Flesh and Bone: Templar Chronicles, #3.5

By Joseph Nassise

We all have those moments that define us, those moments that make us who we are, and for Matthew Cornelius Riley one such moment came on a dark night in August nearly twenty-five years ago.

The events of that evening would drive him into the waiting arms of the Templar Order, would help him rise through the ranks to become not just a member of the Echo Team but the executive officer to its infamous commander, Cade Williams.

This is the story of that fateful night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joseph Nassise
• Release date: Jan 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781949459173

Joseph Nassise

Joseph Nassise is the author of more than twenty novels, including the internationally bestselling Templar Chronicles series, the Jeremiah Hunt series, and several books in the Rogue Angel action/adventure series from Gold Eagle. He’s a former president of the Horror Writers Association, the world’s largest organization of professional horror writers, and a multiple Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominee.

Book preview

Flesh and Bone

Flesh and Bone

A Templar Chronicles Mission

Joseph Nassise

Harbinger Books

Contents

Flesh And Bone

About the Author

Flesh And Bone

G et down, you idiot! Knight Captain Matthew Riley said sharply to the Templar initiate on his right, who was at that very moment foolishly sticking his head above the low outcropping of rock they were using as cover in an effort to get a better look at the enemy hiding somewhere out in the darkness ahead of them.

The trainee – Davis? Dalton? Riley couldn’t remember the man’s name at the moment - turned to say something in reply, only to be knocked on his ass by the bullet that smacked directly into the center of the helmet he’d so stupidly exposed to the enemy’s sight. The non-lethal round flattened on impact, splattering the man’s face and helmet with the blue luminescent paint the Templars used to indicate a successful hit during training exercises like this one.

The trainee fell over backward and just like that Riley’s assault force was reduced by one.

The Knight Captain considered returning fire but then decided against it. He had no idea of the size of the enemy force; it could be anything from a lone sniper to a couple of squads lying in ambush. He didn’t know where the shooter was and exposing himself to try and figure it out would do little more than make himself a target in return. Riley tried to avoid that as often as possible. Instead, he signaled the other squad members behind him and then began moving to his right, staying as low as he could to avoid making the same mistake his less-experienced, and significantly younger, teammate had just made. As he crawled over the dead man’s legs, Riley heard the other man whisper an energetic, Sorry, Knight Captain.

The apology pissed him off more than the man’s mistake had.

Next time I tell you to do something, soldier, you do it! Riley snarled in a voice no louder than a whisper. You don’t think about it. You don’t debate it. You just do it, understand? This isn’t a game! Stupid mistakes like that can get your entire squad killed!

The response was decidedly more muted this time. Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.

Riley kept the smile off his face until he was certain the other man couldn’t see it. That'll be the last time he sticks his head up like a dumb-ass gopher, he thought to himself with satisfaction.

The battle with the Chiang Shih had left the ranks of the Templar combat units severely understaffed and so, in addition to his current responsibilities as leader of the Echo Team, Riley had been ordered to bring the units up to full strength as quickly as possible. The Order’s enemies, which by definition meant humanity’s enemies, were more numerous than he liked to think about. He knew that the Templars would be in serious trouble if a few of the larger groups suddenly decided to band together to launch a coordinated attack against them before they’d had a chance to rebuild their strength. Doing so was a top priority and that was what had brought him out here today with this particular group of initiates.

The process for bringing a new member into the Order was normally a long and detailed one. Prospective members would be watched for months, sometimes years, before they were approached. Precedence was given to men who had worked in military or paramilitary positions previously – soldiers, sailors, law enforcement of any kind, firefighters, rangers, private security personnel and the like. Virtually all of them were men of faith, though not all of them were Catholic, despite the fact that the Templars were ultimately under Vatican control. Occasionally a non-believer would be brought in, if the Order had need for a particular skill set that they couldn’t get from within their own ranks, but those situations were few and far between.

But much of the normal process had been intentionally put aside in order to bring the current ranks up to full strength. Only about a third of this particular class of initiates had the requisite combat training that the Templars preferred. The rest were quite literally bodies intended to fill a slot in the troop hierarchy and it was up to instructors like Riley to hone them into the finely-tuned weapons they needed to be if they hoped to survive what lay ahead for them as knights of the Order.

This group of initiates had spent the last six weeks working and learning together in the classroom. This exercise was designed to see how well they could put the things they’d learned into practice in the real world.

Riley and his squad of eight men had hiked into the forest shortly before dusk, taking a circuitous