Terroroism Thriller Quotes

“When it’s over, all the equipment used is destroyed, even your clothing. Once it’s over every operator wipes his cranial hard drive clean of every moment of the mission, and you collectively go into blackout mode.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Then she tilted the can and dripped the gasoline throughout the old wooden structure. She didn’t have either time or strength to haul the bodies. In a better world, she would have given One a decent burial, and positioned Four in the driver’s seat of her fashionable vehicle, but alas, neither was possible.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“You’re making me think of something else now, but it’s related. I love watching little kids play. No matter where you look in the world, you’ll observe that kids are programmed to play. They learn through play. I think if we’re lucky we never forget how to play. And, I tell you, Gwinlyn, that’s one of the things I find most attractive about you. You like to play, and you like to play with me. Unfortunately, too many women I’ve met prefer to be grown up all the time. They take themselves too seriously.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Gigi’s actual name was Jolene Kraken. If her penetralia was exposed, even Gigi herself would be surprised. She was smart, aloof, indifferent to the opinions of others. Maybe she was amoral. Maybe because self-analysis wasn’t her strong suit. Neither did self-analysis interest her. Her goal as a young woman was to make serious money, enough to set her up for a life in which she could romp and stomp through the world doing exactly what she wished. And frequently what she wished was to deliver justice to people with bad intentions. She wanted to hurt people who hurt people.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“A psychiatrist would diagnose Jolene—and possibly every member of Cade Chase’s team—as having a benign form of psychosis. Benign, because she had not experienced a psychotic break. She was far short of being psychotic, but only because her brain and soul allowed her to manage her dissociative behavior well. The unconscious guides such people.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Is Cade a criminal, a sinner, or a biblical purveyor of justice? Your answer is your own. I cannot say whether or not you made the correct choice.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Willie approached them solo at first, smiling and speaking Spanish. He asked them how they were doing and whether there were any hot chicks inside. Then he said, “Here, let me help you.” With that, he delivered an uppercut so strong it felt as if the punch ended only when it struck roly-poly’s backbone. Rufus came up behind the second guy and administered a kidney punch that would have the little fellow peeing blood for a month.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“He wasn’t a reader of anything serious, but he had set himself the task of reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs, after which he entertained the idea of committing himself to a stay on the subcontinent in a hermitage to learn about Indian religions. He could find a yogi to give him the spiritual insights he sought. That would get him away from his boring wife and kids for a year at least, and who knew, maybe he could finagle a way never to come back.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“He was one of the lucky ones. He would follow operational orders, but he spoke out if he believed a senior officer was wrong in a moral sense. At a number of points his career might have been truncated because a senior considered him an impertinent malcontent.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Antifa was happy to have high school graduates turned out year after year who don’t know a fraction of the essential information that one hundred years ago every sixth-grader knew. The dumber the person, the more malleable and easier to convince they became.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Then she saw the animal, a German Shepherd, from the looks of him at this remove. He probably belonged on one of the farms out here, where owners don’t feel obligated to pen or chain their animals. Suddenly she saw he was coming without surcease directly toward her. He was still a long way off, but she was now terrified.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“He said to the big fellow with the taffy hair, “Before we finish off this operation, I need to hit you up with some ideas.” At that moment, Cade noticed how physically similar Preston was to Merlin Olsen, the NFL great, actor, and all-round good man. He marveled at Preston, the man who couldn’t be happier, as he twirled his head from monitor to monitor, adjusting joysticks and pressing buttons in this claustrophobic workspace.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Pack had decided how he could help. But he could not fully explain himself to Cade. No way. There are problems, and there are big problems. This was a big problem. Big because it was risky, and big because Pack now confronted a moral dilemma. Were he not to assist Cade, there was a good chance the young woman might die, or be subjected to antifa brutality.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Julie was cold and miserable. The wind whipped up, soughing through the grasses, making mournful music. Now the fog had thickened from broth to gruel between her and the little-traveled farm road.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“They made their toast, leaned back deep into their fine chairs, and in silence gazed at the gorgeous valley down below. It was almost Xanadu, and would have been if Cade were present.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“People in Washington love to use the word ‘systemic.’ You know, ‘We’re going to attack the ‘systemic’ causes’ of this or that.’ That’s supposed to convince us they’re thinking many layers more deeply than us. But where it counts, they strike out.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“There it was, burned into the text box, their code: “Sword of the Spirit.” They’d both attended weekly Bible study at the home of a lay person, and after the session one evening they talked about the expression that ultimately would become their code. They interpreted it to mean ‘the Word of God.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“He witnessed the love people throughout the industry had for their animals and for the sport itself. Someone once snapped a picture depicting his rictus of wonderment as he listened to a stable mate trace the lineage of a horse in a neighboring stall. Sires and dams, by name, for generations back. Wil could tell the lad wasn’t fabricating those names. We remember what we love.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“Even given the ability of black clothing to trick the eye into believing the wearer is slimmer than he truly is, Mario still appeared to be a rolling tube of sausage with an immense bulge in the middle regions of his ill-tended anatomy. His skull was similarly immense, though not likely because it housed a large cranium. The only hair on his head was the oily curl of black hairs that circled the skull about the height of mid-ear. His eyebrows were ponderous, great furry awnings over the eyelids.”
― John M. Vermillion, Awful Reckoning: A Cade Chase and Simon Pack Novel

“The world we live in today is a complex tapestry of interwoven challenges and opportunities. As we collectively face the reality of an ever-evolving global landscape, the significance of preparedness, adaptability, and resilience has never been more apparent. It is within this context that “Complacency” was born—a story that seeks to shed light on the fragile balance between security and vulnerability, and the consequences of inaction in the face of looming threats.”
― Edward Minyard, Complacency: One Man's Story