PROLOGUE
Two Years Ago
Lock Walker scannedthe front yard through the living room window.
Callie was late.
The yoga class she was teaching should have finished fifteen minutes ago. She’d offered to cancel and pick him up from the airport, but he’d said he’d make his own way to her house. It had been the wrong damn decision.
He checked his watch and cursed as another minute passed.
Usually, he wouldn’t care that she was late. Hell, to most people the delay would be nothing. But he wasn’t most people. He was on a dangerous Ghost Ops team, and two nights ago a team member’s girlfriend had been killed. Fucking murdered right in her house by one oftheirenemies.
Lock’s hands fisted, the same familiar anger slipping through his veins.
The asshole shouldn’t have been able to find their identities. No one should have. But Malone was an IT expert in a deadly terrorist organization. An organization Lock and his team hadbeen tasked with eliminating. And they’d succeeded in that mission, eliminating all but one. One man who they’d had an ongoing search for when the murder had occurred.
Fuck, this was bad.
You thought you could eliminate my team with no consequences?
That’s what the fucking note had said. Was she the only one? Did Malone intend to target more of their loved ones?
He was here to organize security for Callie. Make sure she was kept safe and warn her about what was going on. Then he’d be back with his team, and they’d find and eliminate Malone.
He paced the room.
He couldn’t let anything happen to Callie—he loved her too damn much. They’d only been dating a year, and fuck, most of it had been long distance, but she was in his blood, his bones. She occupied his mind.
Dammit, where was she?
He pulled his phone from his pocket to call her, but it rang before he could hit her number.
Jesse. Why was his teammate calling? They’d all seen each other yesterday.
“Jess—”
“He’s dead, Lock. Winnie’s dead.”
Lock stilled, the air in his lungs becoming so stuck it felt like he’d suffocate right there and then. “No…”
“Yes.Remi too. Kill shots to the chest in their apartment. Antwan found them.”
Lock’s vision hazed, a darkness slipping around him so distinct that it faded every vibrant color in the room.
Winnie was more than a teammate. He was a brother. The pain was so visceral it felt like a blade against his skin.
He shook his head, still not believing what his friend was telling him, because it didn’t make fucking sense. “We saw him yesterday. He was there. Right fucking there.”
And Winnie was deadly. They all were. No one should have been able to get the jump on him.
“They broke in through a back window while the alarm was deactivated.” Jesse’s voice was raw with pain. “He’s gone, Lock. And the asshole who killed them left another note.”
“What did it say?”
“‘Who’s next?’”
Suddenly, Lock wanted to drop to his knees. Let the weight of his devastation crush him to the floor. It curled and weaved inside him. Poisoning him.
