Prologue
One Year Ago.
Rand Kestrel paced the scene of the explosion. The smell of burning fiberglass and diesel fuel singed his nostrils. His eyes watered from the dark smoke spewing into the sky.
Firefighters on land and in the water worked to keep the flames from spreading. The blast leveled a dozen boats and severely damaged the Davis Islands Marina in Downtown Tampa.
Worst of all - Carolina Saber and her sister Celia were missing.
Terrorists targeted Celia’s houseboat. The sisters were on board when the bomb went off.
Dread churned in Rand’s gut.
Carolina and Celia were the sisters of his boss, Luke Saber. Rand hoped they were still alive, but things weren’t looking good.
“Progress report,” Flint Mendota snapped across comms.
Rand walked a few steps beyond the perimeter and touched his ear. “No sign of them. No bodies.”
“Start your search heading south on the islands. I’ll send Beta Team the other direction,” Flint barked and cut the link.
Rand scrubbed his hands down his face. The bomb went off two hours ago. If search and rescue haven’t found them by now…
He shook his head to clear the doomsday thoughts from his mind and slipped through the crime scene tape toward the sea wall.
A quarter-mile from the marina, a dirty foot caught Rand’s eye. His heart sped up.
Please let them be alive. Please let them be alive.
He hesitated for a second before climbing over decorative boulders into the gravel backyard. When he reached a cabana, he realized he was looking at two bodies.
The sub sandwich he ate for lunch threatened to reappear.
A moan came from the tall woman with shoulder-length black hair.
Rand hustled to her side, picked up her hand, and felt her pulse. He picked up the hand of the shorter sister. Her pulse was strong, too.
Both women had been through the wringer. Scratches and bruises marred their skin. Dried blood was everywhere. Rand could see drag marks through the gravel backyard where the tall woman dragged them both out of the water.
Carolina. If Rand remembered correctly. The tall, beautiful one was Carolina.
He gripped her hand tighter when she raised her head and looked him in the eye. “What happened?”
Rand smiled into the most beautiful Tardis-blue eyes he’d ever seen. “Nothing much. Looks like you saved your sister from drowning. Got a little banged up in the process. But not to worry. We have the best doctors in the world on standby at headquarters. We’re going to get you out of here. You’ll heal. You’ll get better. And you’ll do amazingly awesome things….”
Carolina missed most of his rambling because she passed out again.
Rand opened the comms channel. “Alpha One here. Targets acquired. They’re alive. I repeat. They’re alive.”
Chapter 1
“Stupid, party of one? Oh. That’s me. Is my table ready?”
-Carolina
Three weeks ago.
The lyrics from “Another One Bites the Dust” zing through my head as I watch Celia prepare for her beach wedding. I don’t know why we couldn’t have a beach wedding in Florida, but Celia insisted on a destination wedding to the Cayman Islands.
