Good job, Charlie,” Jack said as he lowered his glass. “Oh, shit,” he said, and the others turned to see what had caught his attention.
Sarah and Anya were heading straight at the group of men, and all wanted to turn and flee.
“I’ve been expecting this.”
“What?” Xavier asked, confused as the women streaked toward them.
“We have both gotten the silent treatment since we came home. I think that grace period is over. They think we go out of our way to get into trouble,” Carl said as he set his empty glass down and turned to face the wrath of the former Mossad agent.
Jack’s jaw dropped when Will, Jason, Charlie, and even Xavier turned and wandered away.
“Thanks for the backup!” Collins said to their retreating forms.
“We didn’t sign on for that kind of danger, Colonel.”
Jack and Carl sneered at the four men as they left them high and dry.
“We need to talk,” Sarah said as the two women cut off their own retreat.
* * *
Most of the Group had left for hotels in town, and the ones remaining said good-bye to the children as the private foundation financed by Niles Compton took the children to their new home in Billings, where they would receive the education and guidance in living in a far more complicated world than the one they had left.
The remaining members stood around the front yard just talking and getting to know each other once more. Sarah, Jack, Carl, and Anya stood by each other with the women laughing and the men staring off into nothingness as Will and Jason watched on laughing at the two cowed men.
“What is this?” Alice asked Niles as she watched the UPS truck enter through the gate.
“I don’t know.”
Jack walked over with Carl, and they too watched the delivery truck come up the long drive.
“You expecting a package?” Jack asked.
“No,” Niles said as the brown truck pulled up and stopped in front of the group of men and women.
The driver popped out of the sliding door with his electronic tracker in his hand.
“Dr. Niles Compton?”
“Yes?” he said as he stepped forward.
“Sign here, please.”
Niles took the plastic pen and then signed.
The man smiled and turned to his truck and slid open the back door, and he and his assistant pulled a rather large and heavy box from the back. They struggled with it but managed to get it over to Niles. The director looked at the keypad he had just signed his name to and frowned.
“It doesn’t say who it’s from.”
Jack’s hackles rose, as did Carl’s. Even the others became curious and turned to see what was being delivered in the large cardboard box. Collins took the keypad and then walked up to the driver and his assistant.
“When did you receive this?”
“It was in the warehouse when we arrived this afternoon. It’s the only delivery out this way today, so we made it our last.”
“Okay, thank you,” Jack said, and he handed the keypad back.
As the driver left, Carl gestured for everyone to step back as Jack and himself approached the large box. Stamped in red on the side was the bold lettering that warned them that the container contained dry ice.
Not only were Jack and Carl worried, Jason and Will also moved everyone away from the box. Xavier and Charlie stayed with Ryan and Mendenhall as Jack cut the straps and then sliced open the front.
“Probably just a gift for the children,” Alice said, not really believing her own words.
“Colonel?” Xavier said before Jack could open the box. He rolled over, and Carl stopped him from getting closer. “This is all I have on me,” Morales said as he produced a small sensor that resembled a cell phone. He rolled closer to the box and held out the device. It flashed green, and then he faced the colonel.
“It’s not a bomb. At least there are no nitrates of any kind.”
“That doesn’t mean there is no chemical explosive inside!” Jason called out.
“Why is everyone so suspicious?” Charlie asked in a hushed tone.
“Doc,” Will said as he watched on, “who in the hell would know where the director’s private compound is? Hell, we didn’t even know about this place.”
“Oh.”
Jack looked at Carl, and then he pulled open the front of the box and then reached in and separated the thick plastic with his bare hands. Fifteen pounds of dry ice spilled out onto the drive, and Collins stepped back.
“Oh, my God,” Alice said as she took Niles by the arm.
“Damn them,” Jack said as the others drew around him and the gift that had been specially delivered.
All were stunned at the sight before them.
In the box, curled up in a sitting position and in full dress uniform, was Second Captain Dishlakov. The skin was gray in color, and they could see he had been dead for some time. In his arms was a folded newspaper, and Carl reached in and took it. He unfolded it and then stared at the headline. It was in Russian, so he handed the paper over to Alice, who was fluent in the language. She swallowed and looked it over. She lowered the paper and looked at the others.
“It’s dated three days ago from the Moscow rag they call a newspaper.”
They looked at the paper as Alice passed it around. The one photo on the front page was a black-and-white picture of the missile cruiser Peter the Great, seen at her launching three years before.
“It says that the Peter the Great was lost with all hands in the North Atlantic due to the effects of Hurricane Tildy. It is sadly reported that two other vessels were lost at the same time.”
“How many men on board?” Mendenhall asked.
“We brought home four hundred and twelve survivors,” Jason said as his anger at what was just dawning in his mind started to overwhelm him.
“Jesus, Jack, they killed them all. The entire crew.” Carl stood aghast as he remembered the Russian sailors who had given the villagers gifts and happiness only a few days before.
Collins said nothing as he reached in and removed a small envelope that was pinned to Dishlakov’s uniform jacket. He handed it over to Niles, who stood and stared at the box for the longest time. Instead of reading the message—because at the moment, he could not trust his voice—he handed the letter to Alice, who didn’t want to
but tore it open nonetheless.
Dearest Dr. Compton,
Please accept this gift from your new acquaintances across the sea who are endeavoring to end close to six hundred years of injustice to the people of Russia. While we regard your mission to your government worthwhile and meaningful, our hopes are that there is a mutual regard and acquiescence to our goals as well. If not, we have many years to solve our differences. If you desire, you and your president can make this a public matter. If this is the course you choose, we can solve our dilemma sooner, rather than later. We are prepared for this and will be even more so in the near future.
Until we meet again in the fields of endeavor we have both chosen for our life’s work, I bid you and your marvelous group farewell. It is a frightening world, is it not?
Vassick
Alice handed the note and envelope to Jack as Jason, Will, and Jenks eased the body of Second Captain Dishlakov from the box. They laid him on the grass by the drive as Sarah, who had slipped inside the house, covered the former naval officer in a bedsheet.
“What do we do now?” Virginia asked, angered at the development coming at the end of such a happy occasion.
Niles looked up at the anxious faces looking his way. “Let’s ask the men who had served with Second Captain Dishlakov and his crew. Jack?”
Collins pulled the sheet back and reached down and removed the topmost medal from the breast jacket of the second captain. He looked at the overly large citation and then placed it in his pocket and walked away as the others watched on.
“What was that?” Charlie asked.
Carl turned and started to follow Collins when he heard the question.
“That was the Russian naval commendation awarded by the politburo. It’s their version of the medal of honor.”
“What’s Jack going to do with it?” Xavier asked, not believing what was happening.
Carl Everett looked at the men and women watching Jack enter the house, and then they waited for an answer that all but the naïve already knew.
“It may not be now, next year, or five years down the road, but Jack just promised himself he would pin that medal to Comrade Vassick’s liver.”
Niles Compton turned also and followed Collins.
“And that man’s going to help him do it.”
* * *
Things had changed for Department 5656, known to a select few as the Event Group. A new element had been silently added to their federal charter, and the world to them and the country would never be the same again.
ALSO BY DAVID L. GOLEMON
Event
Legend
Ancients
Leviathan
Primeval
Legacy
Ripper
Carpathian
Overlord
The Mountain
The Traveler
The Supernaturals
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVID L. GOLEMON grew up in Chino, California. He has raised three great children and now makes his home in New York. Beyond the Sea is the twelfth novel in his Event Group series. Visit David online at www.EventGroupFiles.com. You can sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this
St. Martin’s Press ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
For email updates on the author, click here.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue: Cold Seas
Part One: Show of Force
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Part Two: Cracked Mirrors
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Part Three: Pirates of the Purple Sea
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue: Changing of the Guard
Also by David L. Golemon
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
BEYOND THE SEA. Copyright © 2017 by David L. Golemon. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by Jonathan Bush
Cover photographs: lightning © Tom Murphy/Getty Images; propane fire © Chris Cheadle/Getty Images; gun explosion © Purestock/Getty Images; battleship explosion © Purestock/Getty Images; Fort Conde © Peter Wilson/Getty Images; waterfalls © Freedom 100m/Shutterstock.com; Northern Lights © Jamen Percy/Shutterstock.com; cove ©Pikoso.kz/Shutterstock.com
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-10307-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-10309-3 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781250103093
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
First Edition: June 2017
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Beyond the Sea--An Event Group Thriller Page 40