Director Manning paused, then held up his hand. “You know what, actually . . . let me just take it from here.” He stood up and shuffled Sarah to the side.
“But Director Manning—”
“Thank you, Sarah,” he said, dismissing her. Sarah took a seat by the podium. She wanted to give them a better sense of things. She wasn’t sure they understood Xander yet. She didn’t want them to stop the good things he was doing to right the wrongs the judicial system couldn’t manage to take care of. There was nothing more she could do now, though; it was Manning's show. She had assumed he was thinking the same way she was, but he had called this meeting for a reason.
Manning took the podium. “Now, the way I see it, we have three options here. One, we could shut Xander down and bring him up on charges . . .”
Sarah’s stomach dropped.
“Two, we could let Mr. King continue to go about this, what I think we all would agree is noble work and just continue to monitor him—”
“What, and just let him play like he’s Batman?” Richards interjected.
“Deputy Richards, I understand that concern, and that’s why I think my third option is the only way to go. We will just have to be careful how we go about it.”
“Which is?” Richards said.
“Which is, we get him to go to work for us.”
Sarah tried to hold her tongue, but she couldn’t. “Xander will never work for the government, Director Manning. You’re wasting your time on that notion.”
“Now hold on, Sarah. I just told you we would have to be careful how we went about it.”
“I don’t understand, why wouldn’t we just make him work for us?” Mary asked. “We do have evidence that he has killed these people.”
Again Sarah couldn’t help herself. “He just simply won’t do it—”
Director Manning gave Sarah an “I’m warning you” glare and continued to explain. “What Ms. Gilbright is so passionately stating is that Xander doesn’t agree with how the United States government goes about some of its business. He made this very clear when he abruptly left our Special Ops team. He loves his country, but not its governing body.”
“Xander was Special Ops?” Mary said.
“Xander King was everything you could be in our military. After his parents died, his sole mission was revenge and he wanted to be trained by the best. He joined the navy, quickly becoming a Navy SEAL; then in record time he was running Special Ops missions. I’m not sure what you have or have not heard, but he just might be the best damn soldier this military has ever known.”
“So what happened?” Mary asked.
“Well, like a lot of our soldiers, he didn’t agree with the missions he was sent on and frankly, as you all know, some of the innocent casualties that go along with keeping this country safe. So he’d had enough. To be honest with you, I’m not so sure this wasn’t his plan all along.”
“What do you mean?” Richards asked.
“I mean, I think he used our military.”
“Used us?”
“Don’t get me wrong, he laid his life on the line every single day for his country, but yes, I think ultimately he used us. I think the only thing Xander ever wanted was to find the people responsible for the murder of his parents.”
“And he used the military to train him to do so,” Mary Hartsfield said as she let that sink in.
“That’s right. But we need a man like this. A man with his skills. Sometimes a surgical strike works far better than bringing in the entire army. Saves a lot of lives too. As you know, things are getting downright scary on the terrorist front and we could use a silent weapon like King.”
Mary stood up. “So what then? What are we supposed to do?”
“The only thing we can do. Use our resources to find what he wants before he finds it. Then we give it to him . . . at a price.”
“We find out who killed his parents and force him to do jobs for us for the information.” Richards recognized the direction Manning was suggesting.
“It’s the only way it will work.” Manning hiked up his pants. “He will go to prison before he stops hunting their killer, and we can’t have that happen. We can’t lose him. He wouldn’t go to prison anyway; he has too many resources. If he really wanted to, he could just disappear. That is why we have to take our time and get this right, and that is why Sarah is going to head up a team that will monitor Xander and Sam while finding the information that King desires.”
Sarah couldn’t contain the joy she found in that news, and a smile grew across her face.
“When we find that information—who killed Xander’s family—we will approach him. But . . .”
Manning paused and looked over to Sarah.
“We have to be careful. If something goes wrong, if Xander were to kill the wrong person and it gets out that we knew what he was doing and we let it happen, we kiss all of our jobs good-bye.”
Richards stood and gathered his things. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir, why take the risk? You ask me, we should shut him down and find a soldier who wants to work for us. There has to be a hundred guys in our great military who can do the jobs we need done, the jobs he can do—”
“I assure you there is not.”
Director Manning's expression was dead serious.
“There isn’t one. Not in our military, or any other military. That’s the only reason I would even call this meeting. If it was someone besides King doing this, we would just shut it down. But this soldier is special. We just have to make him an offer he can’t refuse, and we need to do it fast. As far as I’m concerned, this is of the highest priority. The United States needs Xander King.”
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I want to thank you, the reader. I love what I do, and no matter how many people help me along the way, none of it would be possible if you weren’t turning the pages.
To my family and friends. Every creative person is neurotic as hell about their creations, and I just want to thank you for always helping to keep my head on straight. And for indulging all of my ridiculous ideas.
To my editor, Josiah Davis. Thank you for continuing to turn my poorly constructed sentences into a readable story. You are great at what you do, and my work is better for it.
To my advanced reader team. You are my megaphone in helping spread the word about each new novel I release. You all have become friends, and I thank you for catching those last few sneaky typos, and always letting me know when something isn’t good enough. Saint Nick appreciates you, and so do I.
About the Author
Bradley Wright is the bestselling author of seven novels. He lives with his family in Lexington, Kentucky. He has always been a fan of great stories, whether it be a song, a movie, a novel, or a binge-worthy television series. Bradley loves interacting with readers on Facebook and via email. Click on your digital platform of choice below and join in on the fun.
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