The Goliath Chamber - Vatican Knights 24 (2021) by Rick Jones (fastest ebook reader TXT) ๐
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- Author: Rick Jones
Read book online ยซThe Goliath Chamber - Vatican Knights 24 (2021) by Rick Jones (fastest ebook reader TXT) ๐ยป. Author - Rick Jones
โTo do what?โ
Isaiah pointed to his east. โWe take it as far as we can into the Tyrrhenian Sea where we can dispose of it.โ
โWith the time remaining,โ the field commander pointed at the timer, โit would be a one-way trip.โ
โSacrifice the life of the few to save the lives of the many,โ the Vatican Knight returned.
โUh-huh. And the one who would serve as the moral sacrifice here would be?โ
โMe,โ Isaiah answered.
The field commander stared at Isaiah, who couldnโt determine if the man was measuring him with admiration, or if he was considering him as someone running a foolโs errand. And then: โYouโll have your chopper. Finding a pilot, however, who is willing to sacrifice his life might be difficult to find, however.โ
โI fly,โ said Nehemiah. โSmall planes and choppers. Iโm one of three men in the VK unit trained to do so for specific operations when the mission calls for extractions.โ
The field commander looked at both men, and then at the suitcase. โThe moment you move that thing, even an inch, may set it off. You know that, right?โ
โThatโs why you need to clear the area,โ Isaiah told him. โEvacuate as many people as possible from the location. Take your team and draw distance.โ
The field commander looked in the direction of Vatican City and at the dome of St. Peterโs Basilica. Vatican City had been the throne of Catholicism for centuries. The bones of Saint Peter, along with other religious treasures and troves, were about to be incinerated. The pontiff himself, a leader of more than a billion people, was about to be lost within the consuming flames.
โWe now have less than forty minutes,โ Isaiah told him. โWe need that chopper.โ
The field commander did not hesitate from this point on. He quickly contacted his leadership at the Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza to dispatch a chopper immediately to the Piazza del Risorgimento, with the helicopter arriving from Fiumicino International Airport.
By the time the orders were relayed, there was less than thirty-five minutes remaining.
CHAPTER
FIFTY
Monte Soratte Bunker
30 Miles North of Rome
Mannix was sitting in the shadows keeping watch over Shari while trying to communicate with his unit. Stallworth, Bienemy and McKinley had all gone dark, something that went against operational conventions, since communication was paramount to any mission. There had been no orders to โgo dark.โ Yet Mannix received nothing in return but static and white noise. Apparently, Kimball Hayden was proving himself as an elite soldier who led a selected few known as the Vatican Knights.
After making several more attempts over the course of several minutes and receiving no feedback, Mannix had no choice but to consider his team neutralized. Kimball Hayden had been cutting his way through the lines with surgical precision, while leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.
From beyond the circle of light and sitting within the shadows, Mannix got to his feet and approached Shari Cohen. In the dim illumination of candlelight, he appeared wraithlike in his skeleton-painted mask.
โThe sinner,โ he started with his metallic-sounding voice, โapproaches.โ
โYou already told me that.โ
Mannix remained silent.
After the stare off between them, the Nocturnal Saint looked at his weapon and examined the chamber to see if a round was chambered. There was, which was something he already knew, but he did so in front of Shari to let her know that the weapon was ready.
Then from Mannix: โWhen situations in the field of operation changes,โ he said, โthen as a good soldier, I must adapt.โ
โThat goes for both sides,โ she told him. โKimball is just as adept, if not more so, in adjusting to his surroundings and to his situations. In fact, one might say that heโs rather unique at it.โ
โThe sinner is a man like any other. And Iโll prove that to you when I lay him down by your side to bleed out at your feet.โ
Shari remained silent. Somehow, this manโs voice, even masked, held something powerfully cold and sinister about it.
โNow,โ Mannix said, โI will find the sinner. And then we shall see who bows to who.โ
Backpedaling from the candlesโ radiance and settling beyond the dark veil that divided light from dark, Shari could see the spectral lights of his NVG lenses. And then they were gone, the dual set of lights suddenly winking off.
Shari Cohen was now alone inside this cold and feebly lit chamber.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Piazza del Risorgimento
Rome, Italy
With less than twenty-seven minutes remaining on the timer, an Airbus H155 with an air speed capable of hitting 200 miles per hour was one of the fastest transport helicopters in the world. With a capacity load to carry thirteen people, which did not include the one- or two-man crew necessary to fly it, the craft was more than ample to achieve the means.
As the aircraft began its descent into the plaza, the heavy wash of the rotors was so great that dust kicked off the bricks. Once the chopper landed, its rotors continued to rotate at blinding speeds. While the helicopter continued to idle, the pilot quickly exited the chopper, opened the bay door, then made his way to an awaiting vehicle that was being driven by the field commander.
As soon as the pilot entered the vehicle, the field commander gave a thumbs up to the Vatican Knights, and yelled, โGood look!โ Without waiting for a response, the field commander put the car into gear and sped away with its lights swinging furiously inside the lightbar.
Isaiah pointed to the helicopter and, yelling above the sounds of the rotors, asked Nehemiah, โWhat do you know about it?โ
โGood chopper! An H155 with a top speed of two hundred miles per hour!โ
Isaiah performed a quick math problem inside his head. The coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea was twenty-three miles away. At two hundred miles per hour, it would take approximately seven minutes to
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