Chapter Fifteen
White Ravens
Gage
The helicopter barely vibrated Gage’s seat. It was nothing like the rattling aluminum choppers he’d heard and seen before. This one stalked like a ghost in the sky.
Roz sat beside him on a leather-cushioned two-seater with his big hands gripping the armrest as if he expected the aircraft to get shot down at any minute.
Gage couldn’t blame him. The whole situation felt surreal.
People moved around them—at least nine by Gage’s count—speaking in low, respectful tones to Valor and Zorion.
Two sets of footsteps faded behind a sliding door, and Roz leaned into him. “They went into a back room. I wonder what’s back there.”
“It’s their private quarters. It has a bathroom, bed, and a wardrobe,” a woman answered before she asked in a sweet voice, “Would you like any refreshments? Water, tea, wine, or something stronger to help calm your nerves. We have a fully stocked bar.”
“Oh yeah, how ’bout you sip it first, so we know it ain’t poisoned.”
The woman chuckled. “No one here or anywhere in headquarters would dishonor our country by harming a Raven.”
Gage sighed. “Water, please. Thank you.”
A bottle was placed on the small table beside him.
“Fine,” Roz huffed. “I’ll have a beer. In the bottle. Unopened.”
She retreated a moment. When she returned, Gage could hear the humor in her voice. “One unopened beer.”
“Mm-hmm,” Roz grumbled.
“It’s a privilege to serve the last-generation Ravens. We’ve all been hoping you’d be found…and brought home,” she said. “My name is Star. I’m one of the Green Ravens Aerial Services officers. Their aircraft is called The Nest.”
“Is Star your real name?”
“Is Roz yours?” she came back quickly.
Her name was the least of Gage’s concerns.
“Home?” Gage repeated. “And where exactly is that?”
A man with a heavier tread walked back into the area.
Gage was already beginning to recognize Valor’s gait, which was wider and louder than his partner’s.
“Can I get a Wellers, neat, Star. Thank you.”
“Home is our headquarters. It’s hidden in plain sight, in the center of DC. Jo works with several government agencies, so proximity matters.”
Roz sat forward. “What agencies?”
“CIA. NSA.” Valor paused. “Occasionally, the FBI and DEA. Jo also has trusted contacts in the DoD.”
Roz let out a disbelieving laugh. “So are y’all like…spies or some shit?”
Valor’s answer was a low rumble. “We prefer harbingers of justice.”
Gage absorbed that word. Justice. He wasn’t sure he knew what it meant anymore.
“So, you save lives?”
Zorion’s voice glided toward him from across the cabin. “We save nations.”
We?
They were speaking as if he belonged in this harbingers gang.
“And I’m expected to…what?” he asked.
“It’s your choice whether you join us. But you already possess the enhancements.”
Gage ground his molars.
“I get it,” Valor lowered his voice. “Zorion and I went through the same horrors as you and Scar. But the program wasn’t always corrupt and cruel. The Blacks and Browns volunteered.”
Gage swallowed thickly.
“Valor and I were Navy warfare captains. During a mission, we got stranded in the , and that’s where the Ravens got us. They drugged us, erased our existence, and did experiments…”
Gage could hear the pain and anger still lingering under the strength.
“What kind of experiments?” Roz asked.
“They injected animal DNA into us. I have PUMA blood, and Zorion has a hawks’. I have strength and he has incomparable eyesight.”
“Wow.” Roz gasped.
“It may sound cool but trust me, it was excruciating. Many nights, I wished for death, that one of those injections would finally kill me.”
“Jesus.” Gage felt bile rise in his throat.
“But Jo got us out of there and took us someplace safe,” Valor said. “A place that taught us how to master what’d been forced into us. She rebuilt the program into what it should’ve been all along. Honorable, disciplined, and accountable.”
Gage leaned forward. “But…you kill, right?”
Zorion didn’t pause. “We do what must be done.”
“God’s commandment says, ‘thou shalt not kill.’” Gage said, “I won’t take a life.”
“And no one will ever force you to,” Zorion said. “If your faith is your weapon, so be it.”
Gage nodded.
“Each Raven carries a codename. A name earned by their skill, character, ability, or fight style.” He paused. “I look forward to discovering yours.”
Gage leaned back in his seat.
He may be lost between the man he’d been and the one he was becoming. But one thing he knew for certain…he would never lose his Christianity.
The Ravens had stolen his sight and forced him into darkness, but he refused to live there… He would always choose light.