by Rick Jones
“I won’t, Grandmama.”
Shari smiled delicately, a small curvature of the lips in remembrance of a remarkable woman. Coming to the Holocaust Museum was not only an homage to her grandmother, but also a reminder to Shari of what her grandmother instilled in her—to be proud and bold and never forget where you came from, or those who didn’t make it. But more importantly, always remain strong in the face of adversity, which is always inevitable.
“Remember, my littlest one. There will come a time. Believe me.”
In a country where religion was a constitutionally protected freedom, Shari doubted that being Jewish would cause any marginalization of any kind. But she couldn’t quite dismiss it, either.
If it became an issue, then it would be one more obstacle to conquer in order to champion the cause for many, she considered. She knew she would always persevere because persevering was a part of her grandmother; therefore, a part of her, genetic or otherwise.
Walking along the cases from one display to another, Shari spent most of the day reflecting on the courageous people who survived the camps, and prayed for those who didn’t.
THE END
The Vatican Knights will return in 2018 with
The Devil’s Magician
(Read the Prologue on next page)
PROLOGUE
Vatican Proverb:
It’s said when the world isn’t right, then a man steps out of the shadows of St. Peters Basilica to make it whole again.
He is the priest who is not a priest.
He’s an angel to some and a demon to others.
His name is Kimball Hayden.
But in the Middle East he is known by another:
…The Devil’s Magician…
THE VATICAN KNIGHTS
Amazon Bestseller: * * *1 in Thriller
* * *1 IN SUSPENSE
* * *24 IN AMAZON TOP 100
While on a visit to the United States, Pope Pius XIII is kidnapped by a terrorist cell calling itself the Soldiers of Islam. If the United States and its allies do not meet their demands, they will execute the pope. FBI Specialist Shari Cohen is called to duty to track down the terrorist cell responsible, and she soon learns that she is not alone.
Deep behind the Vatican walls, a secret order dispatches a clandestine group of elite commandos known as the Vatican Knights. Their mission: bring the pope back alive. As Cohen and the Knights work in tandem they uncover a White House conspiracy involving high-ranking members on Capitol Hill. As Cohen begins to get too close to the truth about the pope's kidnapping, she becomes the target of indigenous forces trying to keep the conspiracy safe. However, in order to get to her they must first go through the Vatican Knights...
SHEPHERD ONE
(Book * * *2 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER: * * *1 IN THRILLER
* * *1 IN SUSPENSE
AMAZON TOP 100
While traveling across the United States during the Papal Symposium, the papal plane, Shepherd One, is commandeered by a terrorist cell calling itself the Muslim Revolutionary Front. On board: a nuclear payload with half the yield that destroyed Hiroshima. Their demand to the U.S. government: assassinate the five leading principals of Mossad. While the American leadership is forced to follow through with a proposition that would cripple the intelligence network between the allies, Pope Pius XIII is not without his own weapon. On board Shepherd One is his personal valet, a man who is the leader of a clandestine op group of elite commandos known as the Vatican Knights. His mission: retake the plane and remove all hostile opposition. Using his very particular set of skills, Kimball Hayden must neutralize the situation before thousands of lives are lost, including that of Pope Pius XIII.
THE ISCARIOT AGENDA
(Book * * *3 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Kimball Hayden is the commander of an elite commando group known as the Vatican Knights, a black-op force that works for the Church to protect its sovereignty, its interests, and the welfare of its citizenry. But Kimball is being stalked by someone from the past, a soldier that is stronger, faster, and far more brutal—an assassin so deadly not even the Vatican Knights can stop him. This Alpha Assassin has set Kimball within the crosshairs and is systematically destroying his old team of elite fighters, the Force Elite. Kimball is then sent to confront this killer who leaves behind lettered clues carved into the flesh of his teammates: ISCARIOT. Not only does Kimball have to battle something far more dangerous than anything he has ever encountered, but he must destroy this Alpha Assassin before this killer brings his personal war to the Vatican.
PANDORA’S ARK
(Book * * *4 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Thirty years ago the world was in the exploratory stages of creating a technology capable of artificial intelligence. Thirty years later that technology has been perfected. In a lab somewhere in a remote mountain region in Iran, nanoparticles, or micro-bots, have been created to be self-sustaining and self-reproducing, each day evolving and learning from experience. They have been programmed to be the ultimate predator, devouring everything in their path and leaving nothing behind. Now in the hands of a terrorist group, the Vatican has come within the crosshairs. Using the Ark of the Covenant as a Trojan Horse, Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights must stop the promise of complete destruction of Rome by combating something unseen, and something that can kill within seconds.
BRIDGE OF BONES
(Book * * *5 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
While vacationing in Paris, Shari Cohen’s children are kidnapped by Jadran Božanović, a Croatian kingpin who runs a human-trafficking cartel who is as deadly as the knife he wields. Few dare to challenge him. And even fewer dare to defy him. With time running out and her resources running thin, Shari calls upon the aid of Kimball Hayden and his team Vatican Knights—an elite group of commandos dedicated to protect the sovereignty, interests and citizenry of the Church—and are once again reunited. But Kimball finds that his team is quickly outmanned and outgunned, the death toll climbing against forces that are the deadliest the Knights have ever faced. With his back against the wall, Kimball is forced to choose Justice over Law by taking on Jadran Božanović in a contest that only one man can survive. But Kimball soon learns that the Croatian is as ruthless as his legend and just as powerful, if not more so, than the Vatican Knight himself.
CROSSES TO BEAR
(Book * * *6 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
In a Galveston, Texas lab, a lethal strain has been stolen by a terrorist faction.
In New Mexico, the population of a small town is completely wiped out.
In Las Vegas, a vicious underground clan called the Community surfaces at night to prey on the weak.
In Paris, two old foes of Kimball Hayden reunite as a kill team to hunt him down.
Now considered dead by the Vatican, Kimball Hayden is leading a secretive life living on the streets of Las Vegas. But when a parish comes under the threat of a vicious mob, he finds himself thrown back into a world of violence.
Once again Kimball finds himself in the role as the ‘priest who is not a priest’ fighting to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And when Vatican City is threatened with complete annihilation, he returns to fight a battle against a foe he cannot possibly defeat.
THE LOST CATHEDRAL
(Book * * *7 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Three years ago the papal airliner goes down over the jungle of Brazil never to been seen again.
Three years later those considered lost on that fatal flight begin to show up at Vatican disconnected from reality.
When the pope is gunned down in an assassination attempt, Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights follow the conspiracy’s trail to a cathedral deep inside the Brazilian jungle—a place of taboo to locals who fear the Huecuvus,
the Evil Spirits who protect those within the ‘Ruins of Lost Souls.’
The cathedral is a place of damnation and dark secrets—a hub of moving shadows that reach out to Pope Pius with a hand from the past, a hand that holds a dark secret: the pontiff may not be who he appears to be, but a man whose past may have been as sinful as those within the lost cathedral, a dying breed of Nazis who once called the pontiff ‘brethren.’
As Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights try to neutralize the threat against the Vatican, they find themselves fighting against overwhelming odds. Shadows and shapes converge, the weapons they yield sharp. Can the Vatican Knights defeat a sect where life has little meaning? Does the pope hold a dark secret? Was he once evil incarnate who now sits upon the papal throne? The answers lie within a temple of ancient evil called the Lost Cathedral.
DARK ADVENT
(Book * * *8 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Growing up with a sheltering mother and a belligerent father, Kimball Hayden’s young life goes from one of innocence to the depths of chaos.
When a vicious syndicate of murderers and extortionists begin to run the streets, Kimball soon becomes the focal point of their attention. His family is placed within the crosshairs, friends go missing or are found dead, all messages from the Gangster Prince.
But when Kimball’s world shatters and grieves a great loss, the sleeping giant within him awakens. It is dark and ugly and exists with the cold fortitude of a machine. It rises and walks a fine line between the Darkness and Light. And it will define Kimball as a dark savior for the rest of his life, choosing damnation over salvation to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
But then the Gangster Prince quickly discovers that he may have overstepped his boundaries at the approach of an unstoppable force, he realizes one thing…
…Every legend has a beginning…
CABAL
(Book * * *9 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
In an abandoned church deep inside the Syrian Desert, Father Jenkins watches over a group of children who’d been orphaned by war and unrest. Having been marked for extraction by the Vatican Knights, a cabal of ruthless killers from the Islamic State cripples all attempts of safe passage and gives chase across a desert landscape that’s completely ruled by scorpions and snakes. With little options and less hope, the Vatican Knights quickly discover that they’re in possession of a precious cargo: a young boy by the name of Farid.
As Kimball Hayden and the Vatican Knights fight to preserve the lives they protect, another ISIS team marches on the Vatican to take out the highest and most sacred seat in the land.
But as ISIS marches on Rome and Vatican City, Kimball Hayden, the fulcrum between sinner and saint, finds himself divided by saving the lives of the children and the life of the pontiff, with little chance of preserving both.
THE GOLGOTHA PURSUIT
(Book * * *10 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
After the march on the Vatican by the Islamic State, the radical group begins its push deeper into the European and American Fronts. But when the True Cross—the wooden remnants of the cross Jesus was crucified upon and the holiest of all relics—is stolen from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by the Islamic State, it becomes clear that the relic is to be bartered to an arms dealer for weapons so devastating that Europe and the United States could be rocked to their very foundations. So when the Vatican Knights are called to retrieve the artifact before the weapons’ exchange can take place, the team quickly finds themselves up against an elite paramilitary group. But can the Vatican Knights retrieve the True Cross in time and return it to the vault above Golgotha Hill? Or will the Islamic State finally get a stranglehold on the American and European states… and bring the continents to their knees?
TARGETED KILLING
(Book * * *11 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Long before Kimball Hayden became a Vatican Knight, he once served as an elite assassin for the United States government. After the ordered assassination on a United States senator by a cabal within the U.S. command, Kimball is set up for failure and is believed dead by the Pentagon Brass. But when a leading political principal involved with the senator’s murder discovers that Kimball Hayden is alive and under the protection of the Vatican, he’s immediately seen as a threat to a certain few on Capitol Hill regarding the sanctioned hit on the senator, and those involved.
In Malta, while on retreat, Kimball Hayden becomes the subject of a ‘targeted killing,’ and soon finds himself on the run from a CIA liquidation squad. As the Special Activities Division closes in to neutralize their target to keep secrets safe, the Vatican Knights are called upon to save one of their own.
But there’s another secret involved, a mission that was created to kill hundreds in order to promote a CIA agenda.
The clock is ticking.
Malta is on the brink of disaster.
And Kimball Hayden is running out of time as an elite paramilitary unit hunts him down.
SINNERS AND SAINTS
(Book * * *12 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
In Geneva, a highly valued product with the power to cause major destruction is stolen from The CERN.
Eighty kilometers from the Austrian border, a young girl becomes the key that controls the will of the man with the power to create and destroy.
In the mountainous regions of Switzerland, a hostile force from a pariah regime attempts to extract a scientist from a fast-moving train.
Kimball Hayden, lead commander of the Vatican Knights, has been asked by the Vatican to retrieve a mysterious guest from Zurich and to escort him back to Rome by train. Onboard the train, Kimball finds himself unwittingly caught up in the mix of an operation known as Scepter's Rule. Even though the mysterious stranger tries to direct him, Kimball has an agenda of his own. Now, with the lives of more than 400 innocent people onboard the express, Kimball Hayden must become a sinner or a saint to achieve the means, and in the process must choose between damnation and salvation.
THE CRYPTS OF EDEN
(Book * * *1 of the Crypts of Eden series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
AMAZON * * *1: ACTION/ADVENTURE
In southeast Turkey where the heads of the four main rivers once met, a magnificent temple created 14,000 years ago is discovered beneath the desert floor. Believed to have been created by lost technology, it is quickly determined by a team of archeologists to be the centerpiece of Eden, a once illustrious civilization and the cradle of mankind. But what if Eden is not the Paradise texts make it out to be? What if it held dark secrets and unholy terrors instead? As Senior Archeologist Alyssa Moore and her team of experts discover the truth of man’s beginning, she realizes that the secrets of man’s true origins lie within the sacred tombs inside the temple. But the journey for the truth is not without its dangers or pitfalls… Something walks the warrens within.
THE MENAGERIE
(Book * * *2 of the Crypts of Eden series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FINAL EXTINCTION EVENT...
THE HISTORY OF HUMAN ORIGINS...
THE RISE OF APEX PREDATORS…
Nearly sixty-five million years ago an asteroid collided with the Yucatan Peninsula in the fifth and final Extinction Event that nearly destroyed all life on Earth. But when a recent earthquake exposes something unusual 2000 feet beneath the Yucatan Peninsula, cryptanalysts Alyssa Moore and John Savage are called in to investigate this peculiar structure that bears uncanny resemblances to writings discovered in Eden.
Working with the Department of Defense, John and Alyssa discover the remains of what is believed to be the cataclysmic bolide to have struck the Earth sixty-five million years ago is actually a broken-off section of an intergalactic ark.
Inside this remnant, they discover a zoological lab containing a menage
rie of apex predators gathered from all points of the universe. But as John and Alyssa begin to tie in the writings on the ship to writings they discovered in Eden, a DOD military faction seeking intel unwittingly disrupts matters by awakening sleeping giants.
Finding themselves fighting for self-preservation and for the salvation of Earth, John and Alyssa battle soldiers trying to kill them for the sake of completing a hidden agenda…
THE THRONES OF EDEN
(Book * * *3 of the Crypts of Eden series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
More than a year ago John Savage and Alyssa Moore nearly lost their lives after discovering the Temple of Eden. Now, two more temples have been discovered: The Temple of God, which holds the answers to mankind’s inevitable fate, and a third temple that houses Earth’s future once mankind has been eliminated. As John and Alyssa find themselves in a life and death struggle against hidden dangers within these ancient sanctuaries, they become the keys that would either serve as mankind’s salvation… or condemn them to the dark fate that was prophesied within the Temple of God. But when they reach the halls of the third temple they awaken something that’s been lying dormant for centuries. Programmed to protect those who sit upon the Thrones of Eden, these sentinels are one with the darkness and the protectors of a new regime. They are the saviors paving the way to a new future and the promise for mankind’s destruction. But the only ones who stand in their way, the only two who can provide any hope of salvaging the future of mankind, are John Savage and Alyssa Moore.
