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Prologue

Zane Lewis

The incessant ringing and vibrating of my phone pulled me from a deep, sated sleep. I angrily snatched my phone off the nightstand and without checking the caller ID, I entered in my ten-digit security code and answered.

“Zane,” I growled.

It was two in the goddamn morning, someone had better be bleeding or missing body parts.

“We have a problem.” John “Tex” Keegan cut right to the chase, one of the many things I liked about the man. That and he had to be hands-down the best computer geek I’d ever met. Though I’d never call the former SEAL a geek to his face.

“Of course we do.” I glanced over at my beautiful wife as she stirred in her sleep. Ivy sighed and rolled to her side. The sexy sound made my cock jerk. Not even an hour ago, she had made that same sweet sound after I brought her to orgasm with my mouth and fingers. Regretfully, I slid out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweats on my way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. “What kind of problem?”

“Tatiana Jones called me when she found out Gold Team was in Bahrain.”

There was so much to process from that one simple statement.

“At two in the fucking morning?”

“It’s ten a.m. in Bahrain.”

“Tatiana Jones is in Bahrain?”

It was taking longer for my sleep-muddled mind to track than it should have.

“Yep. And she wants reassurances that the team will not be an issue for her.”

“What the actual fuck? I thought she retired. Found herself a nice man to drive off into the sunset with. Oh, wait, I forgot she married that asshole Monroe. Bet that ended badly.”

Ivy would’ve given me shit if she’d heard me making smartass comments about the failure of someone’s marriage. Or maybe not if she knew what a douche James Monroe was. He was an embarrassment to the Special Operations community and a shit husband from what I’d heard.

“After she finally got shot of Monroe, she went back to work,” Tex informed me.

“A new company, or did she go back to her previous employer?”

“New. She’s running solo now.”

Well, fuck me running. There was nothing I could do but agree to the meet.

“Would you mind putting together any intel you can dig up on her and pass it to Declan?”

“That’s a joke, right? There’s nothing out there I can put in a workup for the team. And even if I could dig something up, I wouldn’t ever divulge it in a report.”

“Would you take a meet with an unknown?” I asked.

“Hell, no.”

“Right. Dec’s gonna want a dossier. I don’t care how barebones it is. We have to give him something. And it should be a quick meet and greet. Gold Team will only be in Bahrain a few more days, tops. In and out.” Tex’s deep rumbling chuckle gave me pause. I’d only ever heard the man laugh a few times.

“What’s funny?”

“You’ve seen her, yeah?”

“Shit.”

Tex’s chuckle turned into a deep belly laugh. “Good luck.”

“Ass,” I mumbled. “Thanks for the heads-up.”