Prologue

Dave - Former SecDef

“Solomon?”

A hacking cough came through the line. “Erebus has been compromised.”

“And Phoenix, Pegasus?” Dave snapped up out of his chair and stalked the length of his office with the phone clenched tightly in his hands. He reached the window but didn’t see the Paris skyline beyond his own reflection in the glass.

“Safe as far as I know.” The grimace and pain in Solomon’s voice came through the line loud and clear.

“Who was it?” Dave hissed, pushing down his rising anger.

“Malcolm and Theo. There’s something else. Theo went to Hunter.”

“Handle Malcolm and I’ll handle Theo and Hunter.”

With Hunter involved, there’d be Seven to deal with—not something he was looking forward to. Could things get any worse?

The line went dead and Dave pushed the cell phone into the inside pocket of his suit. Reaching his desk, he lifted the red phone and made the call. The old saying with power came great responsibility came to mind as he punched the button.

As the leader of several covert ops teams, he knew it was only a matter of time before one of the units became compromised.

Dave just never dreamed it would be Erebus.

“What’s wrong?”

Dave quickly explained the situation, relaying what Solomon had told him about Malcolm.

“As much as I hate to say this, but with Hunter involved, call Ace and get Pegasus on board. And activate Jaxon from Colorado. He’ll know how to handle Malcolm,” POTUS said.

“Yes, sir.”

“And you might think about bringing in Stone,” the man added.

“Maybe.” Dave clenched his teeth.

“What will you do about Solomon?”

“He’ll be neutralized,” Dave said.

The man grunted and hung up the phone. Striding to his desk, Dave sank down into the black leather chair.

Reaching for his cell phone, he called Logan Cobalt, the head of Cobalt Security.

“Dave?”

“Yeah, listen…is Jaxon available?”

“For you, yes,” Logan said.

“Thanks.”

Logan didn’t ask why and Dave didn’t say anything. What could he have said?

I need him to carry out a hit?

Not likely.