Chapter One

Former SecDef’s office—undisclosed location

“Ineed your expertise,” Dave said.

“Why?” Link responded, but continued looking at his cell phone screen, finger swiping.

Dave gave a wry smile. Out of all his specialty team operatives, Dave had never come across someone like Lincoln Beckett—not even in all his years of service to the president. The ex-cop, former Special Forces soldier was a master at every skill, and that included an eidetic memory.

“I need you to locate someone.”

“Why me? Why not Jaxon or Hunter? Or use someone from your precious Erebus.” Link’s knee stopped bouncing and he finally looked up.

The irritation when Link mentioned Dave’s unit of highly trained assassins wasn’t lost on Dave. However, Erebus wouldn’t do in this situation. Dave needed Link’s quick wits and take no shit attitude, not to mention his combat abilities.

“They don’t have your skill set,” Dave murmured, leaning back in his desk chair, gazing at the operative who looked more suited for the cover of a magazine. Not only good-looking, Link could pass for at least ten years younger than his thirty-eight. However, that was one of Link’s greatest advantages—because he was a young-looking head-turner, nobody expected his abilities. Simply put, suspects seldom saw Link coming.

Link’s knee started bouncing again and he glanced at his cell. When the operative didn’t respond to his question, Dave managed a glance at Link’s phone…Was that social media?

“Link!”

Link looked up at the snap of impatience in Dave’s voice and smirked. He wasn’t going to answer the man right away.

He never did.

Instead, he turned his attention to Dave’s office. It was nice as offices went, but a bit on the small, secluded side for Link’s taste. He much preferred the bigger offices that filled the Pegasus bunker. Not to mention, he hated Washington, DC, with a vengeance. Even now, the sounds of traffic, airplanes, and people filtered through the walls. Dave assured him that this place was a fortress, and Link didn’t doubt it by the look of the secret service outside Dave’s door.

The only reason he was here was because when Dave called, a person showed up—and while he may give Dave shit, every soldier who’d ever reported to Dave came when the man needed them.

“What’s the op?” Link settled deeper in the wide leather chair, one of two that sat in front of Dave’s dark oak desk, and tapped his foot. He ran his hands over the wide armrests; he may have to invest in a couple of these, as they really were comfy. Then again, maybe not…the chairs were on the bougie side.

“I’m looking for someone.”

“Who?”

“A person of interest in a bombing attack.”

“And you really can’t use Stone?”

In truth, Link mentioned the Erebus assassin’s name to get a rise out of Dave; however, Dave’s gaze never wavered.

“I need you on this. You were part of Fury. There’s never been another team like it.”

Dave was right and Link twisted his lips. Fury had been unique. A three-man kill team in Special Forces, Fury had been known for their ability to get in and finish some dangerous black ops missions and always come out alive. The small unit had comprised of himself, Eagle, and Spencer. Link smiled thinking of Spencer and how the man had gone on to marry their now-retired colonel, Liam Cobalt—but that was a whole other story. Although Spencer was no longer in the business, Link still kept in touch with both him and his husband.

“So, do you want Eagle on the team?” Dave said.

“No.”

“What, why not?” Dave gave him a surprised look.

Okay, that was a fair question, and of course, Link wanted no other human on the face of the earth to watch his back during a mission, but he and Eagle were not in a good place at the moment.

“I just don’t.” He rubbed at the growing tightness in his chest.

“Are you sure?”

No, he wasn’t fucking sure. Link swallowed around a suddenly dry throat and abruptly dropped his hand. “Yes, I’m sure.”

Dave gave a slow nod. “Okay, then who?”

“Jaxon, from Cobalt Security? This seems right up his alley.”

“I’m not sure if Jaxon is available. I was thinking of Owen.”

“Ace’s brother, Owen?” Link said, knowing full well whom Dave was talking about.

“Mhmm.” Dave eyed him.

Link squinted back. He knew next to nothing about Owen; the man seemed more of a peacekeeper than an ass-kicker.

“Why him?”

“Owen has…” Dave’s head tipped as if he was choosing his words carefully, and the hair on the back of Link’s neck lifted. If Dave had to select his words this carefully when it came to Owen, then there was a shit ton Link didn’t know about the guy. This might be the perfect opportunity to find out.

“Bomb skills,” Dave finally finished.

“Okay, Owen it is.”

“Who else?”

“How about Creed?”

“Creed is an excellent choice.” Dave smiled. “I’ll make it happen.”

“One more thing,” Link said, stopping Dave in mid-turn toward his laptop. The man’s sharp gaze locked with his. “I’ll need a techie on this.”

“Jacob?” Dave offered.

“No. Jacob’s on a case with Ace and Dalton.”

“Kellum can’t do it. He’s taking some leave time.” Dave frowned.

Link nodded at that. He wasn’t sure what was up with Kellum lately, but he was assured by Jacob that Ace was looking into it.

“What about Jordan?”

“Hmm…the Phoenix techie…” Dave seemed hesitant, so Link quickly spoke.

“Isn’t Jordan more of a backup when Reggie is on vacation?” Link asked, reminding Dave that Phoenix already had a full-time techie with Reggie.

“True, but I’m not sure if he has the field expertise for this job, though.” Dave hesitated.

Was Dave kidding? Link squinted at the SecDef. Jordan had exceptional in-the-field skills.

“He may not have the military experience, but he’s fucking good both in and out of the field and you know it,” Link said.

“True…”

“Besides, I need him on the computers, not in the field. I need his brains.”

Dave blew out a breath and deflated. Link grew suspicious. Was there something else at play here?

“Who told you not to include Jordan?” Link said.

“I got a call from Ace. It seems that Owen is adamant about Jordan needing more training before he is permanently placed in the field,” Dave admitted.

Oh shit. Link hoped like hell that Jordan never found out, or Owen would be dead meat.

“That’s absurd and you know it,” Link growled.

“You’re right. I’ll call Stefano and make it happen.”

With the team selection out of the way, Dave flipped his laptop around, showing the information on the screen. “I’ll send this encrypted file to you so you’ll have the info for the others,” Dave said. “Video footage caught this man leaving a recent bombing of an establishment in a small town inside Kern County. A bus station caught the subject on a Bakersfield city camera a few hours later. Last he was seen was crossing into Nevada.”

“Okay, you know we’re shorthanded, so why doesn’t Phoenix take this one?” Link said.

“Rossi and Stefano took the whole goddamned team to Aruba for the week,” Dave growled, looking all putout.

Link gave a bark of laughter. That must be what was keeping Ace and Pegasus so busy lately. Phoenix was their twin site handling cases in the northern part of the state while Pegasus handled the southern. One team away on vacation would definitely impact the other picking up the slack.

“Do we have the suspect’s name?” Link asked.

“The man bought a bus ticket in Bakersfield under the name of Bob Scabb. I doubt it’s his real name. Local PD in that area are stretched thin. They don’t have the manpower for a hunt of this size.”

“What about the marshals? Isn’t this their area?”

“They’re out there,” Dave said with a nod.

“So why me?” Link picked at a loose thread from the hole in the knee of his blue jeans. It wasn’t a hole by design—the fabric had torn while he was apprehending a suspect that morning. “What about the FBI?”

“They called me and asked for you.”

“Ah, there it is. The infamous phone call.” Link smirked. When government officials couldn’t spare enough people and needed help, the calls always ended up at Dave’s desk.

“Anyway, that’s all the information they could give us. A Detective Wall is holding the crime scene for you.”

“Let him hold it.” Link stood and strode toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Dave frowned.

“Nevada.”

He gave Dave a cocky salute and walked out, not holding back the grin when Dave muttered something about assholes.

First things first, Link needed to contact city officials where Scabb crossed the border. CCTV cameras should give him an idea of where to start. It sounded pretty cut and dried, but Link knew better. Sure, he’d caught bombers before, but in reality, they were the most difficult jobs to undertake. There were several reasons people set bombs and, in his opinion, they fell into two categories, well, three, actually—personal, political, and the insane.

He’d take the first two any day because he sure the fuck hoped it wasn’t some insane fucker out there killing people for pleasure.