Episode 7: Aces & Eights

By Leigh Barker

Episode 7. Aces & Eights: Season 3 - Ethan Gill - The Orpheus Directive:
Ethan knows he has to give the unit a hope in hell, and doing that means he and Winter must take on the twin .50 cals out in the open where the only cover will be the body of the first one to fall.

For Ethan this kind of desperate heroism comes with command. Never ask a man to do something you wouldn't do yourself. For Winter? He really just doesn't give a damn. Live; die. Either side of a coin tossed in a smoky bar in heaven.

The Viking steps forward with a plan that could save them. Or just delay the inevitable.

Ethan will take those precious few minutes. Stay alive long enough for the mission to succeed. A simple enough creed, if it's said without thinking. But doing it surrounded by ex-special forces operatives, a swarm of local guns...and the twin .50 cals, is a dream as far away as sitting on a beach and sipping mojitos.

But when you're in a game where the ante is life or death, you play the hand your dealt.

Even if it's a dead man's hand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leigh Barker
• Release date: Aug 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463529164

Leigh Barker

Leigh was born in Dudley in the middle of England. He has been a merchant seaman, a (useless) electronics salesman, a programmer, and a business analyst. And now he is a full-time writer, but that doesn't make him a bad person.He is presently writing 4 series:Clan, following the adventures of Calum Maclean as he tries to avoid the Bonnie Prince but still protect his beloved Highlands.The Hellfire Legacy Series follows US Marine Master Sergeant Ethan Gill and his team as they take on the jobs too hot for other special forces. They go where they're sent; South America, Middle East, Korea, but their most dangerous missions are on US soil.Volume #1: A Whisper of ArmageddonVolume #2: The Hellfire LegacyVolume #3: The Orpheus DirectiveEden, a three-volume series -Trinity is at war with Lucid, the son of Lucifer, and he will do whatever it takes to win. The Archangel Gabriel has an army but he needs more. He needs heroes, but they are few and far between. Which is why he gets Dylan and co. Not too much luck in Heaven then.Volume #1: Eden's Last HeroVolume #2: WinterwoodVolume #3: Requiem for Eden.Soldiers is set in 1914 and follows John Regret and his 12-man squad on their suicidal mission to find and destroy the German howitzer nicknamed Big Bertha. Find it before it drops it's thousand-pound shells on the allied army retreating across France. A seemingly hopeless mission that just cannot fail.Other occasional series include:Anarchy, the 'completely true' stories of men doing what men do when there's nobody to keep them in check. Create mayhem and behave like monkeys on speed.Coffee Break Reads - each issue has 5 stories short enough to read while taking a break from life. A mix of adventure, love, disaster, and fun. All with one thing in common; for a moment they transport the reader to another world.Episode 1 of each Season is free and can be picked up with other free books at:https://leighwbarker.com/my-library/Just copy the link above and paste it into your browser and you're there...

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The Orpheus Directive

(Season 1)

(Episode 7)

Aces and Eights

Copyright 2018 Leigh Barker

Published by Leigh Barker at Smashwords

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ISBN: 9780463529164

The Orpheus Directive

Season 1

(Episode 7)

Leigh Barker

Aces and Eights

Leonard Hofmann put down the phone and stared unseeing out of the big windows. The President was an ass. No, worse than that, he was a goddamned ass. How the hell had he been elected? Easy, the alternatives were even worse. The country was going to the dogs. Problem was, no one with any integrity and an ounce of intelligence wanted the crappy job, so the country got fools, cowboys, and the Texan.

He felt like he needed to wash his hands after talking to the man. Five minutes, that was how long he’d been on the line, and in that short time the man had told him he was the greatest man in the world six different ways. The only positive thing he could take away from the deluge of self-congratulatory drivel was that he’d not only agreed to meet, he was positively salivating at the prospect. The king and the kingmaker was how he’d put it. Jesus, the man’s ego could eclipse the Californian sun.

The man was an upstart, a common man who hadn’t even made his money himself. Handed to him on a platter.

He stood up and went into the bathroom to wash his hands, unable to deny it any longer.

The truth was, he supposed, had the President been a man of honor and integrity as the position deserved, he would’ve put down the phone the moment the phrase agency director review had been used, instead of agreeing wholeheartedly that changes were overdue in all the self-interested and anti-government agencies. It almost beggared belief.

He dried his hands and threw the white towel into the corner of the oyster-tiled bathroom. Christ, the man hadn’t even the semblance of a moral compass. One thing was certain… He stopped in the doorway as the thought crystalized. When this was over, he would have him squashed like a bug. The thought brought a smile and he felt the knot loosen in his stomach. His blood pressure was good, but there was no point pushing it.

He glanced at the wall clock. Four dots and two red laser pointers. What had he been thinking when he let her put that thing up. He looked at his wristwatch, as he always needed to since his Cartier had lost its place to that monstrosity. Three hours. He had arranged a meeting with the most powerful man in the world with only three hours’ notice. It was almost embarrassing how much the man wanted to suck up to anyone he perceived as his better. But it played into his hands, so okay, he’d take it.

It wasn’t as though he had to be friends with the oily little—

I’m sorry to disturb you, sir, a disembodied voice said from a hidden speaker.

Yes, Bernard?

A…person is here to see you. There was a long silence. A Philip… Bernard’s voice drifted into the