The Jilted Heiress's Lethal Comeback

kage is secure. B

hermal imaging showed her team moving with practiced efficiency, their objective complete. The air hummed with the l

f from the world hundreds of feet beneath the North Pacific. A subordinate, a yo

here friendly icons were already moving toward the extraction point.

hattered the st

was a ringtone, a simple, jarring melody that had n

the source. The sound came from a small, hardene

y line. The

rung in

s. The icy calm in her gut fractured, replaced by a sudden, sickeni

ave th

The phone continued its cheerful, terrible ringing. Her hand was steady as she pic

brot

, pressing the phone

g, interspersed with the muffled sound of unfamiliar voices shouti

.. help

hrough the satellite connection and straight into her chest. Her heart, a steady, disciplined

ow, urgent whisper. She kept her tone even, fighting to project a ca

followed by Ethan's sharp cry of pai

le

tched in her hand. The pressure in her grip was immense, the plastic

p twenty degrees. The professional detachment in her eyes was gone, replaced

shouldering her subordinate aside. Her fingers flew across th

race that call's last known signal. I want its location

seen her through hell in three different continents, stare

stion it. "Ye

ed datapad from her belt, her thumbs a blur as she sliced through firewalls, hacking into the databases of three diff

uis's trace resolved i

derelict plantation dee

icate turf," Louis s

int. "Get me a Ghost Bird. Fu

a by-the-book reputation, hesitated. "Commander

his console. It was stark red, engraved with a single, te

y. All color drained from his face. He snapped to

handle mission wrap-up. Report to the Pentagon that I'm ta

pair of tactical goggles, the dark lenses hiding the infe

single hair out of place, I will wi

rds the submarine's vertical launch bay, where a

collective shock rippling through them. They had only ev

ere seeing the woman. And