Read Online The Heretic: Templar Chronicles Book 1 by Joseph Nassise - Free Book Online Page B

endless lines of the sick and the injured, the bright sparkle of hope in their faces, their utter belief that he and he alone could heal them of their afflictions. Wearily, he said, “Yes. I’ve tested it.”
    Cade nodded but didn’t push him any further, for which Duncan was grateful.
    “I suspect that you are going to learn a lot in the next few months,” Cade told him. “Things that you will probably wish you had never learned. You’ll see things the ordinary man will most likely never see, but that is one of the crosses that we bear in service to the Order. I’ll expect you to do your duty no matter what the situation. If you can do that, you’ll have the respect of every man in this unit. Understood?”
    Duncan nodded.
    Cade continued, “You’ve probably heard a lot about me — some good, some bad, I’ll wager. I won’t comment on any of that except to say that I’ll expect you to make up your own mind. Like you, I have certain abilities, abilities that not everyone understands. Sometimes I’m forced to use them in ways others would consider unconventional. But I took the same oath to the Order as you did. Remember that.
    “As you know, Echo Team is made up of four squads plus a command unit. Martinez is in charge of First Squad, Wilson has Second, Baker and Lyons have Third and Fourth Squad respectively.” Cade continued by spending several minutes going over the standard operating procedures in the unit; hand signals, radio call signs, and the like. After a time, he dismissed him to get some sleep before they landed.
    As Duncan was leaving, Cade spoke up once more.
    “Let’s keep your ability between the two of us for now. It’s probably better that way. No sense in making the men uneasy, right?”
    Duncan couldn’t imagine how his own healing ability would make men who called the Heretic their leader uneasy, but he nodded nonetheless.
    Cade smiled and then leaned back into his chair.
    The darkness around him seemed to swallow him whole.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    The early hour and the hum of the aircraft engine finally lulled Cade into sleep.
    The dream came quickly.
    In reality, the events had played out in horrible slowness.
    In the dream, they always flashed past like a strobe light, one scene after another in endless succession.
    Flash…
    “Williams here. Go ahead, Dispatch.”
    “Urgent call from your wife, Cade. Says she needs you to call her on a landline.”
    “Will do, Dispatch. Thanks for the relay.”
    Cade replaced the mike and turned to Jackson. “She probably wants me to pick up some milk and bread on the way home,” he joked with his partner, Jackson, as he reached for his phone..
    He dialed. Got a busy signal.
    He hung up and tried again.
    Still nothing.
    He frowned, a small tendril of unease unfurling itself in his gut. He turned to Jackson. “I know I’m supposed to drop you off first, but would you mind if we go straight to my place? I can’t get Gabbi on the phone.”
    “It will cost you a beer or two,” Jackson said good-naturedly, and they had a deal.
    Flash…
    The interior lights were all out.
    A tentacle of unease began to twist and turn in his gut, churning with a life of its own.
    Something was wrong…
    He parked in the driveway behind his wife’s Audi.
    The two of them got out of the car, Cade turning to say something to his partner.
    Whatever it was, the words never left Cade’s mouth.
    Jackson suddenly buckled, just as a sharp report reached Cade’s ears. A single flash of light came from the living room window off to his right and Cade knew Jackson had been taken down by gunfire.
    “Run, Cade!” Gabrielle shouted from the darkened house.
    Cade drew his gun and crouched behind his open car door, looking across the front seat to where Jackson lay slumped against the door, half-in and half-out of the vehicle.
    “How bad?” he asked him.
    “It hurts, but it’s a clean through and through. He didn’t hit anything vital.” Jackson grunted in pain, then,