Final Kill (IKK Crime Series #3)

by S.T. Ashman

I was dancing with the devil now, fully caught in the tango. And the thing about dancing with the devil was that once you started, you didn’t get to decide when the music stopped.

That’s the nature of human potential. It’s capable of both brilliance and horror.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lewis started nodding as if he’d just come to a conclusion. “I can only speak for myself,” he said, “but when I joined the Air Force, I did it to serve the people of this country. Not to protect a bunch of rich sick fucks hurting the people I swore to protect.” Something shifted behind his eyes, a darkness settling there. “When they made my airmen carry that bastard Harvey Grand’s remains like he was some kind of fallen hero, they took something from us. Our honor. Our pride. At least in the public’s eyes. My men and their families received hate messages—hell, even death threats. All because of some dirty politicians. So if I go down for taking out another sick fuck that these dirtbags are trying to protect, at least I’ll go out with a big fucking smile on my face.”

“I’m familiar with the Doctrine of Double Effect,” I said. “Allowing harm as long as it’s an unintended consequence of achieving a good outcome, as long as the harm isn’t the goal and the good outweighs the bad.”

“And the doctrine is flawed because it lets people justify morally questionable actions just because they claim good intentions. The harm is the same, whether it’s deliberate or not. Richter and I live by a much simpler doctrine: the one where monsters are taken out, no innocents harmed. Smaller-scale justice.