Beyond all Limits Read Online Free PDF Page B

outbuildings, Haynes’ sprawling single-story home further up a spruce-covered hill on the western edge of the complex. There was a large, ten-vehicle garage near the house, but one of the other barns in the farm compound held tractors and other machinery. Cole remembered that there were quad bikes and trucks in there too.
    Letting his eyes drift upwards, he saw a line of open windows running the length of the barn, below the beamed roof on either side of the central track.
    Opposite the double doors at one end was a smaller door which Cole knew from a previous visit led to a small equipment room. Between both ends of the building was a dirt floor, already starting to become further covered in pig feces.
    Behind the safety of the pen doors stood five members of Aryan Ultra, their tattooed, muscular bodies tense and ready. They held various weapons, from Magnum revolvers to shotguns, but Cole noticed they were more intent on defending themselves from the pigs than they were on making sure Cole didn’t go anywhere.
    Cole himself was two thirds of the way through the barn, his wrists tied together with a length of twine, which had been passed over one of the ceiling beams. He had been hauled up, and the end of the rope had been tied off on one of the pillars which separated the pens.
    Hanging from his wrists, the pain throughout his hands, wrists, arms and shoulders was intense, but Cole cut off the pain as best he could, using it instead to keep his mind sharp and focused.
    The pigs continued to sniff around his feet, and Cole could see that their curiosity was getting stronger and stronger with each passing second. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before they took their first bite, their tusks brushing against his legs.
    Just as Cole was considering his options, the double doors burst open and Clive Haynes himself walked in, Jim Groves right by his side. From the bruises on Groves’ face and the man’s busted nose, Cole could see that the AU lieutenant had received his own punishment for bringing him here.
    ‘Hi,’ Haynes said with a big smile, two other men entering with him, keeping the pigs at bay. ‘Glad to see I’m not too late. Wouldn’t want the hogs to get started without me, would we, Mark?’
    Cole twitched involuntarily. How did Haynes know his name?
    Haynes smiled. ‘Mark Cole, covert government operative. Working directly for the president.’ The grin spread across his face. ‘I wonder what she’ll say when we mail her the pieces that the pigs don’t want?’
    Cole didn’t respond, his mind racing furiously. How did Haynes know so much? Cole’s identity was more than a secret; only a handful of men and women in the entire world knew who he was.
    ‘Or,’ Haynes continued, stalking steadily closer towards Cole, ‘should I call you Mark Kowalski?’
    Cole’s blood ran cold; if only a handful of people knew him as Cole, even less knew him by his real name.
    He shuddered. Mark Kowalski had been a Navy SEAL, seconded to the covert Systems Research Group before being declared Killed in Action after a disastrous mission in Pakistan. But he hadn’t been killed; instead, he had been found alive, and subsequently been asked to leave behind his previous life. To become a ‘contract laborer’ for the government, with a new life, a new identity. Mark Cole: codenamed ‘the Asset’, a deniable, highly-trained, unstoppable first-strike weapon against America’s enemies.
    How the hell did Haynes know?
    ‘Surprised?’ Haynes asked with a grin, and Cole did his best to keep his face calm, impassive. Haynes nodded sagely. ‘You can try that tough guy act, but I know you must be just dyin’ to find out how I know about you, right?’ Still Cole refused to respond. ‘Right, Kowalski?’ Haynes’ grin turned to a frown. ‘So you’re not talkin’. That ain’t no problem.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘You know what, I don’t think you’ll even talk when I set the hogs on ya. And I’ve got so many