Part 2
I did not answer Crane.
The radio crackled again.
“Red Canyon, winds are increasing. Confirm landing zone.”
I stood. “Courtyard landing. We will clear the west side and mark the power line.”
Crane shook his head. “That courtyard is too small.”
“So is the time we have left.”
I assigned tasks before he could argue. Two staff members dragged patio furniture inside. Another cut...
Part 2
The colonel placed the flight recorder on a table beneath the aircraft’s wing.
Lieutenant Reed stepped back, suddenly aware that the ceremony had become an investigation of his judgment.
The retired colonel introduced himself as Daniel Shaw, former commander of the 91st Expeditionary Support Group. He had authorized the memorial exhibit and preserved the original recording.
“This aircraft’s public history was...
Part 2
The wail of the lockdown siren shattered whatever remained of the ceremony's decorum. Crimson emergency lights washed over the twenty-three of us, casting long, bloody shadows across the bright pink hull of the Warthog.
"Stand down! Get on the ground, all of you!" the lead MP screamed, unholstering his Beretta 9mm. Three more security forces rushed forward, their weapons...
Part 2
The heavy crystal decanter sliced through the air, aimed squarely at my temple. But I wasn't there when it landed.
Decades of muscle memory kicked in. I ducked, shifting my weight, and the decanter smashed against the doorframe behind me, raining sharp shards of glass over the imported Persian rug. Before Richard could recover his balance, I pivoted, gripped...
Part 2
Victor released my shirt and turned toward the foyer.
Diane whispered, “Tell them Owen fell.”
Lauren stared at her mother. “He didn’t fall.”
That was the first honest sentence she had spoken all evening.
The police entered with paramedics behind them. Colonel Sloan came through the door last, wearing a dark coat over her uniform. Victor recognized her rank and immediately changed...
Part 2
Decades of Marine combat training don't just vanish because you've gone gray. I dropped my shoulder, letting the heavy steel tire iron slice through the empty air where my skull had been a fraction of a second before. I lunged forward, driving my palm brutally upward into the intruder's chin. His teeth cracked together with a sickening snap....
Part 2
I kept one hand on the phone and one between Travis and Caleb.
“Leave,” I told him.
Travis pointed at me. “Rachel will call the police.”
“Good. They can photograph the empty refrigerator.”
He backed toward the door, but not before kicking Caleb’s backpack across the floor. I caught Travis by the jacket and stopped him.
“You will pick that up.”
His face reddened....
Part 1
The heavy oak door to the bridal suite inside Manhattan’s St. Thomas Church slammed shut, the deadbolt clicking shut with terrifying finality. Exactly sixty minutes before my wedding, I was cornered against a gilded velvet sofa, clutching the one object I refused to trade for money: my great-grandmother’s nineteenth-century Brussels lace dress.
I am Eleanor Alden—or at least, that...
Part 1
I am Maya Vance, senior forensic accountant at Harrison Global, and right now, I am kneeling on the cold marble floor of a 40th-floor Manhattan penthouse with a gun pressed to the back of my head.
Three minutes ago, I was supposed to be celebrating my engagement to Julian Harrison, the golden-boy heir to a three-billion-dollar real estate empire....
Part 2
My left hand shot out like a coiled viper. I clamped my fingers around Julian’s wrist just as his fingertips brushed the rough canvas of my tactical bag. With a sharp, practiced twist, I applied a standard military joint-manipulation lock.
Julian let out a high-pitched, agonizing shriek that echoed violently through the quiet first-class cabin. His knees buckled instantly...
