M³ The Final Cut

            Our nameless Levite visits more misery upon us. After returning home, “he took a knife, and grasping his concubine he cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel” (Judges 19:29).

            So, um, yeah, that happened.

F³ Preceded by Reputation

            Flynn came to his feet, more slowly than he would have liked, with muscles and joints protesting, and pulled up his rail gun. It was an efficient weapon with cheap ammunition and a high rate of fire, both very good things when it came to urban combat.

M³ On The Steps

            The Levite priest tossed his concubine to the wolves. Actually, she might have fared better among the wolves. It would have been over more quickly. Those hoping for a reprieve like in Sodom and Gomorrah, where the angels revealed themselves, sorry. It’s not going to happen. We’re going to the bad place with this story. I don’t do this often, but we need to get the full passage of this for context.

F³ Free Falling

            The rookie screamed as he fell through the hole in the clouds. I waited a good five seconds before diving after him. We had been on some cirrus clouds at around 45,000 feet, so we had some time to kill on the way down.

            I caught up with the idiot, screaming and thrashing in the open air, so I gave him a Jack Dailey Joy Buzzer from ten feet away. It wasn’t more than a mild shock, but it got his attention and shut him up for thirty seconds.

            “Hi there, I’m Reilly, and I’ll be your drill instructor today.”

            Wild-eyed confusion and panic, but nothing verbal came out of his working mouth.

            Fine by me. I want this guy doing, not talking.

            “You may have noticed that we are currently in free fall, about to descend below 42,000 feet at terminal velocity. That gives us about 4 minutes before splat, enough time for a decent conversation. I want to talk to you about your future.”

            He started screaming again.

            Rookies.

M³ The Worst Bible Story—Ever!

            This story should come with a warning. Obviously this is a warning, but there should be a warning in the Bible about it. It’s horrible. I mean Game of Thrones Red Wedding kind of horrible. In fact, I think it’s worse than that. Strike that, I know it’s worse than that. This story makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like a ride at Disneyland.

            But you know what, most people don’t even know this story is in the Bible.

            Strap in, we’re going for a wild ride.

F³ Book of Secrets

            Nikki pushed a mismatched set of leather-wrapped, well, books, at me.

            I quirked an eyebrow at her, but instead of looking at me, she was looking at the books. Her expression was unreadable, but she was clearly focused on the books. These were important, and something big.

M³ Greek Civilization

            I have to go meta on Perseus one more time. We tie Perseus, Hestia, and Prometheus together one more time, and connect them all to Odysseus. I know, I know, it doesn’t seem like a good fit. Odysseus is not exactly known for restraint and wisdom, especially after mouthing off to Polyphemus. And it’s not like he was the poster child of monogamy when he’s shtupping Circe and Calypso.

WIP Conspiracy Afoot

            I poked at Mary Poppins’s picture on the TV. “It’s her. She’s your conspiracy.”

            “What? No. There’s no way corporate Barbie there could be behind this.”

            I grabbed the tablet, fumbling with it to go back to the wide display with all the notes. I pointed at the arsons. “She was the partner of the guy responsible. The same guy also made the serial killer from two years ago.”

M³ Perseus, Defender of Greekdom

            I’m probably going to catch some flak for this, but it’s not me, it’s the Ancient Greeks.

            How do we connect Prometheus, Hestia, and Perseus? Well, we already know that fire and the hearth go together. Worship starts with the hearth. But who tends the hearth? Women. Women are the absolute center of the Greek home.