Chapter 1
Present
Alexandria Thorn took a deep breath as she walked into the conference room nicknamed the “War Room” at Gray Tower Headquarters.
This was a big meeting, and Miles Bryant, her boss and owner of the company, wanted her there.
It wasn’t just to take notes either. He wanted her there specifically, and that made her nervous.
Sure, she was his Administrative Assistant.
She did everything for Miles, and she went above and beyond to make her boss happy.
It was to the point that she lived and breathed Gray Tower.
That wasn’t healthy, but it was the only way she kept sane and kept her mind off other things.
Bad things.
Horrible things.
She made sure she was busy. Work ensured that.
It wasn’t unusual to pull more than twelve hours at Gray Tower.
She used to have an apartment on the top floor of the sprawling complex that housed everything from offices, training areas, a cafeteria, living areas, and hundreds of apartments.
Miles had wanted as many people as possible living on campus, not only for security purposes but to create a community.
Now, she had bought a house in Blacksburg, Virginia, which was close to Headquarters. She wasn’t used to the commute, and she was also stuck dealing with house issues.
First, she had to move her belongings. Then she realized she didn’t have enough furniture for the extra space, so she had to go shopping and deal with deliveries. Miles paid her very well, and she was able to pay cash, just as she had the house. Working at Gray Tower was exceptionally lucrative.
The next issue was that she had to do “house stuff,” which was a complete pain.
She had this big place to clean, and she had become a neat freak over the years from her paranoia.
She also had to worry about house updates, things breaking, the landscaping, and mowing the lawn.
The list went on and on. She sometimes wished she could go back in time and tell herself not to buy the house.
However, she knew she needed to move, or she’d be living at Gray Tower forever, using the place as a crutch.
It was safe and familiar, but she needed to move on and have a life outside of work.
Miles had already insisted that her workload be dropped to manageable levels, and she was finally wanting to experience something in life other than burying herself in work.
Maybe she could find a boyfriend?
Scratch that. That could never happen. The thought sickened her.
Alex waved politely at a security associate.
He nodded and grinned at her, giving her a glance up and down her body.
She shuddered. Miles had put in a no-dating policy for her.
She still received glances, smiles, winks, and sly comments, but she never said anything to her boss.
If the men left her alone, she was fine.
She knew she was attractive, and she had always felt confident about her appearance.
If she had been a little taller, she might have pursued modeling, but at five feet five inches, she wouldn’t have cut it.
Her hair was blonde and styled in long, thick waves.
Along with her sparkling blue eyes, she knew she was a great package.
It was too bad she only used her appearance to create a put-together fa?ade.
Alex wasn’t okay, but this was the life she was stuck with. She had been living this way for years and had worked the ruse so well that no one knew.
No one except Miles.
Alex wanted to keep it that way, despite having a tight group of friends.
“Are you okay, Alex?” Miles asked, snapping her out of her contemplations.
She hadn’t realized she had stopped in the middle of the doorway. Someone cleared their throat from behind her, and she winced at being stuck back in that negative place.
She shook her head and told her boss, “I’m fine.”
“You going to move, or are we going to have to start this meeting in the hallway?” a male voice said from behind her.
Alex tried valiantly not to roll her eyes, but the temptation was too much.
It slipped. She stiffly turned to see Jack Hunter, Gray Tower’s Head of Tactical Operations, standing there, smirking.
He was an incredibly hot six-foot-something man who could have modeled if he hadn’t gone the military route.
It was a consensus among the female population at Gray Tower that the man was indeed a hunk.
However, he was also a bit of an asshole.
She had to put up with him, though, not only because of her job but because he was her best friend’s fiancé.
He was occasionally fun to banter with, though, and Alex needed a distraction.
“I just wanted to keep out the riffraff,” Alex replied with a smile.
Jack snorted.
“You’ll have to come with me then,” he said, grinning.
“I would never lower myself to the likes of you,” she replied. “I’m not even sure what Kat sees in you. She could do better.”
Kat Langely was the Head of IT Security at Gray Tower and had been her best friend since high school. They had lost touch throughout various times in their lives, but they always seemed to gravitate back together.
Jack’s face went serious, and he told her, “Yeah, she could, but she agreed to be with me. She’s stuck with me.”
“Mr. Hunter, stop pestering Ms. Thorn,” Miles’ voice boomed from the other side of the room.
Jack stiffened slightly but called out, “She started it.”
“No, she didn’t,” Miles said.
Alex grinned and finally left the doorway so Jack could barge through. He glared at her, but it was all in jest. Jack, as well as all the other top Gray Tower men, was protective of Alex and treated her like a sister.
She strolled over to the conference table, noting that it was only Miles, Jack, Keira Slade, and Ryan Hale.
Keira was the COO at Gray Tower and was also one of Alex’s good friends, while Ryan was one of the elite-level operatives.
He happened to be the last single guy on Miles’ top team.
This was flung in Alex’s face by pretty much everyone, Miles and Kat excluded.
Oh, Alex, why don’t you and Ryan get together? You’d look so cute together.
Hey, Ryan’s single. You two should date so our little family is complete.
Alex stared at Ryan and shook her head. He certainly was handsome: six foot two, dirty blonde hair and beard, mesmerizing green eyes, muscles galore, plus some sexy tattoos.
The man was gorgeous. But she couldn’t date anyone.
Plus, knowing Ryan’s file, she had a feeling that he wasn’t in the market to date anyone either. His story was heartbreaking.
“Are we all here?” Jack asked as he plopped himself down in a chair.
Alex did the same.
“Yes,” her boss said, nodding. “Let’s get started.”
Keira gestured toward the largest monitor in the room. The whole place was decked out with technology, but since this meeting only had a few people, they were gathered around one small area.
A picture appeared of a handsome man in his late forties. He had dark blonde hair and brown eyes. His look said successful, and Alex wondered who he was and why she hadn’t been the one to prepare this information. She felt in the dark.
“This is Douglas Sims, age forty-nine,” Keira began.
“He works and lives in Christiansburg, VA, though he’s from the D.C.
area. The guy owns and runs a private mental health facility.
It takes anyone, but it specializes in veterans and is one of the few private facilities the VA works with as overflow. ”
Jack whistled and said, “How the hell did he pull that off?”
“Good question,” Keira told him. “Honestly, I’m not sure how it started, but the VA isn’t happy with how it’s going and wants any excuse to sever ties. They’d like someone to go in and document anything and everything to do so.”
“Uh, okay,” Ryan said, looking around the table. “I don’t get it. I mean, it’s not like Gray Tower doesn’t do those missions, but it’s way below our team’s paygrade, not to be a smartass.”
“No, Mr. Hale, you are correct,” Keira told him. “We’ve accepted the mission, but only so we could use that as an official excuse as to why we’re there when we go poking around for what we really want.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow and asked, “And what’s the real reason?”
“Douglas Sims’ name came up on one of John Stratton’s Conglomerate lists,” Miles said. “Specifically, it was the materials data we got after that human trafficking bust Marshall had, but after closer inspection, we think that the cargo listed isn’t what was delivered.”
John Stratton was Keira’s estranged father, who was a cloak-and-dagger kind of guy.
He used to work for a corporation that operated under the Conglomerate, an evil shadow organization that Gray Tower took out.
Gabriel Marshall, a Gray Tower operative, had stumbled upon a huge trafficking ring after working on a completely unrelated mission.
It had been eye-opening, to say the least.
“What kind of cargo are we talking about?” Alex asked, a little hurt that she had no idea about any of this.
She was Miles’ Administrative Assistant. She knew everything. The fact that he had done all this footwork without her help or knowledge made her sad. Miles was like a surrogate father after her actual father ended up being a giant douchebag.
“The living, breathing kind,” Keira said. “And I’m not talking about puppies. It’s our hunch that some of these veterans and other patients are going in for treatment and not coming back out.”
Alex gasped.
“But wouldn’t there be a paper trail?” she asked incredulously.
“You’d think,” Miles agreed, “but there have been too many missing people turning up in that area.”
“Well, it should be easy to cross-reference who went missing versus who is in the VA database of patients sent to his facility. Correct?” Alex asked.
“Already did it, and the answer is none,” Keira said.
“But you still think Sims is responsible?” Jack questioned.