PART 2
I dropped flat as the laser climbed toward my face. A suppressed rifle cracked.
The round struck the tree behind me, showering bark across my neck. Not a bullet—a marking cartridge—but it had been fired far closer than training rules allowed.
I rolled behind the checkpoint table, kicked its legs outward, and heard someone stumble. When I came up, I...
PART 2
“His name is Captain Owen Reed,” I said. “Give me the radio.”
Pike planted a hand against my chest and forced me back. “You are not touching secure equipment.”
Another burst of static filled the room.
“Flight controls freezing. Gear not confirmed.”
I drove my cuffed hands upward, broke Pike’s grip, and moved past him. He caught my shoulder. I pivoted, used...
PART 2
The statement showed a seventy-five-thousand-dollar transfer from Collins Construction to the title company six days before closing.
My father sat behind his attorney with the wounded expression of a man forced to expose his own generosity.
“That funded the down payment,” Hale said.
Judge Rebecca Monroe studied the page. “Lieutenant Colonel Collins?”
“My records show no such contribution.”
Hale turned toward the gallery....
PART 2
I moved before the door opened another inch.
The lamp beside me became a weapon. I ripped its cord from the wall and swung the metal base toward the gap.
A figure stumbled backward.
“Captain—wait!”
It was Sergeant Noah Price, one of the medics from my unit. He raised both hands.
“What are you doing in my apartment?”
“Your mother called me. Said you...
PART 2
I swept Mom from the chair and pulled her behind the stone kitchen island.
The red dot vanished.
No shot followed.
I killed the lights and checked the exterior feeds. The van across the street was empty. A compact camera behind its windshield was aimed at my house.
Victor wanted us terrified before he came close.
I called Detective Anna Ruiz, the officer...
PART 2
The man with the badge knocked once.
“Naval Security. We need to recover government property.”
Father kept his back against the locked door. “Cooperate, Claire.”
The badge was the wrong shape for the agency he named, and neither man carried visible credentials.
“What is the case number?” I called.
No answer.
The second man forced the door inward. Father stepped aside.
The first reached for...
PART 2
The man holding the red folder introduced himself as Samuel Price, an investigator for the mortgage lender. The second was retired Colonel Marcus Avery, my former commander.
Marcus looked from the wheelchair to the stripped house and went still.
“Tell me Evan did not do this.”
“He sold it with a forged power of attorney,” Dana said.
Samuel opened the folder. The...
PART 2
Eric stared through the open doorway as Dad’s friends crossed the lawn.
Wade Collins entered first. Though retired, he still carried the quiet authority of a man who had spent thirty years in law enforcement.
“Rachel,” he said, “do you want help leaving safely?”
“Yes.”
That single word mattered more than Eric’s claims about whose house it was.
Lucas Shaw remained near the...
PART 2
Mercer’s fingers touched the folder.
I caught his wrist before he could pull it away.
He twisted toward me, striking my shoulder with his forearm. Pain flashed through the old injury beneath my jacket, but I held on until General Reed and two military police officers separated us.
“Release me,” Mercer snapped. “Those documents are classified.”
General Price placed her hand over...
I am Staff Sergeant Morgan Vance, a scout sniper, and right now, blood is soaking through my uniform at Outpost 2960. "The valley is cold, Vance! Your report is an illusion!" Captain Sterling’s voice roared through the comms, but his words were instantly drowned out by the deafening rattle of an enemy PKM machine gun. Heavy rounds ripped into...
