Remember the Dead

What was The Project? How did it start? What happened to forge the man known as David Cox? Six short stories and a new novella, alongside the original Remember When tell the tales that begin the Remember The Trade series.

His job was to be a bad guy for a good cause. David Cox was a mercenary soldier and agent, selected and trained for the dirty jobs of clandestine operations. But David was only supposed to be a cover identity. And once he'd learned how powerful it was to be ruthless, how could he resist bringing that home?

When they got to the plan for extraction, Avery realized before the others why David had been burrowing into the background information of the briefing package. "All the grids for our extraction zone are way north of the search area. Like, a hundred miles north."

"Seventy, as the crow flies.", said David as he gestured at the map. That was one hell of a conversation stopper.

Horse cut through the what-the-hells from everyone while trying to see the map, with the simple statement, "They are all north of the town. The big one, on the river."

He meant Barrancabermeja, and David spelled out exactly how bad it would be going anywhere near it. "Population of over a hundred thousand. Home of the Colombiana de Petróleos operations in the Magdalena Valley oil fields and a fair-sized refinery with its own river port. Paved surface airstrip six kilometers southeast of town. The rail line and most of the hardtop roads go through town. There's a very well-bribed brigade of the Colombian Army responsible for shooting anyone looking like a rebel who pokes their nose in. There is not a chance in hell we could drive through there without contact."

David took a breath and Horse filled in the gap. As usual. "We have to go around it on the east side. National Road 45, or some route that parallels it."

Butler eyed them both, looked down at the map, and then said, "You two could go in there, if we had any friends." Horse nodded. David merely gave a vague smile.

"I don't believe we have any friends in Colombia."