Book I: The Disappearance (The Fallen Race Trilogy). Colin Patrick Garvey

squad's commander to obtain the coordinates of a terrorist camp operating in the mountains of Afghanistan. If the man was not forthcoming with the information, force was necessary and authorized. Kaley refused, arguing that he was unfamiliar with the intelligence they were referring to and he could not be ordered to interrogate a prisoner on matters he had not been briefed. Furthermore, Kaley asserted that he would not use force on an unarmed man unless absolutely necessary. This provoked the ire of the commander, and he began echoing his soldiers’ sentiments about what the real world is like now and how all Americans need to take off the kid gloves. He gave Kaley one last chance to interrogate the man or risk the prospect of a court martial. Again, Kaley refused.

      The commander stared at him, his face a mask of red and his blood boiling from Kaley's refusal to follow an order from a superior officer. The commander nodded at one of his men, who approached the prisoner and loomed menacingly over the man. The soldier looked back at Kaley and smiled. He grabbed the prisoner's arm and without asking a single question, broke the man's arm over his knee, causing a horrible cracking sound, followed by the prisoner's agonizing scream. Out of pure instinct, Kaley roared towards the soldier who broke the prisoner's arm and knocked him nearly unconscious with one punch.

      The commander attempted to court martial Kaley for his “unprovoked” and “unwarranted” attack, as it was described, but a member within the top brass knew Kaley's value as a soldier and thus, a court martial was prevented. However, Kaley was removed from Army intelligence and any further missions, and he was demoted from Sergeant Major to First Sergeant with the understanding that he would likely never rise above this rank. An additional indignity was heaped upon him when he was given a supervisory role at Evans, a position typically occupied by a Staff Sergeant, a full three ranks behind a First Sergeant.

      Kaley, however, has never questioned this or complained. He loves the military and it, in turn, still loves him. Colonel Fizer certainly can respect Sergeant Kaley's sense of duty and purpose, but Kaley disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer and this cannot be tolerated, especially not again. He has placed his life and the life of Private Rushmore in more danger than he could possibly imagine. They witnessed something that was not supposed to have been witnessed by anyone.

      Fizer partially blames himself for the untenable situation he has put the Foundation in. Upon ordering Kaley to stand down regarding the signal discovered in Lake Michigan, Fizer assumed with good reason that the order would be followed and that would be the end of the matter. Fizer should have known better.

      Sergeant Kaley is a bulldog, tenacious in pursuit of answers to his questions. Indeed, the man craves information and he is not one to drop something at the first sign of an obstacle. He does not like to be stonewalled or bullied, a trait that has already had disastrous effects on his military career.

      The signal should not have been discovered in the first place, a fact that continues to baffle Fizer. Nevertheless, he does not believe he is to blame. He has more important things on his mind than monitoring what his subordinates are doing. It was only after a substantial amount of time elapsed before he thought to review Sergeant Kaley's and Private Rushmore's keystroke log.

      The keystroke-logging program was developed several years ago and today nearly every computer under military ownership contains the program. Essentially, a computer equipped with the program can detail each keystroke entered by the user during a specified time period and produce a readable report for a supervisor to review. The report serves a two-fold purpose: first, it informs the supervisor if the appropriate steps and guidelines were followed in the event of an emergency situation; and second, for security reasons, it lists everything that the soldier looked at, printed, copied, downloaded, recorded, or otherwise reviewed during the shift.

      Nearly an hour after Kaley and Rushmore's shift ended, Fizer finally thought to review the logs and discovered that something appeared to have been downloaded from a non-military satellite to a disc on Rushmore's computer, which can only be done with permission from a superior officer. Needless to say, the hot water Kaley is dipping his toes in seems to be downright scalding.

      Since the satellite does not belong to the military, it would take considerable time to determine from where the imagery was downloaded. More importantly though, Fizer has absolutely no idea what was downloaded and copied to a disc, and perhaps devastatingly, where the disc is now. When Fizer attempted to summon Rushmore to his office, he was informed, to his horror, that Rushmore requested a weekend pass, claiming a family emergency to his company commander. The company commander's best guess is that Rushmore is headed home to Fort Wayne, Indiana, but he admitted that Rushmore did not actually specify.

      That little shit, Fizer thought, he could be going anywhere. He could go AWOL with whatever he has in his possession, or worse yet, to the media.

      Fizer started to become frantic, contemplating what he should do, actually considering whether he could withhold this piece of information from the Foundation. He knows what their immediate reaction would be – that he had fucked up, and he is incapable of handling the massive responsibility that comes with moving into a higher position of power within the group. More time ticked off the clock before Fizer finally realized that he did not have a choice. If whatever Kaley or Rushmore has in their possession is brought to light and the group discovers that he knew all along, Fizer would be finished, and he is not thinking merely about his career. The colonel reluctantly called and informed Moriah what happened.

      Surprisingly, Moriah remained calm, asked several questions regarding Kaley's and Rushmore's whereabouts, and simply stated that the necessary arrangements would be made. Moriah informed Fizer that he would see him soon and hung up.

      What a damn shame that Private Rushmore and Sergeant Kaley will be dead by morning, Fizer thinks.

      Like all good soldiers though, Fizer prefers to believe that Kaley would take enormous pride in knowing that he died for the greater good, to protect our nation and better yet, mankind.

       What more could a devoted soldier want out of life?

      * * *

      Initially, they received the good news first. The vessel had been flown successfully without detection and it “picked up” its passengers without incident.

      Unfortunately for the Foundation, a couple pieces of rather disturbing news piggybacked their way onto the good news. It was confirmed that one of their soldiers had been killed, but this could easily be written off. What concerns Moriah is that a fish has slipped the net. As far as they know, it is only one fish, but this, in Moriah's mind, is one too many. They have not yet ascertained who the lone survivor is, but the person who killed one of their soldiers certainly possessed some type of hand-to-hand combat training. The blow that snapped the soldier's neck was not a second-rate, bush league choke-job. It was a swift and lethal blow intended for one thing and one thing only: instantaneous death.

      Moriah suspects who the sole survivor is, but he does not even want to mention his name until it can be confirmed. Moriah wonders if the doctor was able to deliver a warning to him beforehand, but why would the consummate family man leave his family behind?

      It does not really matter. It would not be long before they establish which one of their intended victims has escaped and where he or she might be going. All they have to do is determine from the master list who is unaccounted for and then identify their closest contact points.

      Doubly unfortunate, the bad news seems to travel in pairs. The second piece of information that failed to sit well with Moriah was Fizer's revelation that something was downloaded from a non-military satellite at Evans by one, possibly two, of Fizer's men. Now, the disc, or discs, need to be recovered, and the men…well, the men need to be located and…dealt with.

      Moriah knows that Fizer initially failed to review the keystroke-logging program at Private Rushmore's station. Otherwise, why had it taken so long for the colonel to inform them of this crucial piece of information?

      Moriah anticipated snags and obstacles along the way, but not caused by members of his own group. Moriah occasionally asks himself how Fizer managed to slither his way inside the Foundation in the first place, but for now, more immediate concerns appear to be pressing.