Black Quiet

BLACK QUIET ©2023 TED GALDI This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors. Aethon Books supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. Aethon Books www.aethonbooks.com Cover art, Print and eBook formatting by Steve Beaulieu. Published by Aethon Books LLC. Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental. All rights reserved. CONTENTS 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 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Thank you for reading Black Quiet! 1 Cole Maddox is dressed as a waiter even though he is not one. He is a black-ops commando in Delta Force, an elite unit of the US Army. “Champagne?” He presents a tray of glasses to a female guest at a hundred-person bash at a villa in Mykonos, Greece owned by Feng Liao, a tech billionaire from China. The pretty, twentysomething brunette bites her lip as she takes in thirty-five-year-old Cole’s well-defined facial features, dirty-blond hair, and fit body, six foot two, about two hundred pounds. “Sure,” she says. “Have one with me out on the balcony?” He passes her a glass. “The drink is a la carte. Don’t take it personally. Not looking to get fired.” She runs a finger from her eye down her cheek like a tear. He grins, then turns his back to her and progresses toward Feng, who stands near the DJ booth in a well-tailored suit. Feng admires his crowd, most of it female European models half his age. Two slide their hands over each other’s bodies as they dance in front of him to the pulsing electro music. A special glass on Cole’s tray is reserved for Feng. According to the NSA’s monitoring of his communications the last three months, Feng is plotting a cyberattack on the US power grid later this week. Thousands of American injuries and deaths are expected in the resultant mayhem. Cole gives glasses to guests. Just two are left on his tray once he arrives at Feng. “Champagne?” Cole asks. He knows Feng wants some before he answers. The drink is his favorite according to the surveillance Cole conducted on him this last week. “Certainly,” Feng says. “Thank you, sir.” Cole’s hand reaches for the reserved glass. But another hand snatches it. A blond girl holds it above her head, her eyes closed as she gyrates to the music. “Excuse me, miss,” Cole says, with Feng close enough to overhear. She opens her eyes and lifts the glass toward her lips. Cole grips it before she sips. “That one is flat.” “Nah-ah. Look at the cute little fizz.” “You can use even more cute little fizz.” He sets the glass back on the tray and hands her the other. “This’ll be better. I promise.” His gaze stretches across the roomful of dancing girls and lavish decor to Trent Winters, a fellow undercover commando working the bar. Trent slipped a tasteless, dissolvable pill into the special glass, a military-lab-engineered poison that’ll kill whoever ingests it within four hours. The commandos communicate with each other without words, just subtle signals: Cole scratches his cheek, meaning No go. Trent scratches his ear: Let’s regroup. Cole runs a hand through his hair: Okay. He says to Feng, “I’ll grab you a fresh one. Hang tight.” He turns to the bar. “I must admit,” Feng says, “I agree with Sophia.” Cole looks back at him. Feng points at the lone glass on the tray. “It doesn’t appear flat.” “Not by normal standards. But only the best for top clients like you, Mister Liao.” “I don’t recognize you from my last event. Usually the firm sends the same help.” “Service industry. High turnover.” Cole grins. “One last thing.” Cole faces him again. “My friend is a licensed sommelier,” Feng says. “I’d like him to inspect that glass. We just uncorked its bottle. If a serving went flat already, even slightly so, we may have a broader problem with the case. Which was not cheap.” He raises his arm with a half-spin of his hand. Within seconds, a brawny Asian man appears at his side, the collar of