The Primal War : First Elements Saga Book 1

Chapter 1 : An Awakening

He was tempted to stay and watch, considering he had just finished a similar operation in Paris, until Jay shouted from the conference room’s open door.

“Hurry up, tourist,” the bigger man shouted. “You’re holding up the brief!”

“Unbunch your panties, Jay,” he growled as he jogged forward to step through the door. “The old man isn’t even …”

“Here?” a third voice rumbled.

Grimacing, Marcus let his eyes track to the head of the table even as he pasted what he hoped was an apologetic look on his face.

“Sorry, sir,” he said. “No disrespect intended.”

The square shouldered, hawkish looking man sitting at the head of the table frowned, making him look even more like Agent Smith from the Matrix movies. The dark suit that he always seemed to be wearing despite the desert heat, certainly helped that perception. Then he was pulling Marcus from his musing with a long finger pointing at a chair.

“Since you are last to join us, Agent Gray, you can be the first to give us your encounter report,” Mr. Smith intoned in that gravelly voice of his.

Slumping into the indicated chair, Marcus just about groaned in psychological pain. He hated going first. There was no chance to digest the other reports to see if he needed a little embellishment to make it sound like he did better than them. Because it felt like a competition with the other Descendants: who could impress Mr Smith more?

“Agent Gray?” Mr. Smith, who’s real name was actually Jacob Barna, rumbled. “Today, Agent

Gray, today!”

“Yes, sir.” Leaning forward so he could access the in-table interface, he pulled up the mission log that he had submitted not even an hour ago, right after his flight back from Europe. And the screen set into the wall behind Barna came to life with a wash of light.

“Deployment 72A, January 14, 2023. Called in to respond to what appeared to be a terrorist attack by hyper human elements on the American Embassy in Paris, France. Intel bolus provided by local sector command, NSA, ground level intel provided by CIA Global Response units working with the embassy’s marine detachment,” he quickly read out as an image of several buildings on fire around the embassy appeared on the screen.

“Marines first identified on security cameras several individuals approaching the compound throughout the evening, noted their numbers, locations, and dispositions. But it wasn’t until they rushed the embassy at approximately two in the morning, and I quote: ‘spontaneously lighting on fire’ that the marines called it into DoD and the CIA’s European desk and received permission to go live with their weapons systems. They immediately engaged but were unable to bring any of the attackers down.”

Marcus paused there to let the security camera footage play, which showed the approach of the individuals that were using some sort of tech to hide their faces to remain unidentifiable. Then came the attack itself with the individuals indeed ‘lighting on fire’ and making a rush for the gates only to be driven back into the neighboring buildings.

“Paris city police and the French national police were both advised immediately of the attack but informed the embassy they didn’t have the resources to assist. That was when the call came in to the Patch, requesting assistance from us.”

“How long were you on route?” Barna asked, eyes narrowed as he examined the images.

“I happened to be in London on a cool down when the call came in,” Marcus indicated. “At the RedSky compound on Ponton Road, just down from our embassy there. Keller and Task were both on site, so they rolled in a package that took approximately twenty minutes to get on site in