THE FIRST FALLEN: Book of Ashes (Book of Sorrows 2) by Tobias Shoemaker

Author:Tobias Shoemaker [Shoemaker, Tobias]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty Three

Tuesday, April 28th

St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church

Newport News, Virginia

3:30 pm

Megan kept in the shadows of the church walls. She watched a pair of hawks circle the church spire, the sky above them a brilliant blue. The breeze brought her the smell of fresh pine and a hint of rose from the parish's nearby garden.

She could faintly hear the voices of the nuns inside the building, their words rising and falling in a prayerful cadence.

She tried to imagine what it is like to live a life offered to God and to be at peace with oneself. Her upbringing was one of tumultuous desperation and disappointment. Her mother was murdered when she was only nine years old. Her father, whom she met later in life, was a prominent defense attorney known for representing some of the country's biggest mobsters, drug dealers, and criminal elements.

Megan spent her youth in various orphanages and youth halls and with the occasional foster family. When she learned of her mother's death, Megan, then living in a youth home, walked up to a nun who overlooked the children's hall and angrily broke her jaw.

She joined the United States Air Force at age 17 after getting her foster father to sign the enlistment papers. She was one of the first enlisted females to complete the Air Forces Combat Controller and Pararescue Battlefield Airmen career fields. A Special Warfare program comprised mostly of male special tactics and combat rescue officers.

She had been attached to the Air force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron as a specialized combat controller. The same squadron which had a hand in the killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State or Isis.

After her return from Syria and an honorable discharge from the Air Force, Megan joined the Washington Police Department and rose to the rank of Detective III. Shortly after her promotion, Commissioner Holloway recruited her to be part of the Special Crimes Division.

Living her life as a trained killer in the special forces had ground away what little compassion for humanity she had left. Only later, working with Michael and her fellow teammates, did she come to reconcile her past, to set herself on a path to right the wrongs she had committed, and to find some semblance of peace.

A peace she still mistrusted. She knew how easily one's harmony could be taken away.

The bang of a door drew her attention back to the church. A middle-aged couple headed towards the small parking lot. The woman slipped her hand into her husband's as naturally and efficiently as a cat jumping onto a tree limb. The wife said something that made the man smile. Megan shifted and straightened her back. The sight irritated her, not because she envied them, but because she didn't.

She found them naïve, blissfully ignorant of the harsher realities of life. For her, such peace was an illusion, a purposeful blindness, like enjoying a ride in a high-speed sports car only to see a cliff approaching in front of you.

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