The Circle of Eight Read Online Free PDF

top from years ago revealed as the
sleeve of the robe slipped up.
    Dietrich relinquished the blade without protest, Heike
gasping behind him.
    “Master, please. I beg of you, let her go. She is but an
innocent in this and knows nothing of us.”
    His master put a hand on his shoulder, applying gentle
but firm pressure, his intent clear. Dietrich stepped aside, leaving his master
to face Heike as he still clasped her hand. She looked up at his master, tears
of fear rolling down her flushed cheeks. He wished it were daylight so his
master could see her brilliantly blue eyes, her golden hair, her impossibly
pure skin. Surely then he couldn’t harm a hair on her childlike self.
    But it was dark.
    It was damp.
    And all that could be seen were the shadows, all that
could be heard were her sniffles and the roar below. His master caressed her
cheek with his left hand, approaching her so they were mere inches apart. She
looked up at him, her neck bent back far, his height imposing even to Dietrich.
A glint of moonlight revealed a frightened attempt at a smile from her, and
nothing from his master.
    Please God, help her!
    Suddenly his master stepped forward, shoving her with
both hands over the barrier. She screamed, as did Dietrich, spinning to try and
brace himself on the wall, his left hand still holding hers, her gloved fingers
slipping. He tried to reach around with his other hand but felt an iron grip on
his forearm. He struggled, but all he could do was watch the terror in his
darling Heike’s eyes as she hung on, looking up at him as they both eyed the
silk slowly flowing from his fingers.
    Then there was none.
    She fell, a final blood curdling scream cut off as her
body was dashed on the rocks below. He spun around and rushed through the
already parting members of The Order, racing down the hill to where he could
see the river again and arrived just in time to watch her body slip along the water
before it rounded a bend in the river and disappeared forever out of sight.
    Footsteps behind him caused him to jump and spin in
rage, his fist raised. He felt the dagger at his stomach, and he didn’t care.
All he wanted right now was to die so that he might be with her at her side as
they entered Heaven and the afterlife.
    “Now you can focus on your studies.”
    The dagger was tossed over the side and into the river
below as his master walked away, leaving him to cling to the wall, sobbing at his loss, and how he alone was to blame.
     

 
     
    Inside Stucco’s Residence, Maas Drive, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
     
    “Okay, just stay calm, honey, and I’ll figure a way out of this.”
    Stucco’s
wife didn’t seem convinced. And he didn’t blame her. She was duct taped to a
chair by her ankles, wrists and upper chest. And his precious baby, only six
years old a few weeks ago, was taped to a second chair in the same manner, both
back to back, the chairs taped together as one.
    With
enough C4 taped to his wife’s chest to take out the entire house and then some.
    The bomb
had just beeped a moment ago while he was on the phone with Dawson, eliciting a
scream from his wife and wails from his daughter.
    You
have to calm yourself down. Treat it like a mission.
    He
sucked in several deep breaths, closing his eyes, regaining control of himself
as he tried to push away the thoughts of losing his family.
    This
is no different than any other op, so treat it that way.
    He
opened his eyes.
    “Okay,
everything is going to be fine,” he said in a perfectly monotone voice. “I need
you both to remain calm and quiet as I take a look at things.” He looked at Christa.
“Can you do that for daddy?”
    She
nodded, her wailing stopping as she tried to stifle her sobs.
    “Good.
Now you need to be brave for mommy, and I’m going to take a look, okay?”
    She
nodded.
    He
dropped to his knees to get a better look at the device. There was a pressure
cord around the two of them that if broken or stretched too far, would most
likely detonate