Soldiers of Fame and Fortune Full Series Omnibus: Nobody’s Fool, Nobody Lives Forever, Nobody Drinks That Much, Nobody Remembers But Us, Ghost Walking, 12 Book series...

by Michael Todd

  The doors to the room opened and echoed a little in the silence. The lead council members entered the room, Raven in front with two new lead agents behind her. She sat first, in the center in front of the microphone. The other two agents took their seats, folded their hands in their laps, and sat ramrod straight as they waited for the meeting to begin.

  The woman cleared her throat and tapped the mic. “This full council meeting is now in session. Before we begin with the main discussion points, I would like to say a word of welcome. Sitting to my right is Agent Sparrow, a ten-year member of the organization. To my left is Agent Sterling, a fifteen-year veteran in the field, now moving to a more political role in the organization. This will be your first meeting with us, and hopefully, there will be many to come.”

  She stared at her notes, a slight sadness in her eyes. “Also, I would like to point out that all agents who have passed since the last meeting have been red-foldered, disavowed, and their information has been destroyed. Any and all information or memories you have of these agents should be deleted. Anyone caught with such information will be terminated immediately and with extreme prejudice. We have no room in this organization for those who wish to do it harm or bring turmoil to the ranks.”

  Everyone stared forward and listened impassively as Agent Raven spoke. “I would also like to congratulate Agent Birkdale who has reached a record thirty-five years of service with the organization. You have been a fine example to us all of how to be not only a top agent but how to withstand the pressures of this business for an extended period of time without making a mistake that would endanger us all. Your legacy will be commemorated in our organization’s secret society until you either leave us or die. I’m sure I can speak for all of us when I say that, even after you have been red-foldered, your legacy will live on in every mission our agents take from now until the end of this organization.”

  Several of the members clapped and Agent Birkdale tilted his head in thanks. He was old and looked even older than he probably was. Across his cheek was a deep scar with a story most likely equally as dark. Raven put the papers in front of her aside and picked up three folders, which she placed on the desk.

  She opened the first folder and held her steepled fingers to her lips. “Now, we have three cases to go over today. We will review them and decide what to instruct our agents to do. We take these votes very seriously, especially after recent events. The first order of business is the Zoo creature. Agent Sparrow, would you be so kind as to do a quick review for our council?”

  Agent Sparrow, a handsome thirty-something man with dark hair and light-blue eyes, picked the file up and leaned toward his smaller microphone. “The case in hand was handled in a serious manner. We originally heard a rumor that a large beast was free in the Amazon. This animal was linked to several possible species within the Zoo. An agent was sent to gather intel. After deliberation, it was found that the animal had been transferred from the Amazon to a large estate in Northern California. The millionaire idiot who decided this was a good idea wanted one for their own personal zoo. Obviously, the animal will be terminated and its remains taken back to the Zoo. We are here to vote on whether to give a warning to the millionaire or to terminate.”

  The mics were clicked off and the council deliberated. They all clicked either one switch or the other in front of them. Every single light lit up bright red, including the three main council members. Agent Raven wrote quickly in her notes. “It is unanimous. The millionaire, who has been plagued with even larger charges, poses a threat to both the world and our organization. The agent on duty will be notified within twelve hours that they are to terminate immediately. We will send a special ops team to terminate the animal and transport its remains.”

  Everyone went silent as they waited for Raven to finish making notes in the file. When she was done, she closed it and handed it to Agent Sparrow. She opened the second file and raised her brow as she familiarized herself with it. “Now, the next file is fairly simple. There was a breach in information and a young hacker has collected a significant amount of data that needs to be deleted. There seems to be no indication that this individual understands exactly what it is they have in their possession. Currently, the case is with TechOps and it is my recommendation that we leave it with them and do not send in an agent. The person in question has been deemed not a threat to the organization.”

  Immediately, all the lights turned green. Agent Raven turned and looked at them before she nodded, made notes in the file, and handed it to Agent Sterling. “I will let you handle this one with TechOps. Have a full work-up done on what they will recover and what steps they should take to complete the mission. When it has been fulfilled, please let me know. It may seem harmless at the moment, but we don’t want it to escalate any further.”

  The man took the file with a firm nod. “We will have this taken care of immediately. Our hope is that it is resolved quickly enough to avoid any type of agent intervention and definitely no loss of life.”

  The woman smiled. “Perfect. Thank you so much for handling these cases, gentlemen.” She put her hands on the black folder in front of her and sighed. “Okay. We now move on to the last order of business. This one is definitely something that none of us wanted to see come to this point.”

  She opened the file and ran her fingers over the front page. “As you know, you are sitting in seats recently vacated because the previous lead council members chose to send a Terminate with Extreme Prejudice order out. As we can see now—and as I tried to explain before—this was a very bad decision. That is what ultimately lead me to vote no. Unfortunately, I was the only one out of the three of us.”

  The two new members shifted uncomfortably in their seats. They both knew how their predecessors had died. Agent Raven glanced at each of them with a stern but educating stare. “Those members have been terminated by the agent in this folder, along with fifteen other agents who tried to follow the request without questioning their orders. Only one agent returned without following through. All charges against them have been dropped.”

  The room was silent, and the council members glanced nervously back and forth at one another. Agent Raven ignored them and continued. “Fifteen people in our group were killed. That is astronomical. While these people died, the agent responsible and targeted lived through multiple attacks in the Zoo, while also being hunted by wild animals. By all accounts, she should have been killed but she remains alive. The call was reckless and immoral, and I am ashamed of this organization for it. I hold the organization as a whole responsible for this. We are not here to take lives simply because we have the power to do so. Only with research and understanding do we move to those very difficult situations.”

  Agent Raven flipped through the first few pages of the file. “So we are now faced with a choice. We either decide to work with this team—the agent and her handler—or we forever have them as our enemies. Remember, we all have seen what happens when you have this agent as an enemy so please choose wisely. The other option is to simply ignore them and move on. I do not believe, however, that it’s a preferred outcome. They still possess significant information on the organization and our resources and methods. To ignore them would leave us vulnerable. While I have every sympathy for them, I believe we really only have the two choices I presented first. We will put it to a vote. Rescind the Termination order or keep it on the books and move forward. Rescind is green, move forward is red.”

  Raven put her hands in her lap and looked at the file. A low whisper moved across the group as the council members discussed their options in low voices. They spoke so quietly that even the lead members could not hear them. This was a huge decision, and none of them wanted to move on a decision strictly out of fear. However, with fifteen members dead, it was hard not to feel the pressure that weighed on them.

  All three leads stared at the floor in front of the table and waited for the council to make their decision. Sometimes, issues like this could take hours for the members t
o reach a decision. They tried to make every vote count, so if someone was not fully on board, they tended to discuss it until they were.

  On this day, however, and in this particular case, the whispering died down after only a few minutes and the silence set in. Several moments of anxiety drifted through the room without a single whisper, a single gasp, or any sound at all. It was so silent it was almost hard to sit there. Whatever the vote, they had all come to an agreement, and fast. Whether that was a good sign or not would be determined very shortly.

  Agent Raven looked at her watch and listened as the sound of clicking switches began to fill the room. One by one, the lights flipped on from one end of the table to the other. Not a single council member paused, which meant that everyone was very sure about their choice. The council was known to make hard decisions, and the outcome was not always what everyone would consider the best option. Still, they had decades of experience between them, and that lent a hand in their choices for the future of agents.

  When the clicks ceased, the three lead council members sat motionless and glanced at one another. They did not look at the council’s votes until after they had cast their own. The opinions of others could not be seen to influence their decisions. Each person was asked to thoroughly and fully think the issue through, read the facts, understand the outcomes, and make a decision based on their own personal reasoning behind it.

  Agent Sparrow flipped his switch. Agent Sterling exhaled a deep breath and clicked his switch as well. Finally, after several moments, Agent Raven followed suit. She pushed her chair back and stood, stepped away from the table, and looked at the lights of each of the members. Every single one of them was green.

  She shook her head in relief and took her seat, clearing her throat. “The decision in this case has been made. We have chosen to rescind the Termination Order and instead, we will agree to work with the agent and her team at the deepest and darkest levels. Those terms have already been laid out and both parties will make a choice on that and sign when ready. Thank you, council, for putting everything in place.”

  Agent Sparrow stood and drew a fourth chair to the head table and set a mic and speaker cube in front of it. He tapped the mic and leaned forward. “Is this decision acceptable to you, Agent?”

  Hickok’s voice echoed from the speaker cube. “Yes, this decision is more than acceptable. It is regrettable that it was not reached the first time the case was brought to vote. I, as much as anyone, regret having to take the lives of our agents and leaders for self-preservation.”

  Raven nodded. “We understand. We, too, are saddened by the turn of events but we know you acted in self-defense and in defense of your handler, who was not trained sufficiently in combat scenarios. Without you, innocent lives would have been lost over greed and an inability to see the truth for what it was. Thank you for coming to us with these concerns.”

  “Of course.”

  Agent Sparrow tapped his foot nervously. “Now that you have accepted, what do you wish to be called?”

  Hickok paused. “Call us Ghost.”

  The Zoo on Audio

  Have you heard the audiobooks for this series? Book one, Nobody’s Fool is available now at your favorite digital bookstore.

  Apocalypse Paused

  Do you love Boxed Sets? Check out Apocalypse Paused Boxed Set One (Books 1-4)! This series is available at Amazon and via Kindle Unlimited.

  Available now on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited

  Author Notes - Michael (Todd) Anderle

  February 25, 2019

  THANK YOU for not only reading this story but these Author Notes as well.

  (I think I’ve been good with always opening with “thank you.” If not, I need to edit the other Author Notes!)

  RANDOM (sometimes) THOUGHTS?

  I can’t sing.

  (I’m watching the new season of the Voice, so that is why this is on my mind.)

  BUT - I wanted to sing so desperately when I was a teenager and in my (very) young twenties. I wanted to move people… (Ok, let’s be honest, I also wanted to know what it was like to have a stadium full of girls screaming… but I’ve found out my personality would suck in that situation but it took thirty years to learn that bit of knowledge.)

  Beyond moving people, I wanted to know what it was like to excel in a creative talent that was all mine. It wasn’t until I wrote The Kurtherian Gambit that I got a taste of moving people.

  But it wasn’t in stadiums, it was in hospitals, and in bed before sleep, and in banks, and trains and automobiles when they had time between shifts and on the way home in audio.

  I can’t sing…

  But I’m blessed to be able to create characters that make people want to stay in the stories, and take themselves to different worlds.

  Now, I want to offer you a chance to do the same thing.

  This is book “12” of Soldiers of Fame and Fortune. Soon (two months or so I think) the ZOO is going to be opened up a little, then more, and allow you to write in the Universe.

  There is no guarantee you will sell a book. But, I will have a ready made universe that allows you to play, and shoot aliens and save the world.

  One bullet at a time.

  Stick around, check it out, see if maybe a desire to sing was really just a need to write coming out in a different way.

  Just a note - don’t expect a stadium full of girls to be screaming for you, that doesn’t happen…

  Except in stories ;-)

  FAN PRICING

  $0.99 Saturdays (new LMBPN stuff) and $0.99 Wednesday (both LMBPN books and friends of LMBPN books.) Get great stuff from us and others at tantalizing prices.

  Go ahead, I bet you can’t read just one.

  Sign up here: http://lmbpn.com/email/.

  HOW TO MARKET FOR BOOKS YOU LOVE

  Review them so others have your thoughts, tell friends and the dogs of your enemies (because who wants to talk with enemies?)… Enough said ;-)

  Sincerely,

  Michael Anderle

  Connect with Michael Todd

  Want more?

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  https://www.facebook.com/Protected-by-the-Damned-193345908061855/

  Other Zoo Books

  BIRTH OF HEAVY METAL

  He Was Not Prepared (1)

  She Is His Witness (2)

  Backstabbing Little Assets (3)

  Blood Of My Enemies (4)

  Get Out Of Our Way (5)

  APOCALYPSE PAUSED

  Fight for Life and Death (1)

  Get Rich or Die Trying (2)

  Big Assed Global Kegger (3)

  Ambassadors and Scorpions (4)

  Nightmares From Hell (5)

  Calm Before The Storm (6)

  One Crazy Pilot (7)

  One Crazy Rescue (8)

  One Crazy Machine (9)

  One Crazy Life (10)

  One Crazy Set Of Friends (11)

  One Crazy Set Of Stories (12)

  SOLDIERS OF FAME AND FORTUNE

  Nobody’s Fool (1)

  Nobody Lives Forever (2)

  Nobody Drinks That Much (3)

  Nobody Remembers But Us (4)

  Ghost Walking (5)

  Ghost Talking (6)

  Ghost Brawling (7)

  Ghost Stalking (8)

  Ghost Resurrection (9)

  Ghost Adaptation (10)

  Ghost Redemption (11)

  Ghost Revolution (12)

  Team Savage

  Savage Reborn (1)

  Savage Reload (2)

  THE BOHICA CHRONICLES

  Reprobates (1)

  Degenerates (2)

  Books written as Michael Anderle

  For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:

  www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/

  To see see more of LMBPN’s audiobooks, including those written by Michael Anderle please visit:

  https://lmbpn.com/lmbpn-audio/

  Todd, Soldiers of Fame and Fortune Full Series Omnibus: Nobody’s Fool, Nobody Lives Forever, Nobody Drinks That Much, Nobody Remembers But Us, Ghost Walking, 12 Book series...