The Hermit Kingdom

THE HERMIT KINGDOM SHANE RILEY ADVENTURES BOOK 1 NICK THACKER CONTENTS 1. Shane 2. Shane 3. Shane 4. Seong 5. Seong 6. Shane 7. Dr. Yun 8. Shane 9. Shane 10. Shane 11. Evans 12. Shane 13. Evans 14. Shane 15. Evans 16. Michaela 17. Shane 18. Michaela 19. Evans 20. Shane 21. Jin-Tak 22. Michaela 23. Evans 24. Shane 25. Shane 26. Evans 27. Shane 28. Shane 29. Evans 30. Shane 31. Jin-Tak 32. Shane 33. Shane 34. Shane 35. Shane 36. Evans 37. Evans 38. Jin-Tak 39. Shane 40. Shane 41. Shane 42. Shane 43. Evans 44. Shane 45. Shane 46. Shane 47. Shane 48. Evans 49. Shane 50. Shane 51. Shane 52. Shane 53. Evans 54. Evans 55. Michaela 56. Shane 57. Shane 58. Shane 59. Shane 60. Shane 61. Shane 62. Evans 63. Shane 64. Shane 65. Evans 66. Shane 67. Michaela 68. Shane 69. Shane 70. Shane 71. Seong 72. Shane 73. Shane 74. Shane 75. Shane 76. Michaela 77. Michaela 78. Shane 79. Shane 80. Shane 81. Jin-Tak 82. Shane 83. Shane 84. Evans 85. Shane 86. Shane Afterword Books by Nick Thacker About the Author 1 SHANE Shane Riley's wife was dead on the bottom of the ocean floor inside her Subaru Outback. He dove straight down, checking his regulator and gauging his numbers as he descended. It was about a 60-foot drop, and while the shallower waters boasted vibrant, massive displays of color at the edge of the reef, the floor farther out was more barren, save for piles of large rocks and a few corals that preferred the deeper waters. He was not alone down here. Thousands of fish swimming in schools pecked at his hands and arms as he moved through them, curious and testing to see if he was food. In a sense, he was. He knew it was true that everything in the ocean wanted to kill him, but here off the eastern coast of Australia, it was actually quite possible. Here, everything wanted to kill him, and much of it was large enough to actually do so. Though he was armed with a spear, it would do little damage against the beasts that roamed these waters. The great white shark was a constant threat, and there were saltwater crocodiles to worry about as well. A few large groupers swam near enough for him to attempt to snag one, but the spear was sitting on its mount on his back, next to his dive tank. He was not here to fish. He was here to find her. Shane Riley, a former member of the Australian 2nd Commando Regiment, had long since given up the life of killing humans for his government and had chosen to settle down into a new career. Now, he was a finder. He found objects, artifacts, and art – whatever the person paying him wanted to find. Typically, the person paying him even knew where to look, so in those instances, Shane was more of a retriever. He was basically a private investigator — but hunted down objects rather than people. Never people. His mission today reminded him why. His wife of two years had been kidnapped, strapped into the seat of her own car, then shot point-blank. Everything — car and all – had been carried out to sea and dumped into the waters off the coast of Australia. His stomach turned just thinking about it. It had taken him another year to get to the point where he could even process the onslaught of emotions. There was still grief, a severe pain ripping through him whenever he thought her name. Kate, I'm coming, he thought. He never found people in his line of work because they always ended in situations like this. Death, destruction of human life, grief. He had closed that chapter in the book of his own history, and he was far more content dealing with objects of antiquity and things of value. And yet he knew he needed to find her. There was more closure he needed, more work to be done. He would find his wife, see her for one last time – knowing full well what she would look like after a year in the ocean – and say goodbye. And then he would find the people who did this to her, and he would kill them. They had been looking for him, trying to use her as leverage. It would have worked, if Shane had even been around to notice. He had fallen off the grid, a mission gone awry, one of the last work-for-hire jobs he had taken for the government. He had not been employed by the military at the time, so he had not had time to fix this. While he was away, they grabbed her, waited with her for three days, then a week. Shane had eventually returned to civilization and was able to receive messages. But by then it was too late. He reached the ocean floor, then turned to the north and prepared to swim the underwater mile lined by the huge piles of rocks and boulders that formed the edge of a shallow shelf. The vehicle could be anywhere below him, and of course, it could have fallen off to his right, to the slightly deeper waters at the foot of the shelf. That would be the outward boundary of where the GPS signal was lost. The Subaru's tracking system had worked up until the car was fully submerged for a minute, and he knew a sinking vehicle would not find a straight path to the ocean floor. Still, it would not deviate much, maybe 100 feet in each direction. That put Ground Zero right beneath him. He swam upright for a moment, floating, suspended above the boulders, and looked out in every direction. He saw plenty of lumps that were the size and shape of a car, but none that matched the profile perfectly. It wasn't quite a