Copyright © 2016 Scarlett Braden
All rights reserved.
ISBN:
ISBN-13:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the
products of the author’s imagination or used in a
fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover design by Susan Herron
Author photograph by Sebastian Matias Torres
Vallejo
Chapter 1
On the 25th day of September in the year of our Lord
1968, I was liberated from the womb. As I burst forth into this
world, my Army camo was so effective no one noticed it, and
they damn sure didn’t pick up on the army blood running
through my veins. But it was there, I’m truly certain it was
there.
I’m Pierce McCord Wellington the III. I was born Army, I
lived Army and I’ll die Army. The good Lord saw fit that I didn’t
die on a battlefield, but to my way of thinking that just means I
have more missions to complete.
My ancestry goes all the way back to the pilgrimage and
every man in my family has served. Hell, I even have a niece
serving now. I always knew I would be a soldier. The first twelve
years of my life were like most every other military brat, moving
from base to base. I say most because all of our moves were
between bases outside the borders of our fifty states.
When I reached the eighth grade, my father, now a four-
star general, decided it was time to begin my military education.
He never said so, but I always felt he was a little disappointed
that out of his three children I was the only son. And in his mind
the only one worthy of military duty. My father was of that
generation who believed a woman didn’t belong on the
battlefield. In a MASH hospital was okay, but short of being a
nurse, no woman belonged there.
So at the tender age of twelve, I was enrolled in the
McArthur Military Preparatory Boarding School. It was the first
time in my life I actually lived in the United States. I lived there
345 days a year until I graduated. I visited with my family for
ten days at Christmas and ten days in the summer. That first
year, I felt abandoned. Alone. My mother sent me a letter once a
month. My sisters wrote me more often and told me Momma
cried every time she wrote that monthly letter and cried all the
way to the mailbox. I didn’t quite understand. I thought I was
the one who should be crying. Of course, that was strictly
forbidden in a male gendered Wellington, but I sure didn’t
understand what she was upset about. I was the one who was
sent away.
I wish I could say I was an exemplary student, but well,
that just wouldn’t be honest. I wish I could say I was the most
popular. But that would mean I was a prick by the very
definition. We all know the most popular boys are the ass
kissers of the crowd, at least where I went to school, and I bet if
you’re honest it was that way at your school too. I suppose that
makes me just an average Joe. I took my training seriously. Like
I said before, I was born with Army blood, but I knew how to
have fun too.
More than once I groaned at the morning muster with a
doozy of a hangover. On several occasions, I had to sneak back
on to campus, after a night in town chasing after the local
teenage girls. But my favorite activity was playing pranks on my
fellow cadets. That’s what they called us. We weren’t boys, we
weren’t men, we weren’t students we were cadets. And with that
designation we were to understand that it meant we had a
higher calling. We were expected to uphold a certain moral code.
We understood rules and chain of command, dignity, honor, and
when to break them all.
Following five years of training at McArthur, I was
accepted to West Point. Of course. It was expected and I believe
if any deed or misdeed had thwarted it my father would have
died of a sudden cranial hemorrhage. I suppose that makes it
very fortunate that all went as planned.
With nine years of military training before I even entered
the military, as well as my genetic pedigree, many assumed I
was the equivalent of royalty in the service. Really, it just meant
expectations were high, allowances were nonexistent, and the
pressure and competition unparalleled. But I was Pierce McCord
Wellington III and I succeeded. There was no other option.
I haven’t mentioned my family, except to say there were
three of us siblings, and I the only boy. I have two sisters, one
older, one younger. Harper and Nicole are their names
respectively. My mother was the perfect military wife. Picking
us all up, moving wherever father was sent. Having babies in
whatever military hospital in whatever country was her latest
temporary residence. Harper was two years older than me, and
Nicole was three years younger.
Harper and Nicole sent me letters every week. Once a
month they would pool their allowance and send me a care
package. Those small envelopes and occasional boxes meant the
entire world to me. Almost as much as my two sisters will
always mean to me.
This is the story of how I came to have only one sister and
how I became the man I am today.
Chapter 2
Fast forward a few years. I came out of West Point and as
soon as I received my 1st Lieutenant promotion I applied for and
was accepted into the Army Special Forces. You may have heard
them called the Green Berets. My father was not pleased with
my new appointment.
While the Special Forces are glorified on the big and small
screens, to the establishment, they are black sheep, renegades.
We didn’t follow all the military protocols. But the Special
Forces were the perfect place for me. They are allowed to color
outside the lines, so to speak, just enough to suit my gently
rebellious nature. It was just the right amount of bucking the
system so that I felt like my own man and not my father’s son.
I’m sure that rebelliousness was born of my lineage, but I
digress.
Harper and her husband Tony live in Tennessee. I don’t
much care for Tony. Harper has never said anything to make me
suspicious of him and yet I am. I’m not sure what it is, but
something just isn’t right. They don’t have any children and I
wonder about that. Harper always talked about wanting a house
full of children. She’s a teacher now and spends her day teaching
kindergarteners. I personally can’t imagine any job more hair-
raising than that. Maybe all those
children all day fulfill her
maternal needs. As a woman, Harper is soft spoken, tender
hearted and I’m ashamed to say it, but my favorite.
Nicole married Don and they live in Atlanta. Nicole is
pregnant with triplets. As opposed to Tony, I like Don. He’s a
good man. But triplets? I can’t even begin to imagine.
I’m now in charge of a team and we are embarking on a
mission. This will be my last mission as a Green Beret. I’m being
promoted again and moving on to bigger and better things.
Namely a position with a lot less action and a lot more
responsibility.
“Good morning gentlemen. We have a sensitive and
critical mission. Have any of you heard of a substance called
Astatine?”
“Yes, sir. I remember it’s on the periodic table of elements,
but I can’t tell you much more than that.”
“Thank you, Harrison. Yes, it is a natural element. But
we don’t hear much about it because until a few months ago it
was believed that at any given time there were less than two
grams of the stuff in the earth’s crust. Some scientist believe
there is usually less than one gram. Because of the near
nonexistent quantity of the stuff, not a lot is known about it
other than it is radioactive and comes from the decomposition of
uranium and other heavy metals.”
“Boss, what’s our mission?”
“Our mission is to find and liberate Crown Princess
Cecelia. The Crown Princess is the only daughter of King
Jameson and Queen Lydia of Athipa. She was kidnapped last
night.”
“Okay, what’s the kidnapping got to do with the astatine
stuff?”
“Three months ago, it was discovered that deep below the
surface of the coastal country of Athipa is a large deposit of
astatine.”
“How much is a big deposit?”
“They don’t know for certain yet, but it appears from the
first explorations that it’s more than a few pounds. No one
knows yet how deep the deposit goes. The finding is quite
extraordinary in the scientific world. The King believes the
kidnapping has something to do with this rare element.”
“Okay, what’s our plan? Oh, and how old is the Crown
Princess?”
“The Crown Princess is eighteen and the heir to the
throne. She was abducted last night by a team that went into
the palace via the roof. Guards shot at a helicopter, but it got
away. Athipa is a quiet little country. They don’t have a need for
much of a military. I think all those guys really do is show up for
parades and dignitary visits. Anyway, she could be anywhere.
Intelligence is doing some tracking and will have some more
information for us when we get closer.”
“Captain, I just received a communiqué from Athipa.
They have received a ransom note of sorts. It says they require
five pounds of astatine to secure the release of the Crown
Princess. Apparently there is a big problem with the request and
a chemist from the Pentagon is coming through on satellite.”
“Hello, I’m Dr. Pachonik. There is no way to raise the five
pounds from that deposit and just hand it over to these
uneducated criminals.”
“Why is that Dr. Pachonik?”
“The reason there is so much controversy over how much
of the substance exists and so little known about the substance
is it is so radioactive that when scientists have tried to remove
small amounts of it from the earth’s crust it literally
disintegrates instantly. It burns itself up. The deposit that has
been located deep under the surface of Athipa is at this and
every moment getting smaller. Unless there is some sort of
constant source of decomposition this pool of astatine is just
getting smaller and if we try to remove it, bring it to the surface,
it will just burn up. Scientists are working now trying to develop
a way to cool it enough to bring it up for research, but we are a
long time away from a solution.”
“Men, gear up. We have a princess to save because there
is no way to pay the ransom even if we wanted.”
Chapter 3
Aboard the helicopter en route to Athipa, I briefed my
team on the latest developments.
“U.S. Security teams arrived to secure the palace as well
as the exploration team. When they arrived, they discovered
that the chief scientist on the exploration team, a Dr. Korzenski
is also missing. At this time, we’re going to assume he was taken
by the same abductors as the Crown Princess. Intelligence
gathered a satellite image of a helicopter going down in a
forested area on the border of Athipa and Leswil. It’s not known
for certain if it landed or crashed. The area is approximately
eighty kilometers from the site the exploration team was
researching. A security team is en route to secure the
exploration site. We’re going to find the Crown Princess and Dr.
Korzenski.”
The chopper set us down in the forest, near the helicopter.
For three days we used drones looking for heat signatures to
search for the occupants of the helicopter. The drones found
nothing. We continued to work the area on foot, looking for
anything that would indicate where the kidnappers took the
Crown Princess Cecilia and Dr. Korzenski. Everyone assumed
the reason for taking the doctor was to help locate the buried
treasure deep beneath the surface.
The forest was thick with trees, parasitical vines hung
from and crisscrossed among the trees and ran along the
ground. The vegetation was thick and green and in the most
open areas, out from under the shade of the trees, where it was
easier to walk, were six-foot tall brambles. The thorns on the
brambles were two inches long and fierce. Movement through
the forest was slow and tedious. But we continued looking for
twenty hours a day. In the darkest part of the night, we rested
to begin again.
The security team surrounding the exploration site had
no activity near the site. The remaining members of the
exploration crew were moved to the Palace which was now
heavily guarded with U.S. forces.
By the third night, we were stumped as to where the
kidnappers and their captives had escaped and how. But even
more curious to me was why they took the doctor and yet didn’t
appear to be using him to locate the mysterious element. None
of it made any sense. The next morning, we struck out again,
searching the forest floor as well as the tree branches for any
clues. We all knew there was no way all these people just
vanished into thin air. There were no bodies at the sight of the
helicopter. No tracks of any kind. No vehicular traffic was
apparent. I began to wonder if maybe there was a second
helicopter involved. Maybe they transferred to a second chopper
and left the area. I alerted the intel team who agreed to look at
the satellite footage again to see if any type of aircraft left the
area after the first chopp
er landed.
While we waited for the intel regarding a possible
secondary chopper, the entire team was convinced it was the
only thing that made sense. And then, brainiac Harrison found
something.
“Hey Cap, this vegetation right here isn’t native.”
“Freeze and silence.”
Everyone on the team knew what that meant. Freeze and
observe. We looked for booby traps, trip wires, or indications of
mines. When nothing suspicious turned up other than a ground
cover of good ole American clover, we began looking underneath
the clover. Sure enough, it was hiding a wooden door into an
underground structure of some kind. Before we advanced any
further, I called in the coordinates and the findings to the team
coordinator.
I took a deep cleansing breath, asked my team if they
were ready and then opened the door. It was a plywood wooden
door on hinges that lifted straight up. All we could see below
was a stairway. All our senses on high alert, one by one we
descended. We didn’t know what lay ahead. We hoped to find the
Crown Princess and the doctor, as well as their kidnappers. We
prayed we wouldn’t find anything more sinister.
Chapter 4
As I led my team and descended to the twenty-third and
last step, a tunnel stretched out in front of me. But almost a
footstep distance away from the bottom step, I noticed a wire
stretched taught about two inches above the raw dirt ground. I
raised a hand to stop the team behind me. Silently I visually
followed the wire. On one side it was screwed into the step. On
the other, I expected to find explosives, but instead, I found the
wire was attached to a wire mesh door on a wooden frame into
the side of the mud wall. Shining a flashlight through the mesh,
I saw what rested beyond the mesh door in a wooden crate set
into the mud wall. The crate was full of snakes. I was relieved.
If we had to come rushing out of the tunnel carrying
victims in a hurry, we could probably move faster than the
snakes if the wire tripped. Outrunning explosives was a much
less likely proposition. I pulled an orange flag from my pack and
tied it gently around the wire to alert us of the wire’s location
when we retreated out of the tunnel. I then proceeded. I could
see four distinct openings or doorways in the tunnel ahead.
Zero Mercy: The Evolution of Pierce Wellington III Page 1
