Page 64 of The 9th Man

“On Persik’s phone you’ll find a name and address for a guy named Simmons. It’s who Persik was going to visit after he finished with you.”

“Is he connected to Benji?”

“Absolutely. If I were a betting man, I would say I’ll be sent to the address on Persik’s phone next as well.”

He was curious. “Your boss isn’t concerned about us?”

“I reported that you’d be dead within forty-eight hours.”

“Good to know.” But something was bugging him. “Why are you sticking your neck out like this?”

“Contrary to what you might think, I am an American soldier. There’s still honor and integrity left in me. My employer, on the other hand, is dangerous and has to be stopped. Many have tried. All have failed. But I have something they never had.” Talley paused. “You.”

And there was also something else.

He saw it in Jillian’s eyes.

Talley did not know what they had found at Benji’s house. Or maybe he didn’t care and wanted them to keep going.

“Do your thing, Ranger,” Talley said. “Save the day. Just like you did at Celam Kae.”

They left the office and walked to town, where they caught a bus back to Liège. As Talley had said, there was a name and address on Persik’s phone and Jillian copied down the details. Luke then tossed the phone away, no longer wanting Talley to find them so easily. The time was approaching noon so they found a small diner where they were the only customers. The waitress brought a carafe of coffee, took their orders, then disappeared into the back.

“That was a bit spooky back there,” Jillian said. “Talley seems to be using you.”

“The question is, for what? Everybody likes to think they know how they’d react in worst-case situations. But until it happens, it’s all guesswork.”

“Are you speaking from experience?”

“I’ve done some things.”

“In Afghanistan?”

“There, and elsewhere. But I’ve never been in Talley’s shoes.”

To date, the only folks he’d ever placed in his gunsights had been trying to kill either him or someone else who didn’t deserve it. All those kills were in-the-moment-with-no-choice scenarios. In that he’d been lucky. Never had he pulled the trigger in cold blood. But that didn’t mean he was incapable.

Only hesitant.

He found his phone and did a quick search on the name and address. “Ray Simmons lives in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. It’s in the southwest corner of the state, about fifteen miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. According to Google, it’s the most rural parish in Louisiana. No major cities, twelve hundred square miles, and only seven thousand people. Mostly bayou and alligators, which, according to one site, outnumber people five to one.”

“Sounds like a wonderful place.”

He caught her sarcasm. “You don’t like alligators?”

“I have the greatest respect for a forty-million-year-old killing machine that’s more dinosaur than lizard.”

He kept scrolling. “Hackberry’s population is about a thousand. Apparently, it got hit hard by Hurricanes Rita and Ike and never fully bounced back. The question is, what do Benjamin Stein, retired U.S. Army colonel living in Belgium, and Ray Simmons, resident of a remote part of Louisiana, have in common?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

He agreed.

But first there was something he had to do.

28

Nashville, Tennessee