by Rick Jones
“And pushing these boundaries, how did that work out for you?”
The senator glowered at him. “You were once a part of that greatness,” the senator told him.
“I was a machine you created along with Senator Cartwright and a few others. You made me something dark and horrible for which I could never forgive myself.”
“I didn’t create anything,” said the senator. “That darkness has always been inside you. I just brought it to the surface and used it to my benefit. In the end, Hayden, it was nothing more than a monster begetting a monster. It was never anything less than that.” The senator fell back. “And for all the things you did in your past, for all the killings and murders for the means of achievement, you think the church can save you? You think you can just forget your past and become this wonderful savior in return for salvation. Is that what this is all about? Your new life. Well, let me tell you something, Hayden. It’s easier to embrace your sins rather than reject them. Which is what you did, embrace them. Or you wouldn’t be here with a weapon in your hand. Hardly Christian-like, I would think.”
“Over time I have been referred to as an angel by some and a demon by others. But to you, Senator, I’m the devil wearing the buttoned-down shirt. Seeking redemption is far from my mind, so you’re right about that.”
The senator leaned forward from the edge of the couch. “If that’s the case, Hayden, then you know as well as I do that we were born to writhe in the agonies of Hell.”
“Of that I’ve no doubt.”
“You can never change from what you already are, a stone-cold killer who relishes the moment of the kill. That’s what you’ve always been down deep.”
Kimball continued to stare at the senator with a look of detachment.
Then the senator weighed in additionally. “And, of course, you know it doesn’t end here, right? There are shadow groups outside the fringe of the president’s rule. They know you’re a threat, Hayden. They’ll continue to hunt you down to quash any chance of you divulging any national secrets.”
“In time they’ll get me. It’s inevitable. I know. I ran the circuit.”
The senator nodded in agreement with Kimball’s statement. Then softly, as if consigning his fate over to his assassin, he said: “Killing me would be a blessing. So if you’re going to do so, then be done with it and enjoy the moment. Be that stone-cold killer you’ve always been.”
For a brief period Kimball nibbled on his lower lip. Then he brought up his suppressed weapon, took careful aim, and fired off five rounds in quick succession.
. . . Phfttt . . .
. . . Phfttt . . .
. . . Phfttt . . .
. . . Phfttt . . .
. . . Phfttt . . .
Calmly, once the weapon had spent its rounds, Kimball placed the firearm on the nightstand as a ribbon of smoke curled lazily from the mouth of its barrel, and left the estate.
Outside, it was beginning to rain.
#
Senator Rhames sat with paralytic stillness trying to digest what had just happened. He had begged Kimball for the death he could not bring upon himself. But Kimball had spared him, spending five shots that created a halo-like pattern around the senator’s head in the wall behind him.
The man was so racked with the pain of his continued survival that he leaned forward, placed his face into cupped hands, and sobbed deeply.
How could Hayden be so cruel as to let me live? he cried.
No answer ever came to him.
EPILOGUE
Washington, D.C.
Kimball was walking the streets as a man without purpose or cause, a man who appeared distant and detached as if he was something from a zombie apocalypse. All he had was the clothes on his back, a useless passport, a credit card that was quickly reaching its limit, and a cellphone with a cracked face.
He had given up his pursuit for the Light, eventually choosing damnation over salvation because it was an easy choice to make since it required no effort; damnation had claimed him long ago. And once it had its stake and he was forever damned, Kimball knew there could be no bargaining with the Savior. He had forfeited that right when he killed his first without conscience.
The rain was coming down harder, plastering his shirt and hair, the man appearing numbed by all this as he walked with no destiny in mind.
And then he thought about his damnation, how simple it came to him unlike the Light. Had his Savior been telling him all along that his journey was a fruitless one? Weren’t the messages always there telling him that He would only bring upon Kimball the same Darkness he had brought upon others. In the end there is only one crime: Robbery. By taking a life, hadn’t Kimball robbed a person of their life? Did he not rob a mother or a father of a child? Did he not rob a sibling of a brother or a sister? Did he not steal away entire family lines by taking away the lives of those before they had the chance to become mothers and fathers to their own children? Did he not rob people of the wonderful gift of living out a full life?
Kimball never felt so pained on the inside with regret, a horrible pit that could never be filled as punishments had befallen him repeatedly. Those he had loved had been taken away from him in recompense, the Savior robbing Kimball of the feeling to feel good and whole. He had taken away those he had loved and grew close to. He had taken the lives of Sister Abigail and Bonasero Vessucci. He had taken the life of his father as they were about to mend a relationship that had been sour for years. He had taken from him as Kimball had taken from others, as his form of punishment.
The rain was coming down in sheets, the sky opening fully.
In the distance he could see a church, a cathedral, a magnificent structure with a spire that reached for the sky. As Kimball neared this church, celestial staircases of lightning began to strike in the far distance, which were accompanied by thunder booms a few moments later.
Kimball then leaned against the wall of a building across the street from the cathedral, and looked at the spire. It reminded him of that rainy day in Malta where the image of Christ on the Cross appeared to weep down at him with sadness. And he remembered trying to strike a bargain with God that if He should bring Shari Cohen back to him, then he would remain a Vatican Knight to the end of days, even if his soul was already condemned.
But she was dying, he knew that. God was taking her away from him as He took all the others. This was his punishment. This was his damnation. And he knew now that God doesn’t bargain with the soulless.
I know that now, he told himself.
Kimball slid down along the wall and sat on his backside, the rain soaking his clothes as he looked at the cross sitting high on the spire.
And then his phone vibrated. A call.
He removed it from his pocket and stared at the broken glass, the numbers appearing oddly scrambled. The call was from Father Damelio. Kimball had always called Damelio to find out about Shari’s condition, the man always by her bedside. Never had Father Damelio called him. For him to do so meant that Shari, too, had finally been taken.
Kimball looked at the cross at the top of the church as the phone continued to ring.
Then he took the call.
“Mr. Hayden?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Can you please hang on for a moment?”
Kimball couldn’t speak as he sensed his throat tightening.
Then: “Kimball?” The voice was tired and rough sounding. “I heard you,” the voice said. “Every day you called, every day you spoke to me, I heard you. I heard every word you said. I was so scared, Kimball. It was always dark. But I always felt you beside me . . . inside this Darkness. You kept me safe. And every day when you spoke to me you were walking me toward the Light. I could feel this. I could feel you. But the closer I came to the Light, when I was coming to, you began to fade away. You were staying behind in the Darkness. But I didn’t know why. And when I finally came to, when I saw the light of the room . . . you weren’t there.”
Then the phone beeped, the
juice almost gone.
Kimball looked at the power meter. Less than two percent.
Back to his ear.
“I felt you, Kimball. You brought me back. And for that—”
The phone died.
Kimball looked at the cross on the spire as white lightning broke behind it. Then he looked skyward as rain mixed with tears, the man sobbing openly as the warm drops pelted him with this wonderful baptismal effect.
He had bargained with his Lord by promising to be forever true to the Vatican Knights should He bring her back to him.
Finally, His answer was ‘Yes.’
Shari Cohen’s voice had never sounded sweeter.
Kimball wept.
THE END
The Vatican Knights will return in Book #12
THE VATICAN KNIGHTS
AMAZON BESTSELLER: #1 IN THRILLER
#1 IN SUSPENSE
#24 IN AMAZON TOP 100
While on a visit to the United States, Pope Pius XIII is kidnapped by a terrorist cell calling itself the Soldiers of Islam. If the United States and its allies do not meet their demands, they will execute the pope. FBI Specialist Shari Cohen is called to duty to track down the terrorist cell responsible, and she soon learns that she is not alone.
Deep behind the Vatican walls, a secret order dispatches a clandestine group of elite commandos known as the Vatican Knights. Their mission: bring the pope back alive. As Cohen and the Knights work in tandem they uncover a White House conspiracy involving high-ranking members on Capitol Hill. As Cohen begins to get too close to the truth about the pope's kidnapping, she becomes the target of indigenous forces trying to keep the conspiracy safe. However, in order to get to her they must first go through the Vatican Knights...
SHEPHERD ONE
(Book #2 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER: #1 IN THRILLER
#1 IN SUSPENSE
AMAZON TOP 100
While traveling across the United States during the Papal Symposium, the papal plane, Shepherd One, is commandeered by a terrorist cell calling itself the Muslim Revolutionary Front. On board: a nuclear payload with half the yield that destroyed Hiroshima. Their demand to the U.S. government: assassinate the five leading principals of Mossad. While the American leadership is forced to follow through with a proposition that would cripple the intelligence network between the allies, Pope Pius XIII is not without his own weapon. On board Shepherd One is his personal valet, a man who is the leader of a clandestine op group of elite commandos known as the Vatican Knights. His mission: retake the plane and remove all hostile opposition. Using his very particular set of skills, Kimball Hayden must neutralize the situation before thousands of lives are lost, including that of Pope Pius XIII.
THE ISCARIOT AGENDA
(Book #3 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Kimball Hayden is the commander of an elite commando group known as the Vatican Knights, a black-op force that works for the Church to protect its sovereignty, its interests, and the welfare of its citizenry. But Kimball is being stalked by someone from the past, a soldier that is stronger, faster, and far more brutal—an assassin so deadly not even the Vatican Knights can stop him. This Alpha Assassin has set Kimball within the crosshairs and is systematically destroying his old team of elite fighters, the Force Elite. Kimball is then sent to confront this killer who leaves behind lettered clues carved into the flesh of his teammates: ISCARIOT. Not only does Kimball have to battle something far more dangerous than anything he has ever encountered, but he must destroy this Alpha Assassin before this killer brings his personal war to the Vatican.
PANDORA’S ARK
(Book #4 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Thirty years ago the world was in the exploratory stages of creating a technology capable of artificial intelligence. Thirty years later that technology has been perfected. In a lab somewhere in a remote mountain region in Iran, nanoparticles, or micro-bots, have been created to be self-sustaining and self-reproducing, each day evolving and learning from experience. They have been programmed to be the ultimate predator, devouring everything in their path and leaving nothing behind. Now in the hands of a terrorist group, the Vatican has come within the crosshairs. Using the Ark of the Covenant as a Trojan Horse, Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights must stop the promise of complete destruction of Rome by combating something unseen, and something that can kill within seconds.
BRIDGE OF BONES
(Book #5 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
While vacationing in Paris, Shari Cohen’s children are kidnapped by Jadran Božanović, a Croatian kingpin who runs a human-trafficking cartel who is as deadly as the knife he wields. Few dare to challenge him. And even fewer dare to defy him. With time running out and her resources running thin, Shari calls upon the aid of Kimball Hayden and his team Vatican Knights—an elite group of commandos dedicated to protect the sovereignty, interests and citizenry of the Church—and are once again reunited. But Kimball finds that his team is quickly outmanned and outgunned, the death toll climbing against forces that are the deadliest the Knights have ever faced. With his back against the wall, Kimball is forced to choose Justice over Law by taking on Jadran Božanović in a contest that only one man can survive. But Kimball soon learns that the Croatian is as ruthless as his legend and just as powerful, if not more so, than the Vatican Knight himself.
CROSSES TO BEAR
(Book #6 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
In a Galveston, Texas lab, a lethal strain has been stolen by a terrorist faction.
In New Mexico, the population of a small town is completely wiped out.
In Las Vegas, a vicious underground clan called the Community surfaces at night to prey on the weak.
In Paris, two old foes of Kimball Hayden reunite as a kill team to hunt him down.
Now considered dead by the Vatican, Kimball Hayden is leading a secretive life living on the streets of Las Vegas. But when a parish comes under the threat of a vicious mob, he finds himself thrown back into a world of violence.
Once again Kimball finds himself in the role as the ‘priest who is not a priest’ fighting to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And when Vatican City is threatened with complete annihilation, he returns to fight a battle against a foe he cannot possibly defeat.
THE LOST CATHEDRAL
(Book #7 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Three years ago the papal airliner goes down over the jungle of Brazil never to been seen again.
Three years later those considered lost on that fatal flight begin to show up at Vatican disconnected from reality.
When the pope is gunned down in an assassination attempt, Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights follow the conspiracy’s trail to a cathedral deep inside the Brazilian jungle—a place of taboo to locals who fear the Huecuvus, the Evil Spirits who protect those within the ‘Ruins of Lost Souls.’
The cathedral is a place of damnation and dark secrets—a hub of moving shadows that reach out to Pope Pius with a hand from the past, a hand that holds a dark secret: the pontiff may not be who he appears to be, but a man whose past may have been as sinful as those within the lost cathedral, a dying breed of Nazis who once called the pontiff ‘brethren.’
As Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights try to neutralize the threat against the Vatican, they find themselves fighting against overwhelming odds. Shadows and shapes converge, the weapons they yield sharp. Can the Vatican Knights defeat a sect where life has little meaning? Does the pope hold a dark secret? Was he once evil incarnate who now sits upon the papal throne? The answers lie within a temple of ancient evil called the Lost Cathedral.
DARK ADVENT
(Book #8 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Growing up with a sheltering mother and a b
elligerent father, Kimball Hayden’s young life goes from one of innocence to the depths of chaos.
When a vicious syndicate of murderers and extortionists begin to run the streets, Kimball soon becomes the focal point of their attention. His family is placed within the crosshairs, friends go missing or are found dead, all messages from the Gangster Prince.
But when Kimball’s world shatters and grieves a great loss, the sleeping giant within him awakens. It is dark and ugly and exists with the cold fortitude of a machine. It rises and walks a fine line between the Darkness and Light. And it will define Kimball as a dark savior for the rest of his life, choosing damnation over salvation to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
But then the Gangster Prince quickly discovers that he may have overstepped his boundaries at the approach of an unstoppable force, he realizes one thing . . .
. . . Every legend has a beginning . . .
CABAL
(Book #9 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
In an abandoned church deep inside the Syrian Desert, Father Jenkins watches over a group of children who’d been orphaned by war and unrest. Having been marked for extraction by the Vatican Knights, a cabal of ruthless killers from the Islamic State cripples all attempts of safe passage and gives chase across a desert landscape that’s completely ruled by scorpions and snakes. With little options and less hope, the Vatican Knights quickly discover that they’re in possession of a precious cargo: a young boy by the name of Farid.