Prologue

The plane touched down in a controlled smooth movement, hardly jarring the few passengers seated inside. A gorgeous blue sky was outside, a typical sunny California day.

Mason and several other men from the Shadow Recon team waited for the plane to come to a full stop. When it finally stopped rolling, Mason grabbed his bags, tired, happy, but somewhat sad.

As answers went, the ones the team had found in the Arctic training base hadn't been the easiest. At the core was fear and self-preservation. Such common human failings and, in this one case, one with massive consequences, as individually the men involved had slid deeper and deeper into their lies and deceit.

The fact that Elijah had reached out and had contacted Mason directly would help his case but not enough, though it sounded as if the cancer would likely take him pretty damn quickly anyway. Still, he wanted to answer as many questions about as many cases as he could, so some families could find some closure.

Mason wanted that too. Families were still suffering, as they looked for answers to the deaths of their loved ones. Deaths that were meaningless, senseless, and all the more painful for the betrayal by these men, who should have supported their military brethren, not taking them down, not making them victims.

When the back door to the plane opened, and Mason walked out onto the tarmac, he held up a hand to shield his eyes, wishing he'd brought his sunglasses with him because it was a bright sunny day. Tesla was planning to pick him up, and they would spend a few days together, before he headed back to the office, his field mission over.

He headed for the main hangar, falling in behind the other men. He had places to go to, but chances were good that Tesla would be here somewhere, waiting. And she never did what he expected of her. She was her own person, a special soul, and he was blessed every day to come home to her.

Hearing a shout off to the side, he turned and caught sight of her, hopping out of the Jeep and rushing toward him, her pregnant belly bouncing lightly with every step.

Mason grinned and laughed, as she opened her arms and raced toward him. He dropped his bag and raced in her direction.

He hadn't made it ten steps when an odd ping hit his head, and he was stopped in his tracks, a slow paralysis taking over his body. He stared at his beloved wife, watching her confusion, then her horror, followed then by her scream that seemed ripped from her very soul.

Mason's knees buckled, even as he recognized the red flow covering him was his blood. He collapsed to the asphalt beneath him, and the world around him went black and silent,… as he was sucked into the murky darkness.