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Back Angels of Vengeance Save as PDF
Chapters (68)
  1. Blurb
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Dedication
  4. CHARACTER LIST
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. 49
  54. 50
  55. 51
  56. 52
  57. 53
  58. 54
  59. TWO MONTHS LATER
  60. ONE YEAR LATER
  61. TWO YEARS LATER
  62. FOUR YEARS LATER
  63. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  64. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  65. Also by John Birmingham
  66. ALSO BY JOHN BIRMINGHAM
  67. Copyright
  68. Cover

She would be here somewhere. Sofia remembered that now: Maive was still alive, but very badly injured. Was she in a coma? Was she undergoing surgery? Sofia was sure she’d known the answer to that once, but like a poor student, she had forgotten. It would be frustrating were she not inoculated against feeling anything.

She tucked the white tee-shirt into her jeans and put on the thick, fleecy hoodie. As she concentrated on dressing herself, she remembered. Maive was in intensive care. The nurses had told her that when the paramedics brought her in, after she’d collapsed back at the apartment. Maive was alive, but she was in intensive care. That’s why Sofia couldn’t see her. She recalled asking them if Mrs Aronson would be all right, but couldn’t remember what they told her. Perhaps the nurses had avoided the question. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Sofia would not be able to see her. Not if she hoped to get away from here.

And for now that’s all she wanted to do. To get away from this hospital, away from this city and back to Texas, where her family had been murdered. And where she could find the man her father blamed for the deaths.

The tyrant Blackstone.

Sofia Pieraro would return to Texas, as her father had promised to, and there she would settle with the man who had taken everything from her. She was done playing stupid games with the federales. They had done nothing in all the time she and Papa had been here in KC. Nothing but talk. She was the last Pieraro. She had no choice – she would act.

13

DEARBORN HOUSE, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

A fixer’s work was never done. And a fixer he most surely was – not an aide, not a staff member, not even the Chief of Staff, despite what it said on his office door. Jed Culver was a fixer of small things, like disputes between Cabinet secretaries about who got the corner office, and big things, like existential threats to the Republic. And that’s what he was certain he was looking at here: the death of the American Republic.

It was a hell of a thing, when you thought about it. The Disappearance hadn’t destroyed the United States, even though it had killed pretty much everyone on the continent, save for a few lucky survivors in the Pacific Northwest and up into Alaska. Those survivors were doing the best they could to bind up the massive wound inflicted on the nation, but they were going to fail. America was going to die, and it was all because of one, self-obsessed asshole. General Jackson Blackstone.

Or Governor Jackson Blackstone as he was these days. And didn’t winning the territorial elections back in 2005 earn him the title fair and square?