by Ty Patterson
‘But, Mom, Sandy and I were planning on a movie,’ her daughter complained.
‘Please, honey. There’s someone coming to visit us and I have no idea why. Having you around would help.’ She told her daughter about the call. ‘No, honey. I don’t know anything more.’
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff rolled up in a black, shining, vehicle with flags on its fenders. Behind his car was an Army vehicle from which two men sprang out and opened the door for General Walter Cassidy. The three men entered her home in full dress uniform and filled it with their presence.
‘Ma’am, I know this is a surprise,’ General Cassidy addressed her in his baritone. His craggy visage broke into a smile when one of his aides stepped forward with a purple-colored velvet box. Her mind shut down in shock when he opened the box and presented her with the Silver Star, the third highest combat decoration in the US military. Husband, apologize for the delay, exceptional valor, grateful and thankful for his service, regret we couldn’t honor him when he was alive. She heard the words but didn’t register them; it felt like a dream.
Later, when her visitors had departed, she sat with her weeping daughter and her iron control broke. Mom and daughter sobbed for a future that could have been, for a dad and a husband who was no longer with them.
‘He awarded Mike a Silver Star? The Chairman, in person?’ Sheriff Jeremy Garav gawped at her when she met him in Tony’s, the day after. ‘Well, I’ll be damned.’
He apologized hastily, ‘Pardon me, ma’am. It’s just that I have never heard of such a thing before. Unprecedented, but if there was anyone who deserved it, it was Mike.’
Cherie brushed aside his apology, with a hand. ‘Morgan. She’s over the moon. She wore the medal around her neck and took it to school. It’s closure for her.’
She arranged her knife and fork in straight lines, and toyed around with her glass, ‘Jerry, remember that other man you introduced me to. Carter.’
‘Yes, ma’am. In fact, Tony was telling me he had been back a second time. He didn’t contact me, then. Didn’t tell Tony why he was here.’ He hesitated, and plunged on after a moment. ‘You know, ma’am, I have a feeling he isn’t just another operative.’
‘You think he had something to do with the medal?’
‘I am sure of it, ma’am. The general did say there was a bureaucratic mixup which was why Mike didn’t get it when he was alive, didn’t he? I am sure Carter kicked some ass. He seems to have the connections. And capable of kicking butt.’
Neither Jeremy Garav nor Cherie Klattenbach looked to the rear of the restaurant, where it was deeper. Zeb had asked Tony not to point him out, and to keep servers away from his table. Even if the sheriff or the teacher had looked in his direction, they wouldn’t have spotted him. He was motionless, hearing their conversation, and didn’t move even when the sheriff departed along with Cherie.
Klattenbach was in line to receive the decoration for that one mission in Iraq. Some paper shuffler, somewhere in the Army, had messed up which was why it was awarded posthumously. Zeb had made a few calls to a few people. Those people had called other people and wheels had turned fast. Morgan Klattenbach might have lost her dad. The Silver Star would keep him alive for her, in spirit.
Zeb stirred when night had fallen. He thanked Tony and went outside in the warm night, to his ride, which thundered to life. He left Dalton behind and joined the highway to Portland, and from there, to New York.
It was a dark, starry night, with nothing but his twin beams to illuminate the road ahead. He thought he saw a familiar face when he pushed the sunroof back and looked heavenwards. Golden hair. Blue eyes. A ready smile that never failed to tug at his heart.
I thought I would be joining you. When I fell in New York. Bear saved me.
I am always with you, and his wife’s smile grew wider and accompanied him home.
Coming soon
Trigger Break
Warriors Series, Book 10
By
Ty Patterson
Bonus chapter from Trigger Break
‘Mr. Carter? Zeb Carter?’ the voice was young. Maybe it was scared, but Zeb couldn’t be sure.
He was driving in New York when the call came, from a number he didn’t recognize. A voice he wasn’t familiar with. He looked at Meghan beside him. She shrugged. She didn’t know either. Chloe, in the rear, indicated she had no clue. As did Bear, and Bwana from beside her.
‘Who are you, ma’am? How did you get this number?’
‘Mr. Carter, is that you?’ she seemed to be desperate. He made to answer when she broke off.
‘Hey,’ she called out sharply to someone. ‘Listen. You–’ something smashed, a sound Zeb knew all too well. A car window breaking.
‘Wait,’ the woman shouted, ‘you can’t…Mr. Carter, please–’
A sharp report ended her call. Another report, followed by dead silence.
Zeb didn’t realize he had stopped his vehicle slam-bang in the middle of Broadway. He didn’t care. He leaned forward, ‘Ma’am? Are you there?’
More silence mocked him. He called the number. It was dead. He didn’t speak. No one looked at one another. They stared straight ahead; dread filling them, none of them articulating what they had heard. An execution. A cold-blooded killing of a woman who had been reaching out to Zeb for help.
Angry honking surrounded them. Vehicles slowed and windows rolled down as drivers cursed and swore at them. They didn’t exist for Zeb. Mr. Carter, is that you? Why didn’t I say, yes?
Dimly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Bwana’s, from its weight. He acknowledged by starting the vehicle and driving it to the sidewalk. Tourists moved out of the way, reluctantly. Hawkers peered through their darkened windows.
Mr. Carter, please…
An angry driver rolled up next to them and started swearing, gesticulating. It was New York. People drove in controlled chaos. No one stopped in the middle of Broadway. He ranted and started climbing out, when Bwana rolled down his window. Bwana didn’t speak. He didn’t even look at the driver, who took one look at the large black man, and at his stone-cold visage. The driver swallowed, turned back meekly and drove away.
At any other time, Meghan and Chloe would have sniggered. Not this time. Both were ashen-faced, Meghan's eyes filling.
Zeb’s phone rang after what seemed like hours, the SUV’s speakers picking it up and amplifying it. Meghan reached to the dash and accepted the call.
‘Zeb?’ this voice was female too. It was one they were familiar with. Clare, the director of The Agency, the clandestine unit they worked for. What they weren’t used to, was the urgency in her voice. She was unflappable whatever be the emergency. Not this time.
‘Ma’am?’ Zeb replied.
‘Zeb, did you hear about–’
Another call came, from a number Zeb knew very well. He did something he hadn’t ever done. He put Clare on hold and took the incoming call from Avichai Levin, the Director of Mossad.
‘Achi?’ he asked. Achi. Brother. Levin and he went a long way back.
‘Zeb, my brother,’ Levin sounded terrible, ‘did you hear?’
‘Hear what, Avichai?’ Zeb asked him, his sense of foreboding deepening.
‘They killed her, my friend.’ Avichai Levin, one of the most powerful men in the world, broke down and started sobbing. ‘They killed my daughter.’
Some people raged or swore in times of intense anger or stress. Others punched windows and walls, or broke glass. Broke something. Zeb did nothing. He sat as if turned to stone while Meghan continued the call with Levin.
Mr. Carter, please…
Meghan hung up after finishing with Levin. Apologized to the waiting Clare who brushed her apology away. They all knew Zeb. He wouldn’t have kept anyone on hold without reason. The vicious killing of Avichai Levin’s daughter was reason enough.
Meghan ended the call and turned to Zeb. And flinched when she saw his face. It had an expression that she had seen only a handful of times. It w
as his death face.
Zeb Carter, the most lethal man she knew, was going to war.
Author’s Message
Thank you for taking the time to read Death Club. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends and posting a short review.
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Books by Ty Patterson:
Warriors Series Shorts
This is a series of novellas that link to the Warriors Series thrillers
Zulu Hour, Warriors Series Shorts, Book 1 (set before The Warrior)
The Watcher, Warriors Series Shorts, Book 2 (set between The Warrior and The Warrior Code)
The Shadow, Warriors Series Shorts, Book 3 (set before The Warrior)
Gemini Series
Dividing Zero, Gemini Series, Book 1
Defending Cain, Gemini Series, Book 2
Warriors Series
The Warrior, Warriors series, Book 1
The Reluctant Warrior, Warriors series, Book 2
The Warrior Code, Warriors series, Book 3
The Warrior’s Debt, Warriors series, Book 4
Warriors series Boxset, Books 1-4
Flay, Warriors series, Book 5
Behind You, Warriors series, Book 6
Hunting You, Warriors series, Book 7
Zero, Warriors series, Book 8
Warriors series Boxset II, Books 5-8
Warriors series Boxset, Books 1-8
Death Club, Warriors series, Book 9
Sign up to Ty Patterson’s mailing list, and get The Warrior, #1 in the USA Today Bestselling Warriors Series, free. Be the first to know about new releases and deals.
About the Author
Ty has lived on a couple of continents and has been a trench digger, loose tea vendor, leather goods salesman, marine lubricants salesman, diesel engine mechanic, and is now an action thriller author.
Ty is privileged that readers of crime suspense and action thrillers have loved his books. 'Intense,' 'Riveting,' and 'Gripping' have been commonly used in reviews.
Ty lives with his wife and son, who humor his ridiculous belief that he’s in charge.
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