The Last Operation (The Remnants of War Series, Book 1) (37 page)
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Authors: Patrick Astre
The Doppelganger Protocol
The Remnants of War Series
Book Two
by
Patrick Astre
Award-winning Author
Inside the cargo hold, the gale screeched like demented furies as dark clouds and sheets of spray tore across the open hatch. Dr. Immirov finished fastening the GPS, Global Positioning System, to the
Chutka
with the specially designed leather harness. He had opened two crates, all he would need for this particular job. He looked up at the opening, then turned to the creatures and gave the command.
* * *
Greenport, Long Island, New York
Beach front.
"Be careful Jan. Wear your heavy rain gear, I think it's going to open up any minute with this wind," Helen Barkowitz said to her husband. She knew better than to try and talk him out of his beach walk tonight. At age 62 Jan Barkowitz, PhD, found the nightly "power walks" along the unlit beach, much more than the exercise his doctor had told him he must have. Bach, a ninety-pound Siberian Husky loved the night walks, the fouler the weather, the happier he was. Jan Barkowitz finished zipping up his rain gear, whistled to Bach, hooked up the dog's leash and stepped out into the storm for his night walk.
The male went first. He led the way with a surging jump of tractor-strength thigh muscles and two tremendous beats of powerful wings, deployed like airfoils on a mini-jet. The female followed and the two giant shadows disappeared into the teeth of the gale-force winds. Riding the gusts, instinctively using the violent currents on wings tough as steel, yet pliable as leather, powered by muscles like thick iron cables that had somehow come to life, the creatures rose hundreds of feet in the air, rapidly achieving speeds in excess of a hundred miles per hour, heading toward the Northern coast of Greenport, Long Island.
Jan Barkowitz pulled the hood close to his face, shielding his eyes from the sand blown by the wind from the beach. At his side, Bach romped, happily oblivious to the gale battering the beach. Glancing overhead, Barkowitz saw half a dozen seagulls, wings spread, effortlessly riding the violent air currents. He turned his head down against another blast of sand-peppered wind and continued his walk.
Guided with faultless precision by the tracking symbols of the GPS device strapped on its neck, the beast knew they had arrived at their intended spot. A slight tuck of their wings was all they needed for the fast spiraling descent to the beach far below.
Barkowitz felt a tug on the leash and turned. Bach had stopped. The big dog looked up, then back to his master with a growling whine.
"C'mon boy, what's the matter with you? Another ten minutes and we go back."
He reached in his pocket, pulled out a biscuit and held it under the dog's muzzle. Bach turned his head away and looked up again. Barkowitz gave an impatient tug on the leash and the two continued the walk.
The female spotted the prey first with eyes that picked up the scant available ambient light like a night-vision telescope. She let out a screeching howl, answered immediately by the male. The seagulls riding the currents folded their wings, dropping like stones to hide among the boulders of the beach, as if some ancestral instinct told them what hunted this night. The female led the way, plummeting like a spirit from a malevolent nightmare out of the raging dark sky, and hit the prey dead on.
Barkowitz felt an overwhelming pressure, lifted by the force of the strike, his body slammed down to the sand and rocks. He remained conscious in a twilight kind of state where a detached corner of his mind returned to the clinician he once had been. He catalogued the wounds as if reading a surgical report
. Sternum slashed with lacerations penetrating to aorta and jugular, torn larynx and crushed vertebras #3, 4, & 6 with severance of spinal cord
nerves to medula oblongata.
He marveled at the lack of pain as he saw a giant shadow, dark and moving in viscous blackness, alight directly in front of his paralyzed sight. He saw the bony, razor-edged forelimb raised for more strikes.
How odd,
he thought,
death is only seconds away. Why bother?
* * *
But bother, they did. One last heartbeat later, Jan Barkowitz, PhD, director of genetic research at Plum Island Animal Disease Laboratory, creator of the Doppelganger Protocol, lay dead on the beach, entrails and vital organs scattered like leftover bait dumped by careless fishermen.
The Doppelganger Protocol
The Remnants of War Series
Book Two
by
Patrick Astre
~
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The Doppelganger Protocol
from your favorite eBook Retailer,
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Award-winning author Patrick Astre served in the US Army Infantry, stationed in Germany during the height of the Cold War. Rising to the rank of Sergeant E-5, Astre finished his last year of service as a Drill Instructor at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Now, Patrick P. Astre, CFP, EA, RFC is a recognized tax and financial expert specializing on the economic issues of longevity. Patrick is independent and has been advising individuals and corporations since 1969.
Patrick's second financial book was released in mid-August 2007 by Entrepreneur Media Publishing. It is Entrepreneur's "cornerstone" retirement book.
This is Not Your Parents' Retirement
is all ready one of the top sellers in its field, addressing the convergence of the longevity revolution and the aging baby-boomers, woefully unprepared for retirement.
In addition to his financial books, he is the author of numerous articles as well as fiction thrillers. His novel
The Artifact
won the Salvo Press Mystery Thriller of the year Award for 2005 and was released in July 2006. Blackstone audio has purchased the audio rights and it is now one of their new releases.
Patrick is a professional public speaker and member of the National Speakers Association. His seminars, speeches and keynotes are a lively, enthusiastic mix of entertainment, motivation, humor and unique insights. He uses energy and laughter on the stage, and elicits participation to delight his audiences.
Some of his clients include Celebrity Cruises, John Hancock, Princess Cruises, LIBOR (Long Island Board of Realtors) Passaic Board of Realtors, F & T Life, ING Direct, Emerald Passport International, North American Orthopedic Association, and many others. He has shared the stage with the likes of motivational speaker Les Brown, Ed Forman, Ross Quinn, and Captain Gerald Coffey.
Patrick lives in Long Island, New York with his wife Lynn. The couple has two children and two grandchildren and enjoy traveling throughout the country in their motor home.
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