CHAPTER ONE
BOONE
The satellite imagery on my tablet shows three possible ingress points to the compound, and I've already identified weaknesses in two of them.
"You're going to burn a hole through that screen." Mace drops into the chair across from me, coffee in hand. "She's not arriving for another four hours."
"Three hours and forty seven minutes." I don't look up. "And the eastern ridge approach needs another camera. Blind spot of approximately eighteen meters."
"Boone." Mace's voice carries that tone he uses when he thinks I'm being unreasonable. "It's a protection detail, not a siege defense."
I finally meet his eyes. "Mara Plummer has received credible death threats from at least three foreign governments and two competing tech corporations. Her quantum encryption technology could destabilize entire intelligence networks. She's worth half a billion dollars and she treats security protocols like suggestions." I tap the tablet. "This is exactly a siege defense."
Mace takes a long sip of his coffee, watching me over the rim. "You've read her file twelve times."
"Fourteen."
"In the last week."
"Seventeen total." I set the tablet down, because he's right about one thing. I need to stop staring at her corporate headshot. Mara Plummer with her wild auburn curls barely contained in a messy bun, hazel eyes sharp enough to cut glass, that confident tilt to her chin that says she's never met a problem she couldn't solve.
Or a rule she couldn't break.
"Deck assigned me this detail because I'm the best tactical planner we have," I say. "That means planning for every contingency. Including a client who, according to her own security team's reports, has disabled her GPS tracker four times, snuck out of safe houses twice, and once climbed out a bathroom window during a credible threat because she had a 'breakthrough idea' that couldn't wait."
Mace's mouth twitches. "Sounds like she's going to be fun."
"Fun." I scrub a hand over my beard. "She's going to be a nightmare."
The morning light cuts through the lodge's main room, illuminating the tactical boards and monitors that make up our command center. Outside, the Nevada mountains rise sharp and unforgiving against a clear February sky. I've planned operations in every terrain on earth, and this is the one place I've found where everything makes sense. Where variables can be controlled and outcomes predicted.
Mara Plummer is about to blow that all to hell.
"Her father called again this morning," Mace says. "Richard. He's worried."
"Richard Plummer hired us specifically because his daughter won't listen to anyone else. He and Deck served together in Force Recon. Richard saved Deck's life in Fallujah." I pick up the tablet again, pulling up the security assessment I finished at0300. "He's hoping his old friend's team can accomplish what a dozen private security firms couldn't."
"Keep his daughter alive."
"Keep his daughter still long enough to keep her alive." I scroll through her schedule, which she's apparently treated as nothing more than a rough guideline for the past six months. Missed check ins. Unauthorized location changes. Three separate incidents where she went dark for hours because she was 'in the zone' on a project.
The woman is a security professional's worst nightmare.
She's also, according to every tech publication on the planet, a genius. Graduated MIT at twenty two with dual PhDs. Built a quantum computing startup that's now valued at half a billion dollars. Her encryption protocols are being pursued by governments and corporations worldwide because whoever controls quantum encryption controls the future of digital security.
Which is exactly why someone wants her dead.
"The threat assessment came in from Sully this morning." I pull it up, even though I've already memorized it. "Two credible sources indicate a hit has been contracted. Origin unknown, but the pattern suggests corporate rather than government."
"Competitors?"
"Most likely. Her technology would give any company a decade's advantage in the encryption market. Someone's decided acquisition through elimination is cleaner than acquisition through negotiation."
Mace sets down his coffee. "And she's coming here for what, exactly? Richard called it 'wilderness executive training.'"
"Cover story." I stand, moving to the window that overlooks our training grounds. Two of the guys are running the obstacle course. I can hear Ryder shouting times at them. "Richard told her it was a mandatory executive retreat for insurance purposes.If she knew the real threat level, she'd probably try to solve it herself."
"Would she?"
