Weapons
Page 34
‘Will…’
‘That’s not what I’m here for. I have a purpose. It’s not to savour life. It’s to make sure people like you can.’
‘Isn’t that hard to deal with?’
‘I manage.’
‘I hope that’s what you want. I hope you’re not pressured into it.’
Slater laughed softly. ‘You think anyone’s ever pressured me into anything?’
She smiled. ‘No. That doesn’t sound like you.’
‘It’s what I want,’ he said. ‘It’s what I need to do.’
‘Does that mean you’re going back to work?’
Slater paused.
Shien said, ‘I saw the blonde girl here, at the funeral. I know she’s from the government. I’m not stupid. She’s going to ask you to work for her.’
‘You think?’
‘I know.’
‘And how do you know that?’
She shrugged. ‘Sometimes I can tell.’
‘You’re smart, you know?’
She smiled. ‘I know.’
‘I think you might be right, Shien.’
‘Are you going to do it?’
‘I’m considering it.’
‘You’ll get hurt again.’
‘That’s okay. By this point it’s strange when I don’t get hurt.’
She stared at him. ‘Sometimes I don’t understand you.’
‘I don’t expect you to.’
‘But, I guess, I get it.’
‘You’d be the smartest kid in the world if you did.’
‘I guess I’ve been through a lot.’
‘That’s what we have in common,’ Slater said. ‘Tell me one thing.’
‘Yes?’
‘Are you enjoying your life?’
‘I am.’
‘Then I’ll keep doing this again and again. That’s what I live for. Hearing things like that.’
She said, ‘Are you enjoying yours?’
‘I am.’
‘Then why would I tell you to stop?’
He smiled, and a particularly vicious gust of wind howled through the cemetery and lashed at his suit. He steeled himself against the walker. His ribs hurt.
He said, ‘I’d best get going.’
‘Okay.’
‘Promise me you’ll keep enjoying life.’
‘I promise.’
‘That’s all that matters.’
‘You take care of yourself, Will,’ Shien said. ‘Thank you for everything.’
‘You say that too much.’
‘Because I mean it.’
He shifted the walker in the grass and turned away from her. Then he looked over his shoulder and said, ‘I’d do it all over again.’
He limped away.
104
They met in a cold grey gazebo at the edge of the cemetery grounds, surrounded by desolation.
It was quiet, save for the wind, and Slater sat down on one of the wooden benches and wrapped his overcoat tighter around his tender mid-section.
It would be some time before his insides healed.
Physically, and psychologically.
King sat down alongside him, but Violetta remained standing.
She crossed her arms over her chest, and managed a paranoid glance in each direction, as if worried a bystander might overhear.
But there was no-one around.
She said, ‘We have a lot to talk about.’
They both nodded.
She said, ‘I’ve been radio silent on you since San Francisco. I’ve given you time. But now I need an answer from each of you.’
‘Regarding what?’ King said.
They all knew.
Violetta said, ‘As you’re both fully aware, Black Force has dissolved. It was effective for a decade, but it overstayed its welcome. And, as you both know, it proved too flexible to control. There was too much capacity for discretion, and corruption bled in at the highest levels. It fell apart because of the way it was structured.’
They said nothing.
She continued. ‘But it worked. Solo operatives, genetic outliers, with unparalleled reaction speeds. It was foolproof. They simply worked better in isolation, without having to rely on fellow soldiers to slow them down. But it got too big, too broad, with too many variables. It wasn’t tight. It wasn’t controlled. It wasn’t effective.’
Silence.
She said, ‘And we never thought about putting the operatives together.’
King nodded.
Slater nodded.
They knew where this was headed.
‘We kept them apart,’ Violetta said. ‘Because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But I think the pair of you proved what you can do in a small unit.’
‘The three of us,’ Slater said.
She nodded solemnly. ‘The three of you.’
They both sat there, mulling over the loss.
She said, ‘You would have made an incredible trio.’
Slater said, ‘We have to accept reality.’
She nodded. ‘Yes. We do.’
‘What are you proposing now?’ King said.
Violetta studied them. Their expressions, their demeanours.
She said, ‘I don’t think either of you are adverse to an offer. Otherwise you would have turned and run for the hills a long time ago. Or gone to ground as soon as you stepped out of the hospital. But you’re here. Listening to me. Open to discussion.’
King said, ‘Our priorities have shifted.’
Slater said, ‘We’re not sure the vigilante lifestyle works for us.’
King said, ‘And we’re smart enough to understand our value.’
Violetta said, ‘You’re valuable. There’s no denying it. You might be the best assets on offer right now. So we’re going to make you a proposal.’
‘We?’ Slater said.
‘This is coming from the highest level,’ she said. ‘Trust me.’
‘We trust you,’ King said.
Violetta said, ‘Here it is. We recognise the fact that you have your external lives sorted. You don’t need the official military structure. You train, you eat well, you supplement effectively, and those are your lives. So we want you to keep doing that, because the results you achieved for this last job were some of the best we’ve ever seen. You were outnumbered fifty-to-one and you decimated everyone in your path. So we don’t want you to change a thing.’
‘But?’
‘But, if you want, we’d like to offer you exclusive operations whenever we deem the situation demands it. Think of yourselves as independent contractors. There’ll be less oversight, less control, less rules.’
Slater stayed quiet.
King stayed quiet.
She said, ‘You’ll train yourselves. You’ll have the full resources of the United States government at your disposal, and an unlimited budget for honing yourselves into the weapons we know you are.’
They said nothing.
‘You’ll be responsible for your own wellbeing,’ she said. ‘Your own training. You’ll receive offers from us, but when the need arises for your assistance, you’ll need to be there with no questions asked. Because there’s an intense screening process that goes into this. We’ll determine if it’s the right job for the pair of you, and we’ll only come to you in our darkest hour. At our time of greatest need.’
Slater half-nodded.
King stayed still as a statue.
Violetta said, ‘Truth is, we need you in our back pocket. You’re invaluable. We made a mistake in cutting you off the first time. We admit that.’
The wind rippled through the gazebo.
She said, ‘What do you say?’
They only looked at each other for a heartbeat.
That was all it took.
They were bred for warfare.
They wouldn’t have it any other way.
They turned to her, and in unison, said, ‘Yes.’
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Books by Matt Rogers
THE JASON KING SERIES
Isolated (Book 1)
Imprisoned (Book 2)
Reloaded (Book 3)
Betrayed (Book 4)
Corrupted (Book 5)
Hunted (Book 6)
THE JASON KING FILES
Cartel (Book 1)
Warrior (Book 2)
Savages (Book 3)
THE WILL SLATER SERIES
Wolf (Book 1)
Lion (Book 2)
Bear (Book 3)
Lynx (Book 4)
Bull (Book 5)
Hawk (Book 6)
THE KING & SLATER SERIES
Weapons (Book 1)
BLACK FORCE SHORTS
The Victor (Book 1)
The Chimera (Book 2)
The Tribe (Book 3)
The Hidden (Book 4)
The Coast (Book 5)
The Storm (Book 6)
The Wicked (Book 7)
The King (Book 8)
The Joker (Book 9)
The Ruins (Book 10)
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About the Author
Matt Rogers grew up in Melbourne, Australia as a voracious reader, relentlessly devouring thrillers and mysteries in his spare time. Now, he writes full-time. His novels are action-packed and fast-paced. Dive into the Jason King Series to get started with his collection.
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