PROLOGUE
HARLAN FROST
An entire goddamnyear without a sign of trouble, and now I'm staring at a report from the men I left in Paradise Point that says we've got new activity in the mountains out there.
Something like excitement pricks at my skin.
I was worried our little party-crashing event last summer had caused them to move their route. If that happened, it could have taken years for us to track them down again.
Looks like they decided they've laid low long enough.
Sagan's report tells me we got what we were hoping for. Now it's time to put together a team that I can rely on to ensure that we rip this weed out by the roots.
Sag and Leo have been on the mountain since last year. You'd think those two could manage to stay out of trouble in a small town with an entire fucking mountain range to entertain themselves with, but they've already made sure the local law enforcement knows who they are-- and doesn't like them.
Fortunately, my Rogue Ops teams are exactly that--rogue. We work underground and on our own terms.
Risky, sure. We don't ask permission, we don't take the "proper" channels, and we follow our own protocols, but we get shit done and we do it without the time-wasting bureaucracy that costs more lives than I'm willing to spare.
Sorting through the files I have open on the screen in front of me, I mentally compose the team I'll be setting up in Paradise Point for this mission.
Cap's been out there with us twice, he knows the area and he works well with the other men. Plus, I like knowing his medical skills are available if shit goes sideways.
God knows there's not much out that way for hospitals, and I'd rather keep my men's healthcare off the record.
I add the Ward boys to the list. I don't usually like pairing brothers on the same team, but Austin and Jay work best when they're together-- and their past is an advantage when we're taking on the kind of criminals that make people disappear.
Plus, Jay gets along with Leo, so I should be able to bank on my team not breaking down from within.
That leaves one position open.
My finger slides over the touch pad, moving the remaining candidates across my monitor.
Wells and Martinez are out on other assignments. They both work well with the others and have the experience to work a job in those mountains, but I don't want to pull them off their current assignments.
Frost Securities has over a hundred men and women employed in the perfectly legitimate business of providing security for high profile clients and events. Most of them from military and law enforcement backgrounds. Most of them with no clue that the company funds a second business; one that deals with higher risk-- and higher reward-- cases.
Rogue is one hundred percent off the books, and there are only a few dozen people on the planet that know the operation exists.
That means it's time to recruit new blood.
I compare two files side by side on the screen.
Looks like it's Talon Avis's lucky day.
CHAPTER ONE
TALON
"You're new."
The man glowering at me from the doorway says it like an accusation. I'm pretty sure he's not planning on stepping aside and letting me in, and I mentally calculate half a dozen ways I can change that.
"Frost said I was expected."
Unfortunately, five out of six of my plans all end up with my new teammate on the floor; bleeding, broken, or just plain dead. That doesn't seem like a good way to make friends, so I try the polite conversation route first.
"Doesn't mean you're welcome."
