King watched as Chambers stepped onto the dais and took his place at the lectern adorned with the Presidential Seal, but as the president began talking, he noticed something else. At first, he tried to dismiss it. Just one of those things. But as the president offered his assurances that the crisis in North Carolina was over, and he was rewarded with a round of applause led by the other people on the stage, King felt compelled to take a closer look. He let go of Sara’s hand and moved forward until he was just a few feet away from the screen.
“Jack?” Sara asked. “What is it?”
King shook his head, still unwilling to believe what his eyes were telling him, and he continued to stare at the screen. “Can we pause this? Or run it back?”
“Sure,” Aleman said. “Just say when.”
“Now.” He said it without any urgency. Although the camera view was centered on the president, the person just behind his right shoulder had been in the shot the whole time. Now that the frame was frozen, King focused his attention on the figure standing there, hoping desperately to find something that would allow him to dismiss the matter altogether.
Sara came alongside him and took his hand. “Jack, what is it? What do you see?”
He touched a finger to the face frozen on the screen. “It can’t be her. It’s not possible.”
His long life had taught him one other lesson: nothing was impossible.
“That’s Julie. That’s my sister.”
Coda
Virginia Colony, 1588
After the surviving colonists, just two dozen of them, made their peace with the natives and returned to the mainland to permanently join the tribe—the only conditions under which the native chief would agree to shelter them—the privateer known to the colonists as John King made his way back to the abandoned village.
He had what he wanted now. He had the answer to one of the most enduring mysteries of all time. But that answer was something he could never share.
It was not merely the horror of what the colonists had done to each other, so they could live a few days longer. In extremis, such moral lapses were forgivable, if not quite universally acceptable. No, it was not the fact that some had fallen to cannibalism that frightened the man who called himself John King, but rather the possibility, however slight, that the truth—the final truth—about the fate of the colonists might one day be used for a terrible purpose.
Over the next few weeks, he set about disassembling the settlement. He ripped down the houses, carrying the wood to the shore where he used it to build a small boat—just enough to bear him south, where he would be able to find passage aboard a Spanish galleon or perhaps sign on with an English privateer. He scattered the stones of cook fires and forges. He kept some of their goods—a few tools and some clothes to replenish his own. The rest he pitched into the sea.
When others arrived, as they surely would a few years hence, they would find no trace at all of the colony. They would assume, correctly, that the colonists had been assimilated by one of the local native tribes. They might, in time, learn about the wendigo curse, and how the natives had unleashed a horror upon the colonists who had broken the tribe’s most sacred taboo. And someday, someone would wonder if the power of the wendigo might be used as a terrible weapon. He could not allow that to happen, and the only way to ensure that no one ever stumbled across the truth was to give the world something else to think about.
Borrowing a page from sleight-of-hand conjurers, he would use misdirection to hide the truth.
With his boat ready to sail, he returned to the site one last time. All that remained to mark the place was the wooden palisade, part of the old fort built by the expedition that preceded the colonists. In time, that too would disappear, its exact location lost to memory. There was one thing however that would never be forgotten.
Using a chisel, he carved a message onto the palisade. A single word, not at all cryptic. If taken literally, it would prompt future searchers to look for the missing colony to the south, on Hatteras Island, instead of inland. But King knew that as the years passed, the message would take on a mythical, haunting quality. One word that, despite meaning very little, would forever evoke a sense of both mystery and terror:
A NOTE FROM JEREMY ROBINSON
Dear Reader,
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for reading CANNIBAL. I hope you have enjoyed this new Chess Team adventure. If you did enjoy the book, please show your support by posting a review at your online retailer. E-book websites work on algorithms, meaning the more people review my books, the more the e-book retailers will recommend them to other readers. And the more people buy my books, the more I get to write them, which is a good thing for both of us (assuming you enjoyed the book). If we can get CANNIBAL moving off the virtual shelves, there will be more Chess Team adventures to come.
Thank you!
—Jeremy Robinson
(Coming Soon)
ENDGAME
A Jack Sigler & Chess Team Universe Guidebook
By Jeremy Robinson
with Kane Gilmour
Description:
The Jack Sigler / Chess Team series now spans eighteen titles, with two more on the way in 2015. This guidebook provides detailed summaries of the previous full length novels and the ‘Chesspocalypse’ (or ‘Callsign’) novellas. There’s also a small nod to the ‘Jack Sigler Continuum’ short novel, Guardian. Filled with character biographies, a roster of villainous threats and descriptions of devious creatures that have all appeared over the course of the series, Endgame is the perfect reference book for your Chess Team questions.
The book also contains twenty illustrations of the main characters, as well as a section of ‘eye witness sketches’ of creatures and events by Jeremy Robinson and fans of the series. As if that weren’t enough, the whole book is wrapped in a short story about the team’s handler, Deep Blue, which reveals the aftermath of the new novel Cannibal.
Delve deeply into Deep Blue’s personal files on the team and its supporting cast, to either catch up so you can jump in with the current novels, or to relive your favorite moments from this explosive series.
Jeremy Robinson and Kane Gilmour, the international bestselling duo behind Ragnarok and Omega, bring you this comprehensive guidebook and a surprising short story framing sequence sure to have die-hard Chess Team fans salivating for the next book in the series.
HERCULEAN
(Coming Soon)
HERCULEAN
A Cerberus Group Novel
By Jeremy Robinson
and Sean Ellis
Description:
This description is still designated: Top Secret.
(Coming in 2015.)
Jeremy Robinson and Sean Ellis, the international bestselling team behind Savage and Cannibal, will be returning in 2015 with the explosive beginning of an all new series, featuring George Pierce from the Chess Team books.
PATRIOT
(Coming Soon)
PATRIOT
A Jack Sigler Continuum Novel
By Jeremy Robinson
with J. Kent Holloway
Description:
Jack Sigler was a modern soldier. First for the Army, then for the anti-terror Delta unit known as ‘Chess Team’ and finally for Endgame, a black budget organization specializing in fending off strange and otherworldly global threats. After several brutal, yet successful missions, the man known by the callsign: King, found himself torn away from his family and thrust back in time, abandoned in the year 780 BC. But that’s not where his life would end. He was gifted with regenerative powers, making him nearly immortal. He heals quickly. Doesn’t age. And he’s nearly 2800 years away from his daughter and fiancée.
Now, the only way he can return to his own time and his family is to live, fight and sometimes wage war through the oncoming centuries, carrying on Endgame’s mission: to protect the weak, right wrongs and send the world’s monsters back to whatever hell spawned them.
Patriot, the second tale in the ‘
Jack Sigler Continuum’ series, takes place after King has lived in the past for 2500 years…
Jeremy Robinson and J. Kent Holloway, the international bestselling duo behind Guardian, return in 2015 with another rampaging tale of Jack Sigler torn out of time.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jeremy Robinson is the international bestselling author of fifty novels and novellas including Uprising, Island 731, SecondWorld, the Jack Sigler thriller series, and Project Nemesis, the highest selling original (non-licensed) kaiju novel of all time. He’s known for mixing elements of science, history and mythology, which has earned him the #1 spot in Science Fiction and Action-Adventure, and secured him as the top creature feature author.
Robinson is also known as the bestselling horror writer, Jeremy Bishop, author of The Sentinel and the controversial novel, Torment. His novels have been translated into twelve languages. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three children.
Visit him online at www.jeremyrobinsononline.com.
Sean Ellis is the international bestselling author Magic Mirror and several thriller and adventure novels. He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, and he has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Policy from Oregon State University. Sean is also a member of the International Thriller Writers organization. He currently resides in Arizona, where he divides his time between writing, adventure sports and trying to figure out how to save the world.
Visit him on the web at: seanellisthrillers.webs.com.
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ALSO by JEREMY ROBINSON
Standalone Novels
The Didymus Contingency
Raising The Past
Beneath
Antarktos Rising
Kronos
Uprising (aka: Xom-B)
MirrorWorld (2015)
Nemesis Novels
Island 731
Project Nemesis
Project Maigo
SecondWorld Novels
SecondWorld
Nazi Hunter: Atlantis
The Antarktos Saga
The Last Hunter – Descent
The Last Hunter – Pursuit
The Last Hunter – Ascent
The Last Hunter – Lament
The Last Hunter – Onslaught
The Last Hunter – Collected Edition
The Jack Sigler/Chess Team Thrillers
Prime
Pulse
Instinct
Threshold
Ragnarok
Omega
Savage
Cannibal
Jack Sigler Continuum Novels
Guardian
Patriot (2015)
Cerberus Group Novels
Herculean (2015)
Chesspocalypse Novellas
Callsign: King
Callsign: Queen
Callsign: Rook
Callsign: King 2 – Underworld
Callsign: Bishop
Callsign: Knight
Callsign: Deep Blue
Callsign: King 3 – Blackout
Chesspocalypse Novella Collected Editions
Callsign: King – The Brainstorm Trilogy
Callsign – Tripleshot
Callsign – Doubleshot
Horror Novels
(written as Jeremy Bishop)
Torment
The Sentinel
The Raven
Refuge:
Night of the Blood Sky
Darkness Falls
Lost in the Echo
Ashes and Dust
Bonfires Burning Bright
Refuge (Omnibus)
ALSO by SEAN ELLIS
Jack Sigler/Chess Team Series
Callsign: King - Book 1
Callsign: King - Book 2 – Underworld
Callsign: King – Book 3 - Blackout
The Brainstorm Trilogy
Prime
Savage
Cannibal
Cerberus Group Novels
Herculean (2015)
The Nick Kismet adventures
The Shroud of Heaven
Into the Black
The Devil You Know
Fortune Favors
The Adventures of Dodge Dalton
In the Shadow of Falcon’s Wings
At the Outpost of Fate
On the High Road to Oblivion
Dark Trinity: The Mira Raiden Adventures
Ascendant
Descendant
Jade Ihara Adventures
Oracle
(with David Wood)
Standalone Novels
Magic Mirror
The Sorcerer’s Ghost
Flood Rising
Secret Agent X
The Sea Wraiths
Masterpiece of Vengeance
The Scar
David Wood’s Dane and Bones Origins Series
Hell Ship
Steven Savile’s Ogmios Team
Wargod
Edited Anthology
The Game
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Epilogue
Coda
A Note from the Jeremy Robinson
About the Authors
Also by Jeremy Robinson
Also by Sean Ellis
Copyright ©2015 by Jeremy Robinson
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Jeremy Robinson at:
info@jeremyrobinsononline.com.
Cover design copyright ©2014 by Jeremy Robinson
Visit Jeremy Robinson on the World Wide W
eb at:
www.jeremyrobinsononline.com.
Visit Sean Ellis on the World Wide Web at:
seanellisthrillers.webs.com.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48