Terminal Objective (American Mercenary 6) by Jason Kasper

Author:Jason Kasper [Jason Kasper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regiment Publishing
Published: 2020-01-23T16:00:00+00:00

KINGDOM

Arcana imperii

-The secrets of power

14

The Mist Palace

The Gulfstream rolled to a stop on the Mist Palace tarmac.

I rose from my seat without looking out the window, steadying myself in anticipation of leaving the aircraft. In the shocking whirlwind of events from leaping out of a plane over Siberia to murdering the Handler, I’d learned perhaps the most impossible fact of all.

There were two reasons that Racegun—actual name Worthy Cottrill Junior, as I’d found out—hadn’t shot me fifteen times upon recovering his balance to find the Handler dead. I knew the first reason from what Sage had taught me: the Organization was kept in check by assassination attempts, and when one succeeded, power transitioned to the victor. If that disenfranchised the Organization, then a new assassination conspiracy would quickly gain support and succeed. The Handler’s incredible security apparatus existed not just to protect himself from external threats but from his own people.

But the second reason Racegun, now known to me as Worthy, had bowed in submission was inconceivable. I hadn’t believed him when he told me, made him repeat the statement several times to be sure I understood.

The Handler had designated me as his successor.

This single incomprehensible truth had confounded me for the remainder of my journey to the Mist Palace. Why would the Handler designate me, of all people? Worthy didn’t know. The Handler had told him shortly after I departed to infiltrate Konstantin’s compound, and the vicars had learned of this succession plan only upon the Handler’s death, when his final letter was revealed.

My assumption of the Handler throne was thus legitimate on two counts: I was not only the Handler’s assassin but also the rightful heir to the Organization. My power was indisputable, though that meant little in the current situation. One of the vicars or their immediate staff had already proven disloyal, and by merit, one of them should have indisputably been the next Handler. And this made me certain that one of them would try to have me killed the second I stepped off the plane.

But Worthy had repeated what the Handler had told me in the garden: in the Organization’s history, the vicars had never attempted to overthrow a sitting Handler. Many others had, to be sure, but the vicars’ support had been unwavering and sacrosanct.

However, I reasoned, if there was ever a time for this edict to be broken, it was now. Even if the traitor was an aide rather than a vicar, all three vicars hated me, and the feeling was quite mutual. What’s more, they’d voiced their displeasure in my presence, and were surely considering the possibility that I’d have one or more of them executed in the near future.

If an assassination attempt against me hadn’t been plotted yet, then it wouldn’t be long in coming.

The plane’s clamshell stairs slowly lowered from the fuselage, the three bodyguards the first in line to descend. Worthy was next, disappearing down the steps.

Then I stepped out of the aircraft, stopping on the top step to assess the scene below.

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