and relieves them of their duty. Valentine and Ahn-Kha's quest to free the Golden Ones ends in Valentine leading a virtual one-man assault on the heart of the Twisted Cross, destroying what appears to be the majority of the human Reaper controllers. Badly wounded in the battle, he is captured and brought before the mysterious leader of the Twisted Cross, a man known only as "The General". The General relates to Valentine that he is an immortal, having been given the same ability to drain auras that fuels the eternal life of the Kurians. He offers David a choice: join him in immortality or be shot. After a moment's hesitation, Valentine defiantly chooses death, but is saved moments from execution by Duvalier and Ahn-Kha. The General is killed by Valentine's Grog brother and the Twisted Cross is finished. The book concludes with Valentine returning to the Ozarks to recuperate. Tale of the Thunderbolt Valentine is working undercover, deep in the Kurian Zone living as an officer in the Coastal Marines. Duvalier is supporting him and posing as his wife. Valentine's goal is to take a ship that can be sailed to the Caribbean, where Valentine is supposed to meet up with someone who has a weapon deadly to the Kurians. Valentine convinces Lieutenant Post and a few other members of the Thunderbolt's crew to rebel along with Ahn-Kha and his Grogs, although it goes poorly when the captain of the ship learns of the planned mutiny before it is scheduled to occur. Valentine and his men take the weapons locker and engineering department but fail to convince the majority of the crew to rebel or take them by surprise. Valentine and his men are saved when Lieutenant Carrasca of Jamaica attacks and claims the Thunderbolt. After explaining his cause, Valentine is told that until Jamaica is free the Kurian controlling it. Valentine kills this Kurian and is allowed to meet with Papa Legba in Haiti, the one who claimed to have the information needed to kill the Kurians, though he turns out to be a Kurian himself. Papa Legba shows him Quickwood, which can kill a Kurian or their Reapers almost instantly. Valentine then begins to transport the Quickwood back to the Ozarks, and in doing so begins a rebellion that soon envelopes all of Haiti.He finds out when he leaves that Carrasca is pregnant with his child but she