Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Nodding, I scan the perimeter, my flashlight slicing through the darkness. I send four agents to each exit, then join the front group.
“It’s quiet,’’ I murmur, the eerie setting off-putting. “Too quiet.”
Grayson’s hum of agreement sends a trill of electricity rolling down my spine, but his father’s commanding timbre keeps me focused. “An agent should be inside. He’s undercover. Make contact, but keep your guard up. Wraith’s stats are iffy.”
“Rogue?”
Grayson’s teeth crunching together bellow out of my earpiece.
It is extremely telling.
As my team enters the ruins, our boots crunch on debris. My heart pounds, but not in fear. It’s anticipation. I’m close. I can feel it. The answers I’ve been chasing for fourteen years are within touching distance. I just need to reach out and grab them.
Once inside the building and past any frequency blocks, I tune my radio to the undercover agent frequency. “Wraith, do you copy?”
Static.
I try again, my voice a whisper. “Agent, respond.”
Nothing.
A chill creeps up my spine this time. It isn’t the good type. Has he gone dark? Or is he rogue as accused? I’ve seen it happen too many times since leaving the academy. Good people get pushed too far, and then they get swallowed by the darkness. If you’re not strong enough to fight against it, it can occur in a matter of weeks.
Mercifully, it only took Grayson days to climb out of the rubble Cameron tried to toss on him. She thought a handful of tears and a sob story about being forced to be Diego’s scapegoat would have Grayson pulling strings to free her from charges. She even used my words against him, but Grayson saw through her lies as a skilled agent would.
Walking away from her while she was screaming like she did the night she was kidnapped must have been painful for Grayson, but not as much as the families’ reactions when they came forward to give victim impact statements at her trial.
Cameron didn’t take part in fetal abductions because of coercion. Years of infertility led her to seek a morally corrupt option to start a family. After selling her unwanted “miracle” for a tidy profit after one month of sleepless nights, greed set in, and she pushed the agenda with Diego.
Her unethical behavior resulted in her spending the rest of her life in jail, but her punishment isn’t harsh enough for what she put her victims through.
Although Grayson will never admit this, he is one of Cameron’s many victims. She exploited his naturally ingrained protectiveness to coerce him into an illegal activity so she could frame him for the drugs she’d taken.
Cameron stole Blake’s car. That wasn’t a lie. But instead of using the keys Blake always left in his gym bag during a game, she hot-wired his pride and joy to make it seem as if she were carjacked while attempting to return the missing drugs.
Her crocodile tears about a falsified sexual assault worked Grayson up so much that he didn’t notice the numerous empty cocaine brick wrappers in the back seat.
If Grayson’s father hadn’t pieced together the evidence as quickly as he had that night, and put steps into play to protect his eldest son, Grayson would have faced far more dangerous charges than malicious damage of property worth millions.
He could have had the cartel after him as well.
After a quick breather, I get back into game mode. I move further into the compound, senses on high alert. Scorch marks line the walls, and the air is heavy with loss. Bad stuff happened here. You can feel it.
I hold up my hand, alerting the agents surrounding me to freeze, when voices sound from beneath my feet. At least one of them is female, and she has a foreign accent. I’ve heard it before, and it spikes my pulse.
“We’re in the right location.”
I realize I spoke my thoughts aloud when Grayson hums in agreement. I bring my blood pressure down before reminding my team of our game plan. “No one is to make a move until I say so. If you move before ordered, I’ll expect your badge on my desk first thing tomorrow morning. Target is to be brought in alive. I repeat, India is to be brought in alive.”
My eyes bounce wildly when a disgruntled groan sounds out of my earpiece. It isn’t the response of an agent, not even a rogue one. It is the reply you’d anticipate from a man hell-bent on revenge.
“Maddox… is that you?” He doesn’t answer, but I trust my gut as much as Grayson trusts me. “I need you to listen to me, okay? Your meeting with India is a setup. She knows who was behind the messages. Dimitri’s crew is one of the loose ends she wants to tie up. I need you to leave now. Seek shelter in the tree line. I’ll be there in a matter of minutes.”