The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series - Book I)

  ***

  Once the entire team was aboard and our combat gear was ready to go, Bordeaux activated the engine and we sped away quietly.

  It was only during these few minutes before things got interesting that I started to worry. It wasn’t that I was afraid, just that I thought too much. People do it all the time. I can remember nights before a big test back in college where I would spend hours awake, trying to process my accumulated knowledge, only to end up confusing myself even more by morning. The same concept applied here, only if I second guess myself now, I could not only get myself, but my entire team killed.

  I glanced up at the moon and wondered why I really transferred my service. I’d just settled into my command as a SEAL team leader, and was working with some of the finest operators on the planet. My team and I had been deployed to Iran, Mexico, Siberia, Pakistan, North Korea, Africa, Azerbaijan and countless other countries, and each time I had made it out alive and relatively unscathed… except for Korea, of course. I’d had some of the most highly qualified men at my side to thank for that, and I remembered too many close calls that could have ended in my death if not for them. So why, only a few months later, was I sitting in this boat with two Brits, an aging warrior-priest, a beautiful sniper, a Frenchman, and, of all people, Santino?

  This goddamned war put things in perspective.

  The lines of war were nowhere near as clear as they used to be. We had excommunicated Russians, South American extremists, African rebels, Hindu Indians, Pakistanis, South American communists, Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, Koreans, and Americans, all involved in one way or another.

  When word came out concerning Russia’s involvement in the biological attacks on Jerusalem, China started mobilizing. They didn’t care much about Jerusalem, or any other Western interest, but there had been growing tension with Russia for years over natural resources, territorial expansion, and aiding terrorism. Within weeks of the attack, China closed its borders permanently. The only thing they continued was trade with the West, especially America, but even that was in question thanks to tension mounting over China’s near stranglehold on rare earth elements. Their Eastern front was another matter. Armed to the teeth and defensively entrenched, China was ready for Russian aggression. As a result of their military buildup, the first hostilities were over border contention near Kazakhstan. Blood was spilt on both sides, but it also set a precedent for years to come between the two nations of mere skirmishes, with no gains for either side.

  While China and Russia were at a stalemate, Pakistan and India continued to wage a bloodthirsty land war. Europe and Islamic forces in the Middle East were still fighting over the same “promised land” fought over for a thousand years. African warlords slaughtered anyone they could get their hands on. South America warred within itself while Mexico fought against both neighboring continents. There wasn’t a day that went by without hostilities. Cities on nearly every continent lay in ruin, the North American one included. Cultures were devastated; maybe two billion souls lost already.

  Nope, the world was pretty much fucked. The war had no end in sight, and it would do me some good to serve, as the president had suggested, a higher power. My two year stint away from the Teams wasn’t going to hurt anyone… as long as I survived long enough to go back.

  “You all right, Jacob?” Helena asked cautiously.

  “I’m fine. Just reminiscing.” It was probably best she got my attention when she did. I hadn’t had a chance to think about my father yet, and all the bullshit that came with that stream of consciousness.

  “Well, wake up. The shore’s in sight. We should reach the ship in ten.”

  I gave her a quick thumbs up and got to work.