Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
“By giving them a problem they can’t predict,” I say.
Mack goes quiet for a beat. “Meaning?”
Meaning I take a mission. A solo op that gets me into Halo City with legitimacy, using my private security credentials as cover.
Salt & Steel, one of the firms Sin’s contracted with before, has contacts there. Maddox, Security has ties too. Elena Sands has contacts everywhere. Rowan’s mother is a shadowy financier who's already proven she’s willing to fund our hunt for Dad, slipping us leads and resources.
Rowan’s story—the one we uncovered a few weeks ago—cracked open a corporation’s skeleton. It proved what we’ve suspected all along: Love is leverage. Money is a weapon. And the people behind Dad's disappearance are comfortable operating in gray zones. Halo City is where gray becomes black, a hub for the kind of private security ops that blur into something darker.
I click into another file on my tablet. A name. A case lead Vance Landon from Halo Protective Group sent weeks ago that I logged and ignored because it didn’t fit our timeline for finding Dad.
Now it fits perfectly.
A whistleblower in Halo City. A woman tied to a financial pipeline that connects corporate security contractors—like the ones we all work for—to shell nonprofits and a D.C. consultancy. The same kind of structure Rowan exposed. The same kind of structure that keeps circling our father’s name like sharks in bloody water.
She’s a loose end. And someone in Halo City wants her silenced—permanently.
I lift my gaze to the trees, to my brothers gathered around, to the sky that looks too calm for what it just took from us. “I’m going to Halo City,” I say.
Colt steps forward instantly, rifle shifting. “Like hell you are alone. We're brothers—we go together.”
“You’re not my babysitter,” I shoot back, though I know his tactical instincts are screaming to form a team.
Jace laughs without humor. “That’s rich coming from you, the guy who babysits us with drones and hacks.”
Crewe’s eyes narrow. “Banks. Explain.”
I tap the tablet, pulling up the case file and sharing it via our encrypted link. “There’s a target in Halo City. A woman. Anniston Wells. She’s connected to a pipeline that matches what Rowan uncovered—financial trails leading to the same consultancy network Dad was investigating. Vance flagged it as a possible overlap. If I take the mission under my private security alias, I get inside. I get access to their systems, their people. I get a trail that could lead to Nash, Sin, and Dad.”
Colt’s face darkens, but he sees the logic. “And you think that trail leads to Nash and Sin.”
“I think it leads to the people who took them,” I say. “And if I can get close enough to the truth, I can force a mistake—expose their operation, draw them out.”
Mack’s voice comes in, hard but approving. “You’re taking a mission while two of our brothers are in a van somewhere, and Dad's still missing.”
“I’m taking a mission because two of our brothers are in a van somewhere, and to find Dad,” I reply. “Chasing shadows in the woods didn’t save them. Strategy will. We've come together as a family for this—let's use what we do best.”
Crewe watches me for a beat, then nods slowly. “It’s sound. Risky. But sound. Plays to your strengths in cyber-intel.”
Colt spits into the dirt. “I hate it. Feels like splitting the team.”
“So do I,” I admit. Because I want to be the guy kicking doors with Colt, pulling Nash and Sin out with Jace's combat skills, putting my hands on the men responsible and making sure they never threaten our family again. But I’m not that guy. I’m the one who finds the door before it exists. The one who follows the wire behind the wall. The one who sees how the pieces move and then moves them harder. And right now, the board is tilted against us. That ambush was too clean, too targeted.
That changes today.
I look at the fog, the trees, the broken ground where our brothers were taken. “Nash would tell us to move,” I say quietly. “Sin would tell us to stay sharp. Dad would want us to finish what he started.”
Jace’s jaw tightens, but he claps my shoulder. “So what do we do?”
I straighten, the decision locking into place like a bolt sliding home. “We split. Crewe and Colt keep pressure on the mountain lead, make noise with some controlled ops, make them think we’re still chasing the same trail blindly. Jace stays with them for muscle—your combat skills will keep them safe. Mack coordinates from the outside, keeps Elena and Dean Maddox in the loop, feeds us real-time intel.”
Crewe nods. “And you?”
“I go into Halo City,” I say. “I take the mission with Halo Protective Group under cover. I get close to the truth. I bring our brothers home—and find Dad.”