JAMIE HUNCHED BEHIND HIS truck, listening to the slugs tear into the old vehicle. Down the street, Tabby's taillights turned out of sight.She was safe.When he'd driven up and seen those men dragging her out of the car, he'd seen red. It had taken him a few seconds to get his gun out from the locked case in his back seat, but once he was armed, he'd done his best to make her a risky target.It had worked. Maybe a little too well.An engine whined and tires screeched.Another bullet ripped into his truck causing Jamie to wince.He and this truck, they'd had a good run.Neither the SUV or van that had blocked Tabby in pursued her. Least not that Jamie saw.He straightened, peering around the truck, but the street was empty save for him, bullet casings and a pool of glass. There weren't any bodies, and he knew for a fact two of those guys had gone down never to get up again. People didn't come back from a headshot.It was almost as if the kidnapping had never happened.

Tabby stepped back to allow Zora into her room. "It was so good to hear from you. I miss you.""You've got to come visit the next chance you get," Yvonne said.Tabby shut the door. "Maybe we work it out so I'm there right before Nolan leaves then a bit while he's gone?""That sounds perfect. Have a good meeting. I promise I'll text more.""Do what you can, Vee." Tabby hung up the phone before turning to address her guest. "Sorry about that.""No, it's fine." Zora held up her hands. "Thank you for dropping everything to come with us. And this morning...""Did they find out anything? Do you know?" Tabby still felt like that whole thing had happened to someone else. Someone who wasn't her."No, nothing yet. There's just no evidence. Even the casings, they're not giving us any leads."Tabby set her phone down. Wouldn't it be nice if Zora was here to say it was all wrapped up? "What about here? Did you find anything?""Nothing, really. It looks like Gazi crashed in one of

Monday. FBI Offices, New York City, NY.TABBY DIDN'T KNOW IF she should be pissed off or relieved."What the hell is going on?" She glanced at Zora keeping pace with her as they strode toward the front doors of an unmarked office building.Zora didn't reply. She kept looking straight ahead, her expression unreadable.Getting blood out of a rock would be easier than cracking that woman.At least Jamie was okay. But what the hell had happened out there?Tabby was a little surprised Zora was allowing Tabby to tag along. So far Tabby had mostly been kept in the role of consultant, given very little information and expected to pull off a miracle. If it wasn't for Jamie, being a sponge when it came to learning she'd have been worried.The front doors of the building opened, held by Jamie and Harper. Tabby knew they'd agreed to hold off during this op, but damn she wanted to hug him. Tonight might have been perfectly safe, but they hadn't known that going in."Where are we?

Jamie glanced up and down the hall, ensuring they were alone before following her inside. He set his ice bucket down on the top shelf of the open closet."What are you going to do? You and the team, I mean?" Tabby sat on the edge of the bed and unzipped her boots."I hope we'll be able to help the FBI, but we're obligated to go and do what Zora tells us. I fucking hate it. One of the things I've liked about working for Aegis Group is that we get to be the good guys. We do the good shit. If we do what Zora tells us, it doesn't feel like we're being the good guys.""She does have a point though." Tabby placed her hands on her knees and grimaced. "There's always some great destruction just on the horizon that most don't know about."Jamie leaned against the wall watching her stare at a spot on the carpet.He hadn't really understood how different this job would be. They were always off to another op every week. The action kept coming. But working with the task force meant that w

Tuesday. FBI Offices, New York City, NY.TABBY HUGGED HER ARMS around herself as she stared at the list of missing children's photographs. Some were in color, others black and white newspaper clippings. There were candid shots, school pictures. Each one tugged at Tabby's heart.She knew there were monsters out there, but this was some other level of disgusting.A shadow darkened the board and a warm presence drew closer.Baruti didn't say anything, he just held out a cup of coffee to her and together they looked at the pictures for several moments.What kind of hell would it be to have her child snatched from her like this? No answers? No clues? Just gone?"You have to figure out how to live with knowing this stuff is out there and not going crazy," he said softly."How do you do it?" She glanced at the man.Baruti shook his head and didn't answer."Why isn't anyone talking about this?" Now she did turn to face him.He kept looking at the kids. "Because all of th