Chapter 1
SNEAK PEEK
SLATER’S REVENGE
“Are we about done here?” OPAQUE Agent Josh Slater shot to his feet, knocking his chair over backward. Loud and to the point, the chair hit the floor with a resounding thud. He’d had enough of this beat-around-the-bush, quasi-interrogation for one day.
The past two hours of debriefing had made him wonder what the hell he’d done wrong on his last assignment.
There’d been nothing out of the ordinary, just a simple tourist kidnapping case.
Go in, rescue the hostage, get home. Everything had gone as planned.
In fact, except for the knife-in-his-back fiasco, he could have done it blindfolded.
Sure as hell hadn’t come close to the hard-liner assignments Operation Protector Agent Quantum Elite (OPAQUE) was known to fight against Coercion Ten.
Those jobs were adrenaline-pumping, hazardous-to-your-health rides all the way to the final bullet.
That was one of the reasons he’d joined OPAQUE. The other reason was still at large.
Agent Mitch Granger shuffled papers around. “I’ve got only a few—”
“No. You’ve asked me the same damn questions one too many times.
” Josh loosely rolled his fingers in and out of a fist. The two of them might be friends most days, but right now Mitch was an obstacle.
“If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you doubted my credibility.
” Josh fisted his hand tight. “That would be a mistake.”
“Calm down, okay?” Rising to his feet, Mitch braced his hands on the table between the two of them. “I’m just following the boss’s orders.”
“Which are?”
“To keep you in this room.”
“You and what army?” Josh knew he hadn’t done anything to get fired, reprimanded, or a thousand other unpleasant procedures. Yet, everything about this scenario screamed trouble.
“Listen, Slater, I’m not in the mood for any of your macho-dude attitude.” Mitch’s eyes narrowed. “Now, stay in the damn room.”
They both stood six-foot-one. Both worked out at least once a day. Both could settle an argument with their fists, gun, or knife. Hard to know which one would come out the winner if they ever pushed each other past the edge of restraint. So far, they both knew better than to cross that line.
Josh leaned across the table, invading Mitch’s space.
“Just why the hell do I need to stay in this room?”
“Why not?” Drake Lawrence’s words cut through the tension as he approached the table.
Josh winced. He’d missed the opening of the door as his boss, the director of OPAQUE, had walked in. Drake had come from a law enforcement background, and he still moved with the quiet stealth of an agent on the prowl. A technique Josh had mastered for his own use.
His boss quirked the side of his mouth with the cockiness that came from one-upping someone. “That is, unless you’ve got a hot date.”
Josh straightened, figuring Drake’s hot date question didn’t need an answer. “How’ve you been, sir?”
“Never better.” The boss casually stepped farther into the room, seeming to fill every inch with his six feet, still-in-shape, pushing-fifty frame.
Faster than a kid released for recess, Mitch grabbed his paperwork and fled the room.
“Good to have you back, Josh. I missed your in-my-face attitude gracing the hallways.” Drake reached out for a brothers-in-arm forearm grasp. “By the way, the hostage’s family sent word to thank you for bringing their father home alive.”
Josh clasped the offered arm. “Just doing my job.”
A scowl grabbed Drake’s expression. “I meant to be down sooner. Got tied up with our decoders. They intercepted a message from Coercion Ten last night.”
“Good intel?”
“Yeah, I got the message.”
Josh zeroed in on his boss’s use of the word I instead of OPAQUE. But the most telling sign that something was off was the harsh snarl—angry, personal, and real. What the hell had Josh walked back into?
“Something wrong, sir?” Josh asked.
“They’ve added a new column. Titled it Leverage.”
“I guess intimidating a target by threatening to harm someone near to them could be called leverage.” Josh shrugged. “Cut the bull, Drake. What’s going on?”
“Nothing next to your name in the Leverage column. Next to mine is one name.” His boss straightened back to his tough-as-nails stance. “My niece—Mackenzie Baudin.”
Josh’s chest tightened as if his belt had been notched three sizes too small. Macki! The only woman he’d never shook from his system.