The Atlantis Deception (A John Hunter Adventure Book 1) by Hamilton Jackson

Author:Hamilton Jackson [Jackson, Hamilton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TrilobiteBooks Ltd
Published: 2022-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Matto Grosso, Brazil

Knight shoved the note aside. Its contents were concerning. ‘Paratroopers delayed due to enemy activity at the LZ.’ He gazed up at the huge blanket of webbing rustling above his head and pondered what ‘enemy activity’ might mean. A battle perhaps. He shrugged, gripping his armrest as the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules transport plane banked right, the eight-blade NP2000 propellers cutting through the night sky as they found the new heading. He’d been in the air for hours and at last the plane was finally descending towards the agreed jump zone, deep inside the boundaries of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. He peered through the tiny window to his left and saw nothing but absolute darkness, not even the merest pin prick of light to indicate life. The rainforest really was one of the few remaining frontiers man had yet to dominate.

Knight settled back into his seat and contemplated his options. Having his men land at the secondary landing zone was frustrating but in the grand scheme of things he supposed it didn’t matter – an insignificant delay to the mission’s inevitable success. The detour at least meant Hoffmann must still believe his party was alone in the rainforest. Given the recent change in circumstances back in Bath, the delay had also given him the opportunity to order his men to bed down and await his arrival.

A few hours earlier the brotherhood had decided Knight himself should take the lead in the operation against Hoffmann. Although the Order’s special ops team could be trusted, Professor Cleary’s revelations certainly raised the stakes. The mission was now far too important to leave in the hands of mere subordinates. If her analysis was right, everything the Order stood for was under attack and, to all intents and purposes, they were at war. Knight shuddered. He was in a position his predecessors hadn’t faced since the Crusades.

He thought back to the Templars’ accidental discovery deep inside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Facing exposure and extermination, the Order had bought the Templars’ silence and, united as one, they thrived, albeit not for long. The Templars underestimated their new bedfellow and, two hundred years later, the Order exacted its revenge.

On Friday the 13th of October 1307, in its the most open display of power, the Order, through King Philip IV of France, commanded the French Army to arrest and slaughter every Templar Knight it could find. It was a black day in history; even today, Friday the 13th is still treated with mistrust all around the world. He shook his head. If only he could dispose of his own adversaries with such clinical ease.

Knight squirmed in his seat and cursed his wardrobe. The military fatigues and body armour were a necessity, but the fact didn’t make them any more comfortable for a man of his build. A loud klaxon sounded, making him jump. The rear doors of the Hercules jerked, crunching and grinding on their hinges as they opened to reveal the eerie, moonlit vista below.

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