Reed Jackson’s revised training program (after his brother’s death) began and ended each day with his father until he graduated from high school. No sports, no coaches, no fame, no friends, and no girls. After high school, Reed joined the Navy and went through boot camp at the bottom, as an anonymous recruit. From the very first day, it was easy to see this recruit was ready for war. He was a physical specimen that was combat-ready before his drill instructor had any chance to break him down. Reed was already trained by the best drill instructor the Marines had ever seen. Reed’s father also taught him the importance of the mental side of being a good soldier. From the beginning, Reed studied as a soldier should. A 4.0 GPA in high school didn’t even touch the education Reed was getting at home. Reed was fluent in Arabic and Spanish; he finished college-level computer programing, engineering, and calculus courses.
Everyone in high school knew Reed was on a mission. Reed kept his head held high and his vision straight ahead. A tunnel vision that others, including his teachers, didn’t understand, but knew to keep their distance, to stay out of his way. There were a few examples when Reed stepped away from his focus on helping other students who were being treated unjustly. Reed made the decision of what was right and wrong and no one, no one, questioned his decision or got in the way. There was a right way and a wrong way to treat other people. Reed was the protector, the enforcer of the right way and he never wanted friendship or credit for his instinctual protective behavior. Reed excelled at every level from boot camp through special forces, then went through the rigorous SEAL training on Coronado Beach like a hot knife through butter. He was the youngest member of Seal Team 3. From there, it wasn’t long before he was recruited and quickly became the command leader for the most elite squad, Seal Team 6.
Seal Team 6 team members are truly the best of the very best and Reed Jackson was their leader. He represented his country in 17 different missions all over the world, all of them with complete success, all of them unknown to the general public and many times, even unknown to the enemy. The members of his elite team came up through the ranks together, trained together, fought together, protected their country together, and were all let go together. Let go? Yes. What does a killing machine do when his 20 years are up? There is no codebook to answer that question. These men were turned away with a small pension, but no clue how to fit into mainstream America. They had no resume of value for any corporate employment. With more questions than answers, the team did exactly what they always did – looked to Reed Jackson. Reed once again had the answer. Adapt.
Reed formed a small company where this group of soldiers could offer their skills to private individuals and corporate interests. The first years of the business were lean, to say the least, and a small challenge compared to their military training. A couple of the fringe team members gave up and went overseas to work as mercenaries. These were very high paying jobs, but not what Reed envisioned for himself or his men.
Reed was a good man and wanted a future for his team on their own terms. The business he created was mostly mundane assignments that included protecting executives and celebrities from imaginary threats. There were small undercover espionage jobs from jilted lovers and competing corporate interests. Some of these jobs were not always within the boundaries of the law. While this was a dilemma for Reed, he was forced to weigh these moral issues against the realities of having to earn a living. His men had families of their own; families with homes, cars, education expenses, etc. At the end of the day, all those needs for his men and their families fell squarely on the broad shoulders of Reed Jackson. Reed found the work, picked the jobs, planned the missions, gave the orders, collected the payments, and paid his men.
The tougher the job, the harder the plan, the more difficult the orders, and consequently, the better the payment. His men took orders from Reed – no questions asked. They were all professionals. Reed’s group was very good. Just as the 17 Seal Team 6 missions went, so did every job they took. “The Agency” delivered. Their success kept the team together and allowed a nice path for him and his team to live a part of the American dream.
“The Agency’s” biggest and highest paying client over the last 10 years was Addison National Bank & Trust. The job of keeping tabs on Max and Anna Tobin was a good, easy, high paying job for The Agency. However, over the last couple of years, things had changed and Reed needed to consider all his options going forward with their client. The current contact was a spineless example of a man, but he was the one that pulled the strings and paid their fee. Reed took the job over 10 years ago from a man, who at first, seemed to have good intentions. However, the more Reed Jackson understood Richard Holmes’ real motives, the less respect he had for the man. His nephew started running the show and it looked like it was heading the wrong direction.
Reed had been through a lot in his life and was prepared for just about every contingency. He had seen the horrors of war and there were visions embedded in his mind from things he had done that haunted him every day. Those horrible memories were always fighting to surface.
For example, on one of Seal Team 6 first missions, Reed’s team was fighting the Afghanistan war (before it was a declared war). The team had intel on a Taliban warlord they knew was 100% accurate. A plan was developed and a mission was put into action. Reed and four of his men were separately positioned in remarkable camouflage along a narrow passage of a road that was used and protected by the Taliban. Reed and the other men waited motionless for eight hours on the side of a cliff with a sniper rifle in hand and eyes focused on the road below, patiently waiting for the Taliban leader and his convoy to drive down this remote road, deep in the heart of Pakistan.
Reed’s time came, and from 1044 yards, Reed took the perfect shot. The target never knew what hit him and his own convoy had no clue what had happened. No sound, no possible movement, no idea what direction to defend. The Taliban convoy could have been 10 feet from Reed and they would still have been completely blind to his disguise. Reed kept his eye on the target after the shot, no movement from this soldier.
He watched the target’s head coil back and then spring forward. Then, Reed saw a young boy’s head explode who was sitting out of sight, behind the target. The round went through the target’s head and landed in the unseen boy. Reed almost gasped when he saw his work, but his training was too good. Reed remained motionless for another three hours, three hours of replaying the horrible sight of the life leaving the young boy. Reed told himself over and over, “a casualty of war, a casualty of war,” which was true. What was also true, Reed wasn’t much more than a boy himself and the visions of that shot continuously surfaced in Reed’s mind.
There were more horrible visions buried in Reed’s mind just as haunting, wanting to emerge. But the latest one, the worst one, he didn’t even see first hand. His men gave him a detailed account of the killing of a young Mexican man and the discard of his dead body in a swamp, miles away from the crime. A swamp where creatures of the night would devour the body – destroy the evidence.
Holmes ordered the specific demand, which Reed pushed back, but not all the way. Holmes made it clear, if his orders were not followed, Addison National would find another group capable of meeting his demands. There was no question Holmes would do just that and The Agency would have to fill a big gap to find a replacement for the work Addison National provided. The job was in Mexico, where unfortunately for many, the value of life is low. As it turned out, the young Mexican man was dead the day he fell in love with Anna Tobin.
There was absolutely no question, Reed Jackson was a good man, a good person, but not unlike many good men, the struggle for legal tender forced Reed to compromise his own morals. And once someone starts digging that hole, the easier it is to descend a little deeper, making it much harder to get out. Reed took the job, he gave the orders, he made the plan, and he collected the money. Reed added the weight of Armando Ruiz to his shoulders and the visions of Armando’s violent demise to his sleepless nights.