The Ledger: Team Of Eight, #1

By Jodee Jean Daniels

Lillianne's world is a fortress of secrets and chosen bonds. Her 'Team of Eight' isn't just a close-knit group; they're her found family, safeguarding her against shadowy global threats. Amidst this protective circle, a dark presence lingers - Azrael. This mysterious entity whispers from the depths of her mind, guiding her in a relentless fight against evil.

Lili is a beacon of hope for the innocent in this high-stakes game. Her mission is to thwart Abrams, a formidable adversary whose reign of terror over the vulnerable must end. But her path is riddled with obstacles, not least of which is the frustrating bureaucracy of the agency that constantly impedes her progress.

As Lili navigates this treacherous landscape, she faces a personal dilemma. The stirrings of a new love beckon, offering a chance to heal old wounds. But just as she opens her heart, echoes of a troubled past resurface, threatening to shatter her newfound hope.

The Ledger is at the heart of her journey, symbolizing the wrongs she aims to right. But as she crosses out each entry marked in red, Lili is forced to confront a critical question: What matters more, the mission or the people who stand with her in solidarity?

Join Lili in a gripping tale of loyalty, love, and the relentless pursuit of justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Parks Road Projects LLC
• Release date: Jun 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227074652

Jodee Jean Daniels

Jodee Jean Daniels is married to the man of her dreams and together they share 5 beautiful children and one adorable grandchild. Jodee has loved storytelling and writing since she was a child when her father and she would make up fantastical stories together for fun. She lives in the Central Florida area and loves going to Disney and the beach. She enjoys fishing and all watersports. 

Book preview

The Ledger

Jodee Jean Daniels

Parks Road Projects, LLC.

Copyright © 2023 Parks Road Publishing, LLC

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: Jacqueline Sweets

To my Darling Dan - I love you more than words can say. Love truly is thicker than blood.

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1 – Code Name: Azrael

Chapter 2 – Home Sweet Home

Chapter 3–Broken Draws to Broken

Chapter 4–The Family You Make

Chapter 5 – Dessert with Sochi

Chapter 6 - Remembering to Forget. 

Chapter 7 – The Names in the Ledger

Chapter 8 – Cracks in their Armor

Chapter 9 - What you become accustomed to…

Chapter 10 - I will never be done with you.

Chapter 11 – The hands and eyes that saved us.

Chapter 12–Unraveling Sochi’s Secrets

Chapter 13 – After the Fight

Chapter 14 – Nightmares and Memories

Chapter 15 - The Demon’s Return

Chapter 16 – Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together

Chapter 17 – Hypocrites and Whiskey Shooters

Chapter 18 – About last night

Chapter 19 – Yellow always makes me blue.

Chapter 20 – Confrontations and Comfort

Chapter 21 – Confessions

Chapter 22 – Afterglow and Fireworks

Chapter 23 – Evil Never Sleeps

Chapter 24- Karaoke and late nights.

Chapter 25 – The Summer of 2004

Chapter 26 - Secrets, Lies, and Half-Truths

Chapter 27 – Death does not come easy to some.

Chapter 28 – She cannot drink Sake.

Chapter 29 – What Happened Last Night

Chapter 30 - Let’s Apply a Little Pressure.

Chapter 31 – The Brave Rabbit

Chapter 32 - Some Fairytales don’t have Happy endings.

Chapter 33 – Why is he in my house?

Chapter 34 – Love me

Chapter 35 – Manipulated Leverage

Chapter 36 – Control

Chapter 37–The Face in the Mirror

Chapter 38–Quickly and Quietly

Chapter 39–The Art of Retrieval

Chapter 40 – Just Like Old Times

Chapter 41 – My best friend, my teacher, and the monster in my head

Chapter 42 – Justice

Chapter 43 – Magic, Love, and Hate

Chapter 44 – You are it.

Chapter 45 – Letting Go

About The Author

Chapter 1 – Code Name: Azrael

William Burnett-POV

As Deputy Director, I strode through the halls deep within the Pentagon's labyrinth. Being the youngest and newest appointee, I felt uncertain about the Director of National Intelligence's opinion of me. Yet, she had accepted this last-minute meeting for a reason.

The meeting was centered around a single case file: Azrael. Recognizing the Angel of Death’s name, given my Jewish descent, I couldn't help but note that the operator described in the file seemed less like an angel and more like an avenger. 

Good morning, Deputy Director.

Mrs. Johnson, good morning. Thank you for finding such an early opening for this appointment.

You’re welcome, but keep in mind for next time that I am not a miracle worker. Madam Director is on a line with the President, but she’ll be with you shortly.

This file caused so many questions to run on a loop in my mind as I sat in silence.

How could my Leo fit in with Azrael and her Team of Eight? His unique intelligence slanted his worldview. He could be helpful to them with the way he looked into people’s eyes. Leo calculated their motives without them saying a word—except psychopaths. They couldn’t even read themselves, so that wasn’t his fault.

I thought back to the time when Leo was mine. Before I chased rabbits down holes, the office door swung open to reveal Director Margaret Leigh Allen.

You know how to attract a busy woman’s attention. Come in, Deputy Director. I have twenty minutes to offer you.

Thank you, ma’am,

She motioned to a seat in front of her desk and asked in her signature, clipped tone, How can I help?

Please, call me Billy. I needed her to be open-minded in return for every detail she’d be willing to give. Even if it meant being informal to gain them.

Nineteen minutes. What do you need, sir?

So much for pleasantries. I passed the file across the desk. I have questions about this operative.

Where did you find this file? she asked with irritation and suspicion.

I researched what happened in Moscow and saw the file’s online tag number. Since there wasn’t an electronic copy, I contacted the archives. Even with my security clearance, it was damn near impossible.

Azrael and her Team of Eight answer to me under protective orders from the Executive Branch and the Office of the President.

Challenging her was my worst idea in this case. Director, with all due respect, every tactical team reviewing Moscow’s situation said it was unrecoverable. Somehow, she and eight men—none of whom are sanctioned agents—saved two-hundred-twenty hostages. They stopped a terrorist threat that no government had touched in years.

And what’s your question? She opened the file on her desk as if coated in dust.

I have many.

You’re running out of time. Ask what you can.

Who are those men?

She vetted them herself. I trust her judgment. She moved around the side of her desk to sit next to me instead of dumping the file unceremoniously in my lap.

We found her outside a facility twenty-two years ago for using human test subjects. Two top operatives worked with a joint task force in Thailand to bring this down. We thought it was human trafficking, but we found it far worse. Separating her from the men she deemed her saviors wasn’t possible, and her loyalty never wavers. They realized in return that she’s special.

What do you mean special? I asked.

Her DNA was manipulated until she became a weapon.

To what degree? I glimpsed at the clock, desperate for faster answers.

She was stronger, faster, and smarter than any five-year-old. Her metabolism and endorphins increase for bursts of power. She cuts off her pain receptors or controls her blood pressure and heart rate. She slows her blood flow should she be injured and reads others’ emotions to the point of being a true empath. These abilities increased with age, learning, and training.

Five years? Her first mission was ten years later. She would’ve been fifteen. How does a fifteen-year-old girl save eight Navy Seals? My mentor assigned that task to someone far too young to be that capable.

It was before my time here. Things like this don’t happen now. No matter how talented or special, I would never allow a child to be exposed to that horror.

That is how she met Ryder?

She seemed impressed and slightly amused. You piece a puzzle together quickly. Ryder was not a SEAL. He was a sailor and, like the others, a hostage. He’s not much older than her. Besides her uncle or Sozo, he and Hunter are her most trusted advisers.

Why doesn’t she do her own debriefings?

For the first time, the Director’s stern face relented into what sounded like guilt or embarrassment. She doesn’t enjoy being here or trust the department. She lost people once and faulted us for the outcome. Hence, she picks her team, which missions they do, and who represents her to us.

Have we brought her in for evaluation?

Once. She didn’t fatally wound anyone, but she took down seasoned agents like they were rookies. She called later to say if she smelled us around her again, she would consider us a threat and an unfriendly target, She laughed under her breath. We deal with her team.

How does she know when we need her, especially if she goes off-grid?

She always makes the right call and shows up. She saves more than she loses. That’s what matters to us. That’s where we leave it. Before you go, I have a question. Does this have anything to do with her newest hire? She smirked, so I decided to come clean.

Leo pulled me down this rabbit hole, so I’m intrigued by how this operative exists as an unknown.

Her code name is Azrael among the people she slays because she’s their Angel of Death. She brings judgment to those who harm innocents and justice to those who need salvation. Our job is to protect her identity so she can do what she does best.

Do we know where she is currently? I located Leo a few hours ago and wondered if she went with him. Bangkok, Thailand, was somewhere I craved to visit, so perhaps I would take a trip soon.

If you go to Leo, she’ll smell us on you.

I know he’s not mine anymore, but I want to save him. As far as the ones she lost, she saved far more. How isn’t that a win?

She only sees the losses in her ledger. You know, those old accounting grids full of mathematical equations? Her world allows for a few things to exist, and they do so in black and red ink. People are like profits and losses, and experiences with them are debits and credits. She’s a forensic accountant.

Lillianne Gryffon by day and Azrael by night. It’s not a cover.

The Director continued, Math soothes her. I have this suspicion, though.

About what? I queried.

She went home to Bangkok recently, and your twenty minutes are over. If you have further questions, speak with Mrs. Johnson on your way out. The sound of her hand picking up the phone couldn’t have been more satisfying.

It would be me if anyone knew things aren’t what they seemed. So as I walked back to my office, I added tallies of my conversation with the Director. Lillianne Gryffon was an anomaly. She dressed like a Rockstar while behaving like a war general and mathematician rolled into an MMA cage fighter.

What caught my eye in the file was my old lover’s name. I would always desire Leo Parsons, and, truth be told, I considered him the one that got away. The one I wanted back most.

This new connection renewed my interest in this angel and her team. My old mentor, who needed some intel, had brought her to my attention. I thought it would be easy. Pull the file, get the intel, and be done. I reached my office and picked up the phone, not caring about either directorial directive.

I need a flight to Bangkok tonight, I told my assistant.

DESMOND ABRAMS POV

Report, James.

We’re behind schedule with Operation Good Soldier. Dr. Rohr is less than cooperative. Someone pulled the physical hard file for Azrael this morning from the archives, he informed me in that half-ass, clipped tone I loathed.

Who accessed it? I had an inkling to confirm.

Your young friend, William Barnett, and he had an appointment with the Director of National Security this morning.

I need ears in future meetings with them in case he goes rogue. I ran the only medical facility that could help him with his problems, and he wouldn’t want to jeopardize that arrangement.

We’re working on settling her into the new office. She makes it difficult, James sneered, not even wanting to mention her name.

Of course, she does. She was Guinevere to his Lancelot, so she thinks like him. Even in death, he continues to be a thorn in my side, I lamented.

I’m sorry, sir?

I don’t care what or who we must buy. I need her office tapped. If she’s taking visitors, we must stop flying blindly on her word.

Understood. I noticed one more thing when checking the digital file this morning.

What did you find?

The file was breached four months ago originally, and it looks like someone has periodically been checking on her for the past six years. Without the good director asking for clearance as required first. He informed me.

Really. Six years, you say? I might have another ace up my sleeve. Where is Azrael today?

Bangkok, sir.

She’s home, then. Interesting. Phone our contact in Bangkok. I need them ready for some wet work. I faced away from his incessant rambling. 

And what about Dr. Rohr?

She requires proper motivation to work at a proper pace. She has a younger sister, Josie. We might need to pick her up, I commanded. I would be damned if I lost another multi-million-dollar project to the likes of Ian Gryffon’s daughter. 

I lost myself to an old memory of Ian and Somchai ruining my first attempts to create the perfect soldiers back in the nineteen ninety-six.

Sir, there’s a security breach at one of the newly active medical and training facilities, my assistant exclaimed over twenty years ago in the memory on repeat in my mind.

Which one?

The one outside Bangkok, sir.

Damn it. Who is on-site? I remembered asking.

It is one of our own with a team from Interpol. They thought they were uncovering human trafficking.

I’m so tired of fighting my own damn country while trying to keep it safe. I was livid that night and immediately started trying to reach Dr. Lui. There was no answer. Who is the agent on site?

Ian Gryffon, he answered.

Of course, it had to be Ian, code name Lancelot. The embodiment of bravery, loyalty, and goodness. I hated him to his very core. He was impossible to control or sway. I told him to stay clear of this mission. Where is the girl? She’s the next generation of our DNA project."

She was taken by Ian and his partner, Zhou. According to reports, they’re off the property and off the grid.

What about the boy?

Another Interpol agent has taken him; we lost them outside Tokyo.

I don’t care what it takes. You get Dr. Lui and his research out of there. He’s the only thing standing between us and years of lost time. Little did I know the bad luck that would befall all our scientists at the hands of a master assassin.

Sozo, you self-righteous ass. It would be years before we had the technology to create the perfect soldier like her again.

I pulled myself from my old memory to garner more information about the current situation. 

James, update?

We’ve confirmed Azrael is in Bangkok, with her team enroute to her location.

When you have Josie Rohr, get the plane ready. I want to move to the facility in Bangkok. Azrael wouldn’t think lightning could strike twice, but she is wrong. Give me the IP address of the person who tracks her. We’ll formally invite them to cease or be ceased.

Chapter 2 – Home Sweet Home

Lillianne Gryffon POV

Home.

The feeling washed over me like a warm blanket once the private jet hit the tarmac. Sozo waited outside, and I couldn’t wait to see him again. Whenever I’m lost or alone, I come home to Bangkok. To the only family I’ve known. My father might be gone, but my uncle and Sozo picked up where he left off.

Blood is thicker than water. Love is thicker than blood. A family could be found anywhere, so I trusted only those deserving to be in my smallest circle.

Sozo waved me to a fleet of cars and the bulk of my junior security team. These men vied to be on my esteemed Team of Eight, but most applicants wouldn’t adjust to the demanding lifestyle.

So, I never take applications.

A new prospect whom I met on a previous mission, Leo Parsons, perked my interest. He was fast, strong, and perceived the world through the same lens as me. His DNA had never been manipulated, so his second sight was natural. I liked his sense of humor and kindness in a crowd. 

Young Miss, where is the rest of your luggage? Sozo asked so formally that he sounded like a mother hen, not my teacher and keeper.

Sozo, you’ve helped raise me since I was five. Call me Lillianne or Lili, please. We stood frozen in a battle of wills, but as usual, I gave in to him and said, Fine, all of it’s in the plane. The steward should have it out shortly.

Thank you, Young Miss. You are so difficult sometimes. He walked past me with a victorious grin and snapped his fingers. Some stewards helped Leo gather my belongings.

Good morning, Leo, and thank you.

It’s no problem, ma’am, and good morning. He strode after the stewards with the bags.

What did I say about that word?

He’s trying to be polite. You should be more formal with your team as you age, Sozo chided.

Should I hold him, spin him around, and then buy him candy like you did with me?

You were a child. He is a grown man.

I need to be familiar with my Team of Eight; formality doesn’t permit that. 

Leo joined us in the lead car as our driver once they transferred all the luggage. I glided into my seat and wished I had walked through the airport for a convenience store stop.

Your uncle is looking forward to dinner tonight. Your homecoming has been all he and your auntie talked about for days.

And? I realized by his tone there was more to the story.

He’s also worried about Ryder leaving us. Ryder has been your second in command for so long. It’s difficult for us to fathom someone else stepping into the role, Sozo explained.

He’s concerned, but it is not needed in this case. Hunter will take Ryder’s position. Are you sure that is all he wanted to talk about with me? He was very cryptic on the phone last evening.

He worries about you; you haven’t visited in a long time.

What does he need?

He has an issue at his company for you to investigate. Missing money and whatnot. At the same time, he wants you to rest.

I have two names to add to my ledger, but I’m available to assist my uncle with accounting and whatnot. It was the whatnot that caught you in my line of work. We passed a convenience store as we pulled up to the next intersection.

Leo, pull over. My sweet tooth had won the war.

This is not the best area, he warned.

I’ll be in and out. I’d handle anything this part of town might throw at me. One of the many orphanages and a school we sponsored was a few streets away, so I knew what to expect.

Boss, you stand out.

As if I didn’t realize a five-foot-eight blonde with pink-frosted tips isn’t normal for Thailand. I flipped a strand of hair over my shoulder for emphasis and climbed out.

And the thirty-thousand-dollar handbag you’re carrying, Leo said after me, and I laughed. He fit in so well with the group.

I grabbed my candies and a pack of peanut butter crackers. I detected her coming to life inside me when I paid for everything. Azrael. The Angel of Death. The monster inside my head alerted me to life’s every danger since my earliest memories. Such omens were rarely wrong.

Someone closes in on us at three o’clock, and stop calling me a monster, little girl, Azzie snapped.

Following the direction only I could hear, I twisted the assailant’s wrist. His body followed a path to the ground before my team left the SUV. I felt their intent to maim my attacker before they entered the sliding front door. He clutched the peanut butter crackers instead of wriggling away with my designer bag.

He’s an innocent, hungry boy, Azzie whispered as she settled back into my mind’s quiet place.

Stand down, I told the team, even as Sozo and Leo pressed closer than I liked. I pulled the young thief by his arm to the SUV, popped the gate, and gave him a gentle nudge to climb in the back. You shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you.

He nodded but made no eye contact as his stomach’s growl did all the talking. I handed the crackers to him, and he looked surprised.

Go ahead. You’re not in trouble.

He opened them in one motion and ate. He had bruises down his side, and his knuckles bore cuts from hand-to-hand combat. Because of one of my mental gifts from Azrael, his fear and pain were palpable. He held a deep-seated pain endured not from hunger and the injuries. When his eyes met mine, they cried for help.

Why not my wallet? I questioned as Leo moved closer to listen. Sozo seemed resigned to accepting that we picked up another stray.

Taking your wallet would be an inconvenience. A lady like you can replace food. Besides, I’m not a thief, he defended.

Your hand in my purse says otherwise. I lifted my eyebrow at him as Leo laughed. The young man met Leo’s eyes, and I would swear a flame passed between them in exchange. 

When I ask for food, people pretend they don’t see or hear me. He accepted the towel Leo handed him.

Why are you so banged up? I motioned to bruises.

Life is hard. His eyes returned to the ground.

If it could be as you wish, what would that be?

Computers and technology. I’m good with them and math, he said with a touch of confidence.

What’s your name? I asked while pulling a medical kit from the SUV’s