Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) Read Online Free

flipped the cell closed. To his knowledge HC had never sent more than one employee to any client.
    The Liberty Avenue job warranted four.
     
    As he neared ground zero Cleaver put his game face on. His cell rang. It was Clancy, speaking like Schumacher used to drive his Ferrari.
    “Cleaver? You there yet?”
    “Almost.”
    “Listen up. You’ve got a houseful of hostages. All kids, ranging from ages eighteen to twenty. Sossamon’s made a few enquiries and he says there was some kind of frat party going on. Probably a damn orgy. You with me so far?”
    “All the way,” but Cleaver thought: kids?
    “Right,” Clanger rushed on. “Best case scenario- Jesus, thirty kids. But here’s the kicker. Miami PD says there’s only a single hostage-taker. Heat sig’ and a couple of sightings seem to confirm what they’re saying.”
    “I don’t get this. Who’s the client?”
    “The kids have all been forced to huddle up against a wall, and our bad guy, who is actually a bad woman , is sat in a Lazee-Boy, feet up, watching them.”
    Cleaver was silent for a moment, thinking: you didn’t answer my question. Again.
    Something was warped right out of shape here.
    Eye on the bag, Hannigan used to say. And always on the sweet spot. Never lose your focus on that damned sweet spot.
    He focused now.
    “Do MDPD have shooters on her?”
    “Sure. But they can’t tell what she’s hiding, if anything.”
    Cleaver frowned as he swung the car around a sharp left. Clanger was right. The woman could have a major weapon. Even a bomb.
    “Could some of the hostage-takers be mixed up among the kids?”
    “Don’t rule it out.”
    “I’m guessing there’s been no negotiations, no contact.” He used his ID to weave through stalled traffic and pull into a mini-mall parking lot. He sniffed at his armpits, got a whiff of stale sweat, shrugged and exited the car. He breathed in the warm night air and started to make his way towards the scene, cell tucked under his chin.
    “What?” Clanger’s voice faded in and out.
    Half a dozen radio units were strewn haphazardly in front of a length of crime - scene tape, their bubbles painting the surrounding buildings in lurid red flashes. Cleaver raised his voice. “I asked if there’d been any contact. ”
    “Well, yeah, just once,” Clanger hesitated. “And this is where it gets weird. And I mean ‘off the chart’ weird. Hold on, I’m gonna quote you the exact words.”
    Cleaver stopped with the cell tucked between shoulder and chin, casting his eyes over the staging area. He wondered wha t could possibly make this scenario any weirder. The building in question stood ahead now, stone clad, three storey ’ s high and half a block wide.
    “Okay,” the Clang-man was back on the line, shuffling papers. “You still there?”
    “Right here and waiting.”
    “Then let the weirdness begin. To quote this woman: ‘My name is Mena Gaines. At this time I mean you no harm, but I will do what I must to complete my part successfully. I will sit at the head table of…ummm… Gorgoroth , beside Loki. Your children will be freed to live a little longer when you send to me the man who represents Aegis. You know him by the name: Marian Cleaver,” Clanger paused. “I guess that’s you.”
    Cleaver’s legs buckled with shock. This was about Aegis! And Gorgoroth! Clanger was firing out questions , b ut Cleaver didn’t hear them above the thunder that filled his ears. This was end of the world stuff.
    It’s all about Aegis. My God, it’s beginning already. For a moment dark spots danced before his eyes and the world turned grey.
    This woman is our client.
    He knew the name Mena Gaines. She was one of the six evil Destroyers who would engineer the doom of the world and who would be arrayed against the world’s eight Chosen in the final battle. Marian Cleaver, naturally, had volunteered to help protect those Chosen.
    Mena Gaines might well be his nemesis.

 
    4
     
    YORK, ENGLAND
     
    If I knew Lucy