A somber, heavy melancholy settled over the room. They’d logged a major victory over the Dark Ones in Rome not so long ago, and the Shepherds had been running on a winner’s high. Now that win felt like a lifetime ago. In Naval Special Warfare, the “umbrella strategy” governing all their operations had been to deploy technologies and tactics that provided the teams with an asymmetric advantage in the battle space. With satellites looking down from space, drones armed with Hellfire missiles turning donuts at thirty thousand feet, the Army’s 160th SOAR helicopters, and a rock-solid OTH communications network, Jed had always felt safe and empowered. For him, the umbrella metaphor felt real, because he really had an umbrella of technology overhead and surrounding him whenever he was on the ground.

As a Shepherd, most of those same umbrella components were present—as Trinity seemed closely modeled after the Joint Special Operations Command. And in addition to the traditional tactical and logistical support elements, the Watcher corps added another dimension of protection—much like Naval Special Warfare’s Group Ten. It had taken him a while to trust and embrace the “spiritual umbrella,” but now he was all in. Which was why this new weapon was such a gut punch. Its existence shattered his paradigm of security. The Dark Ones had obtained technology that gave them an asymmetric advantage—a weapon that redefined the battle space and had the ability to blast holes in the protective umbrella the Shepherds and Watchers depended on.

“How could this have happened without us knowing about it?” one of the platoon leaders asked. “I mean, the US military doesn’t even have a weapon like this . . . at least, not that I’ve heard about.”

“I know,” Ben said. “Not even Lockheed Martin’s ATHENA or HELIOS lasers have this capability. This is something new. Something different—and perfect for Victor and his mission to separate people from their faith. This Old Testament fire and brimstone stuff or end of times images from Revelation are exactly the message Victor wants to send with this weapon, what he wants the world to think. But we know better—we know that the new covenant in Christ changes the rules and our relationship with God.” The room hushed and heads nodded all around, including that of Mike Moore, Ben’s personal TSL. “Remember that to the human eye, lightning looks like it strikes from the clouds, but that is not the case. The upward streamer from the ground happens first, and what we see is the return stroke. In the case of lightning strikes, our own eyes deceive us. We don’t know what this weapon is or how it works. That’s why we sent a team to the site, and that team brought back important intelligence.”

Ben looked directly at Jed and Jed took the cue.