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  THE WOLF'S BITE

  Copyright © 2017 by David Archer.

  All right reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

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  Published by: David Archer

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

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  Fate whispers to the wolf;

  “you cannot withstand the storm”

  and the wolf whispers back,

  “I am the storm.”

  ONE

  Noah’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he took it out to read the text message that had just come in.

  My office 13:00.

  He looked up at Sarah and Neil, who were sitting across his kitchen table from him. They had been eating lunch, but their phones had gone off at the same time as his, and he knew they were reading the same message.

  “I guess the Dragon Lady thinks it’s time to get us back in the saddle,” Neil said.

  Sarah nodded. “I’ve kinda been expecting it,” she said. “It’s been a month. I’m surprised they gave us that long.”

  Neal looked up at Noah. “Don’t suppose they gave you any heads up on what’s happening, did they?”

  “No,” Noah said. “I’m sure this has to do with filling the gap in our team. With Moose gone, we need a new backup man. I would imagine we’re going to meet him today.”

  Neil and Sarah looked at one another but didn’t say anything. They had both felt the incredible impact of Moose’s loss, but they had finally stopped breaking into tears each time they thought of him. Moose Conway had been more than just a part of their team; he had been like a brother to each of them, and had given his life in an effort to save theirs. Their last mission, to ferret out the people behind a little-known but powerful terrorist organization, had gone sour and they had been forced to go after one of the most deadly assassins the world had ever known. When it came down to a firefight, that assassin had drawn a bead on Neil, but Moose had drawn his fire and taken the bullet. His heroism had cost him his life.

  Noah Wolf, their team leader, had fired the shots that ended that assassin’s career, along with his life. Noah was an assassin, himself, the shining star of the American organization known simply as E & E. He had been recruited after a short but illustrious military career, specifically because he suffered from something known as atypical blunted affect disorder, a rare condition that leaves its victims without emotions—or conscience—of any kind. Noah had not been afflicted with the ravaging grief that Sarah and Neil had known, but he still felt the vacancy that Moose’s death had left in his life. There was something wrong, with Moose gone, something that simply would never be right again in Noah’s world.

  Unfortunately, the work that they did was dangerous. As an assassin, it was often up to Noah to eliminate dangerous or evil persons from the world, just the way any soldier might have to eliminate an enemy. There were always risks in any kind of war, and Moose was not the first to die in the service of E & E, nor would he be the last. Noah had come to the conclusion that the Grim Reaper knew each of their names, and probably had them written on some future to-do list.

  “Man,” Neil said, “I hope whoever we get isn’t an asshole. Moose is gonna be a tough act to follow.”

  “It’s almost a quarter after twelve,” Sarah said. “We should probably get on the way, if we’re going to get there on time.”

  She put away the bread and cold cuts they had used for making sandwiches while Noah cleared their plates and put them in the dishwasher. Neil walked out ahead of them and managed to twist his long, lanky frame into the back seat of Sarah’s Camaro when they joined him. Noah slid into the front passenger seat as Sarah got behind the wheel, and they headed into Kirtland.

  Sarah had to push the car a bit to make it on time, but they stepped out of the elevator at two minutes before one. Getting to Allison’s office took only a minute, so they were actually slightly early when her secretary waved them in.

  Don Jefferson, Allison’s right-hand man, was already sitting on one of the big leather sofas in her office. Allison was in the wingback chair she used when she was holding an informal meeting, so Noah and the others settled onto the sofa across from the one Jefferson occupied.

  Allison Peterson was the director of E & E. She answered only to the President of the United States, and her approval was required before any assassination could be ordered by American operatives. In most cases, any assassination she sanctioned would be carried out by one of the teams that worked for her.

  “I’m assuming you’ve all had time to cope with the loss of Mr. Conway,” Allison said without preamble. “We understand how devastating such a loss can be to a team, but it’s also necessary to get you past it and back into action as soon as possible. We have to replace him today, and your new teammate will be here in just a few minutes.”

  “Because you’re our very best team,” Jefferson said, “we’re giving you the best man we have available. His name is Marco Turin, and I’m fairly sure you’ve all met him before.”

  Noah nodded. “I have,” he said. “He showed me around my first day here, but you know that. He struck me then as a pretty good guy.”

  “He’s an asshole,” Neil said with a disappointed sigh. “When I was in PT, he was always picking on me about how tall I am.”

  Sarah grinned at him. “That’s because most people aren’t tall enough to bang their heads on a doorway.” She turned to Jefferson. “I’ve met him a couple of times, just around town. He seems okay.”

  Allison rolled her eyes. “Good, that’s two out of three of you he won’t have to win over. Listen, kids, it’s very rough on anyone who has to step in when a team member is lost. Don’t be too hard on him, okay?”

  There was a tap on the door, and it opened to reveal Marco. He grinned when he saw Noah and stepped into the room, taking a seat beside Jefferson.

  Marco was a dark-haired, stocky and muscular man of about five foot ten. His hair was a little long and parted in the middle, and he wore a short and obviously untrimmed beard. He sat quietly for a few seconds, simply allowing the team to look him ov
er. When he finally spoke, it was softly, and with an accent that sounded like the Deep South.

  “When they told me I was gonna be joining your team,” he said, “I remembered Noah and I talked about that possibility when we first met. I know you had a good run with Moose, and I can tell you that I had nothing but the greatest respect for him. I know I can never replace him, but I promise you I’ll do my best at whatever you need me to do.”

  Noah leaned forward and extended a hand to him. “I’m sure you will,” he said. “None of us expect you to become Moose, so just be yourself. That’s all we ask.”

  Neil shook hands with Marco, and then Sarah followed suit. “Just don’t start with the tall jokes, okay?” Neil asked. “Let’s leave that behind us.”

  Marco grinned. “No problem,” he said. “I never make jokes about a man I always look up to.”

  Neil groaned, but Sarah chuckled. “We’re all just here to do our jobs,” she said. “You’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

  Allison smiled at them all. “Marco has been our utility man, filling in wherever he was needed up until now. This will be his first permanent assignment to a team, but there was literally no one better that we could give you.” She leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees, her hands clasped together. “Noah, I want you guys to spend the next few days getting used to each other, because there’s a mission waiting for you. I won’t go into the specifics right now, but I need your team ready to start mission-specific training next Monday morning.”

  Jefferson cleared his throat. “I’d suggest you spend your time recreationally until then,” he said. “Try to spot any personality differences that could interfere and overcome them, because there won’t be time for it once your training begins. The new mission will be critical, but it’s also going to be different from what you’ve done up till now. We need to know you guys can work together properly.”

  “That’s it for the moment,” Allison said. “You kids get out of here and go have some fun. We’ll all meet again oh eight hundred Monday morning, in the briefing room.”

  Noah stood and the others all rose immediately after. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s go have a beer.”

  “Sounds good,” Marco said. He and the others followed Noah out the door, and they rode down the elevator together. “Hey, Stretch, why don’t you ride with me?” He pointed at the Mustang that was parked two spaces over from Sarah’s Camaro.

  Neil glared at him. “Do not call me that,” he said menacingly. “Remember that I can spit onto your head without you even noticing, okay?”

  Marco laughed. “Okay, okay, I just had to get one more out of my system. I promise I won’t do it again, good enough?”

  Neil’s narrowed eyes bore into him for a moment, but then he nodded. “Okay, fine,” he said. He followed Marco to the Mustang and slid the passenger seat all the way back before he got in.

  Noah and Sarah got into the Camaro and backed out, and she led the way out of the garage. “Where to?” she asked Noah.

  “Let’s go on out to the Sagebrush,” Noah said, naming their favorite restaurant and bar. “A beer actually does sound pretty good about now.”

  Sarah nodded and pointed the car in that direction. From town, it took them almost 30 minutes to get to the saloon, and she was just mischievous enough to force Marco to break the speed limits to keep up with her. When they pulled into the parking lot, Noah noticed that both Marco and Neil were grinning when they got out of the car.

  They walked into the restaurant and were greeted by Don Jefferson’s daughter, Elaine. Elaine had been Moose’s girlfriend, and the smile she gave them had a hint of sadness in it. “Hey, Guys,” she said. She looked Marco over. “This the new guy?”

  “Yep,” Sarah said. “Elaine, this is Marco. Marco, this is Elaine Jefferson.”

  Marco and Elaine nodded at one another. “We’ve met before,” Elaine said. “You’ve got a rough job ahead of you, Marco. Filling Moose’s shoes isn’t going to be easy.”

  “I’m not even gonna try,” Marco said. “We all know he was the best at what he did, so I’m just going to try to do my job the best I can.”

  Elaine looked into his eyes for a moment, then nodded once. “That’s good,” she said. “Moose and I were pretty close, but I love the rest of these guys, too. You better take care of them for me, whenever you’re out on the job.”

  Marco grinned and winked. “That’s my plan,” he said.

  “Good,” she said. “Come on, guys, I’ve got a table right over here.”

  Elaine led them to a table that was situated some distance away from the few other customers in the restaurant, then brought them each the beer they had ordered. Neil, who was actually still a few months shy of being old enough to drink legally, knew that she wouldn’t bother to card him.

  The table had five chairs. Noah took one, with his back to the wall, with Sarah sitting beside him on his left and Neil on the opposite side of her. Marco had taken the chair on Noah’s right, and now he nodded at the fifth chair.

  “Are we expecting someone else?”

  “No,” Noah said. “That’s Moose’s chair. It’s sort of a tradition we developed after we lost him.”

  “Yeah,” Neil said. “He’s always with us, so we always keep a chair open for him.”

  Marco nodded. “I get it,” he said. “Look, y’all, it’s like I told Elaine. I’m not out to replace him, I’ve been around the outfit enough to know that that’s impossible. You guys all had something going, something that let you work together in one of the worst possible jobs you could ever have. Believe me when I say I’m fully aware that I may never find that same closeness. I’ve been a utility man for the last two years, filling in wherever they needed me. Don’t worry about making me feel like the odd man out, I’m used to it. Just know that I’ll do my absolute best at whatever y’all need me to do.”

  Noah cocked his head and looked at Marco quizzically. “No problem there,” he said. “I’m just wondering, though, where did you get that Southern drawl? I don’t remember you sounding like that back when we met.”

  Marco laughed. “Back then I was doing all I could not to let it show,” he said. “Lately, I just got to the point I don’t worry about it. It comes from my upbringing. I grew up down in Florida, in a small town near the Georgia line.”

  “Good,” Neil said. “Next time you make wise cracks about how tall I am, I’ll remind you that you’re just a cracker.”

  The four of them made small talk through a couple of beers apiece, then Noah suggested they all head back to his place. They settled their tabs with Elaine, leaving the generous tip they always did, and Noah noticed that Neil automatically went to the passenger door of Marco’s car.

  It looked like Marco might just fit in.

  TWO

  “This is likely to be one of the toughest missions we’ll ever give you,” Allison said during their briefing on the following Monday. “It is not, and I repeat not, an assassination. This time you get to experience the other E, eradication. The goal this time is to make the target disappear and seem to be dead, while we move them into an entirely new life.”

  “That’s only one of the differences,” Jefferson said, sitting beside her at the conference table. “Another one is that it won’t be Noah on point position, this time. The target is a young woman who is currently held in a women’s prison in Thailand. Sarah, you’ll be going into the prison yourself to make contact. Noah and the others will be planning and arranging your escape, so your job is to get this girl to come with you.”

  Sarah’s eyes had gone suddenly wide. “I have to go to prison?”

  “Yes,” Allison said. “You’ll be arrested for possession of methamphetamine, the most common charge in Thailand. As a result, you’ll be quickly sentenced to a term of years in the prison known as the ‘Bangkok Hilton.’ A part of it is designated as a women’s prison, and that’s where you’ll find your target.” He pushed a button on a remote he held in his hand, and the image of a pretty youn
g woman with long brown hair appeared on the screen behind him. “That’s her. Her name is Sharon Ingersoll, and she’s been sentenced to five years for possession and sale of yaba, or meth.”

  “Wait,” Neil said, “we’re going into a prison to rescue a drug dealer?”

  “Actually, no,” Allison said. “Miss Ingersoll was innocent. She was simply visiting Thailand on vacation, and was sharing a room with another American girl that she met after she arrived. That girl had purchased the drugs for her own use, but because it was more than what the government there recognizes as a recreational amount and they were both in the room at the time, both of them were charged. Thailand doesn’t provide any kind of quality in defense attorneys and she wasn’t given a chance to secure her own, so they were railroaded through a rapid trial, convicted and sentenced in less than a week.”

  “Okay, but still,” Neil went on. “If she was innocent, isn’t there something our embassy could do? Why does it have to involve us?”

  “As it happens,” Jefferson took over, “Miss Ingersoll is considered a rising star in the field of particle beam technology. She’s been working with DARPA for the last two years, and the research team she’s part of insists they can’t continue without her. The work she does concerns mostly weapons and energy transmission and is classified Most Secret, so normal diplomatic channels that require tons of background information could run the risk of exposing her. If any of our enemies were to learn about her current situation, she’d be at risk of abduction or termination, so the Joint Chiefs want us to move on this as soon as possible. Since she has no family, and very few friends outside of those she works with, a complete change of identity seems to be the ideal solution.”

  Sarah swallowed hard. “Okay,” she said. “And how do we get her out?”

  “That’s going to be the tricky part,” Jefferson said. “We considered trying to bribe the guards, but that runs the risk of discovery that could make the mission even more difficult. The most likely chance of success is going to come down to a stealth incursion. Noah, Neil and Marco are going to have to break into the prison, locate you and the target, and then get you both out.”