Page 1 of Maximus

CHAPTER 1

Demos stood up, cheering for his grandson. The kid would be a major league pitcher one day if his dad, Demos’ son Allen, didn’t push him too hard. He’d temper his son’s enthusiasm. Hard to do when Allen was one of the best outfielders New York had ever produced.

When his phone vibrated in his pocket, he answered it without looking. “That’s what I’m talking about!” he cheered as his grandson threw strike out number three. “Hello?”

Demos’ attention snapped from the game to the gravelly voice on the phone. “Hold on, let me get some distance from the stands.” He looked at his wife. She narrowed her eyes and then nodded. She knew who was on the phone. Thank God she was the most patient person on the planet. Working for Guardian, he’d put her through the wringer, but she’d never complained. Not once in all the years he’d worked for Gabriel had she mentioned the birthdays or holidays he’d missed when he was recruiting for the organization.

He walked a good distance away from the stands and leaned against a big cottonwood tree. “What’s up?” There was no need for pleasantries. Although he respected Jason as much as herespected Gabriel, they weren’t close in the way he was close with the man who’d changed his world.

“Do you have contact with Maximus?” Jason King asked.

“I always do. Why? Isn’t he answering you?” Demos glanced at the field when he heard an explosion of cheering. Damn, sounded like he missed one hell of a hit.

“No.” Jason sighed. “I’m assuming he’s working.”

“He does get consumed in whatever career he’s chosen at the moment. Do you have a mission for him?”

“Abrasha Molchalin.”

“How?”

“That’s for Maximus to tell us. I’m releasing him to do this however he deems necessary.” Jason was silent for a moment. “We need him to assess the man, find his weakness, and exploit it to get to him. He’s a violet code if necessary.”

Demos looked up at the white clouds floating over the baseball park. It was too fucking nice out to think about the casualties a violet code authorized. “Damn. Violet. Okay, I’ll get ahold of him.”

“How’s the grandson’s pitching?” Jason asked.

“Better and better. He’s going to go places.” Demos didn’t even try to hide the pride in his voice. His family was everything to him.

“I’m happy for all of you. Thanks for taking the time to reach out to Maximus for us.”

“No problem. He’ll call you by nightfall.”

“That works. Archangel clear.” Demos glanced down at the phone. Damn, it was still strange to hear anyone but Gabriel use that term. But then again, he was old school. His assassins were the old guard. Lycos was recruiting the new ones, and he was doing a damn good job. He had a different way of looking for recruits. Technology was impressive, but Lycos still did the one-on-one. A computer couldn’t replace gut feelings or that sensethat crawled up your spine when you knew someone wasn’t the fit. He’d walked out of hundreds of meetings without offering someone a chance with Guardian. A person just … knew … At least he and Lycos did, and that was all that mattered.

Maximus staredat the screen and then smiled. “Got you, motherfucker.” He hit a key on his keyboard and then watched as his code flew across the screen. He studied the Chinese language on the screen and watched as the hacker in China scrambled to save his systems. It was a futile effort. “And that’s what you get for trying to crack into one of my systems, sir.”

“Boy, don’t you answer your phones?” Demos’ voice behind him was expected. He knew the second his dad was on his property.

“Been kind of busy keeping this asshole out of the White House’s national security system.” Max continued to watch as the code he’d written destroyed the systems, twelve systems to be exact, that had mounted an attack. It was a common occurrence, but that one had gone further than any others. He’d decided it was time to teach the assholes a lesson.

“Doesn’t the White House have operators who could do that?” Demos came in and sat down beside him.

Max frowned. They did. But … “I was bored. Sue me.”

“You could have come to the game, and you missed a call from Archangel.”

“No, I didn’t. I saw it. Just figured my priority was taking care of our nuclear arsenal. Jewell and Con don’t have any issues at the moment. And you know I don’t like the way Allen pushes Brent. It makes me itchy.” Itchy and him didn’t agree. Itchy was a very bad thing. He’d learned to police that feeling.

“I had a talk about that with Allen before I came here. Don’t think he realized what he was doing. We’ll see if bringing it to his attention helps. Hope it does.”

“If not, let Mom take it on.”

Demos laughed. “Don’t tempt me.”

Max leaned back and turned toward his dad. “What did Archangel want?” He looked at his monitor of Guardian’s systems. He didn’t see any issues.

The smile slipped off his father’s face instantly. “They don’t want Max; they want Maximus. Your target is Abrasha Molchalin.”

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