by Rick Jones
“You mind telling me how Group Thirteen even knew about Beckett’s whereabouts to begin with?” Brown asked.
“At the game park?”
Brown nodded.
“It was obvious that Beckett was getting inside information. He was always a step in front of MI5 no matter what we did to corner him. But the confirmation didn’t come down until his assault team came down on MI5s trail unit while they were following Mehmoud Atwa from the airport. They were there. They were ready. And because of it a lot of good men are dead. And it’s something you’re going to answer for to the full extent of the law.”
“And because you surmised it was somebody underneath me, you kept me out of the loop.”
“Had to. I couldn’t afford to have you speak openly to your team without knowing who Beckett’s plant was. I never suspected it was you until you were observed inside the Command Center.” George Henry held up the cellphone. “When this phone is sent to forensics and its information decrypted, what will I find, Thomas?”
Brown sighed. “Everything that you’re looking for,” he admitted.
“You’re not even going to lie your way out to defend yourself?”
“I did what I did, George, because I had no choice.”
“There are always choices.”
“Not when Oliver Beckett is pulling the strings.”
“How so?”
“He threatened my family. Not just here but abroad.”
“We could have helped.”
“How? No matter what you did, no matter the powers of MI5, Beckett would have taken out several of my family members and we wouldn’t have been able to touch him. Guys like him can purchase alibis. Guys like him can be in two places at once. When a bomb goes off to kill my family here … then Oliver Beckett would be over there when it happened.”
“Are there more within MI5 that were inside Beckett’s pocket?”
“Two,” he confirmed.
“Names.”
Thomas Brown gave them to him. A purge was about to begin.
“And you don’t wish to provide a defense for your actions?” asked Henry.
“I did what I did because I thought it was the right thing to do at the time. Beckett promised to release me after I provided him with pertinent information after one time.”
“But he never released you, did he?”
“No. I was too much of an asset for him inside MI5. In time I was forced to dig my own grave. Now its’s time for me to lie in it.” He gave George Henry a shameful look. “I’m sorry, George. I’ve disappointed and disgraced myself for what I’ve done. And I will stand tall for my actions.”
“That you will,” said Henry. “Your actions of treason have cost the lives of many good men.”
“My family?”
“At least you’ll know they’ll be safe.”
“You know what I mean … I know I’ll never be granted freedom again.”
“You’ll get to say your good-byes, Thomas.”
“That’s all I ask for. Thank you.”
Thomas Brown, MI5’s Director General Capability for almost ten years, was escorted out of the building in handcuffs and was never seen again.
EPILOGUE
The Vatican
Kimball had readied up along with Isaiah and the rest of his unit. This time the troubled spot was in Africa.
Before they left, however, he asked for some time alone with Farid, the son of Mabus.
They were in the gym and both knew what was coming. Good-byes were never easy. And since Farid didn’t have the prospering skills to become a Vatican Knight, he needed to go where he would benefit himself and others the most. He was going to be sent to a wonderful and caring Muslim family in Jakarta. And Kimball knew that he would never see him again.
The Vatican Knight pulled Farid into an embrace with the boy returning the favor. What was ironic about this was that the boy was hugging the man who murdered his father.
Though Kimball spoke little Arabic but enough to get his point across, he decided upon English knowing that Farid wouldn’t understand a word.
“You no longer have to be afraid of your father,” he told the boy. “He’ll never hurt you or anyone else again. I promise. So you live a happy and peaceful life, Farid. You deserve to be a happy soul.”
Farid stood back and jabbed Kimball’s chest softly with his finger as if to emphasize a certain point. “Happy … soul,” he mimicked, tapping Kimball’s chest. “Happy … soul.”
Kimball pulled him close. And Farid kissed the side of the Vatican Knight’s cheek. It was a ‘thank you’ for saving his life and taking him away from his father, a vicious and brutal man.
Kimball gave him a false smile.
Already he was missing Farid.
After mussing Farid’s hair with his hand, Kimball left the gym to meet up with his team.
There was so much more he had to do, he told himself. So much more he had to accomplish.
Out there, somewhere, redemption was waiting.
THE END
Kimball Hayden will return in Book #11 of The Vatican Knights.
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 mo
re 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 belligerent 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.
As Kimball Hayden and the Vatican Knights fight to preserve the lives they protect, another ISIS team marches on the Vatican to take out the highest and most sacred seat in the land. But as ISIS marches on Rome and Vatican City, Kimball Hayden, the fulcrum between sinner and saint, finds himself divided by saving the lives of the children and the life of the pontiff, with little chance of preserving both.
THE CRYPTS OF EDEN
(Book #1 of the Crypts of Eden series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
AMAZON #1: ACTION/ADVENTURE
In southeast Turkey where the heads of the four main rivers once met, a magnificent temple created 14,000 years ago is discovered beneath the desert floor. Believed to have been created by lost technology, it is quickly determined by a team of archeologists to be the centerpiece of Eden, a once illustrious civilization and the cradle of mankind. But what if Eden is not the Paradise texts make it out to be? What if it held dark secrets and unholy terrors instead? As Senior Archeologist Alyssa Moore and her team of experts discover the truth of man’s beginning, she realizes that the secrets of man’s true origins lie within the sacred tombs inside the temple. But the journey for the truth is not without its dangers or pitfalls … Something walks the warrens within.
THE MENAGERIE
(Book #2 of the Crypts of Eden series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FINAL EXTINCTION EVENT…
THE HISTORY OF HUMAN ORIGINS…
THE RISE OF APEX PREDATORS…
Nearly sixty-five million years ago an asteroid collided with the Yucatan Peninsula in the fifth and final Extinction Event that nearly destroyed all life on Earth. But when a recent earthquake exposes something unusual 2000 feet beneath the Yucatan Peninsula, cryptanalysts Alyssa Moore and John Savage are called in to investigate this peculiar structure that bears uncanny resemb
lances to writings discovered in Eden.
Working with the Department of Defense, John and Alyssa discover the remains of what is believed to be the cataclysmic bolide to have struck the Earth sixty-five million years ago is actually a broken-off section of an intergalactic ark.
Inside this remnant, they discover a zoological lab containing a menagerie of apex predators gathered from all points of the universe. But as John and Alyssa begin to tie in the writings on the ship to writings they discovered in Eden, a DOD military faction seeking intel unwittingly disrupts matters by awakening sleeping giants.
Finding themselves fighting for self-preservation and for the salvation of Earth, John and Alyssa battle soldiers trying to kill them for the sake of completing a hidden agenda …
THE THRONES OF EDEN
(Book #3 of the Crypts of Eden series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
More than a year ago John Savage and Alyssa Moore nearly lost their lives after discovering the Temple of Eden. Now, two more temples have been discovered: The Temple of God, which holds the answers to mankind’s inevitable fate, and a third temple that houses Earth’s future once mankind has been eliminated. As John and Alyssa find themselves in a life and death struggle against hidden dangers within these ancient sanctuaries, they become the keys that would either serve as mankind’s salvation … or condemn them to the dark fate that was prophesied within the Temple of God. But when they reach the halls of the third temple they awaken something that’s been lying dormant for centuries. Programmed to protect those who sit upon the Thrones of Eden, these sentinels are one with the darkness and the protectors of a new regime. They are the saviors paving the way to a new future and the promise for mankind’s destruction. But the only ones who stand in their way, the only two who can provide any hope of salvaging the future of mankind, are John Savage and Alyssa Moore.