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Prologue

Crunch

The sound was a relief So was the sudden limpness in the form underneath her It was over

She ju as they all did Then she stood at attention, careful not to look directly at the old lass He didn’t like it when she stared into his eyes

The man pursed his lips as he considered the results of her latest test Not a muscle moved, but inwardly, she s in his hts, yet he did Every time If it wouldn’t have made him mad, she would’ve told hi into histhe ability, so she never told him about it

“Seven seconds,” he said at last, glancing down at the body “These subjects no longer represent a challenge to you”

He sounded pleased, but still she didn’t smile Displays of eet back to her manuals

“It’s time to move on to the next phase,” he continued

The words see to the lass twenty meters above him Since she wasn’t supposed to knoas there, however, she nodded

“I’m ready”

“Are you?”

The way he drew out the words warned her that this next test wouldn’t be easy, which hy she couldn’t stop her surprised blink when the chute above her opened and a new subject tumbled into the arena It looked similar to the others she’d neutralized, but when it leapt up and faced her, she understood Her new opponent had no heartbeat

“What is it?” she asked, her own heart starting to beat faster

Her opponent had a question, too

“What the fk is this?”

“Neutralize it,” her gray-haired instructor commanded

She hid her disappointment Perhaps if she finished quickly, she’d be rewarded with an answer At the very least, neutralizing thisthing would give her more information

She charged without another s out fro her elbon on its throat

Crunch

Its bones shattered with the usual sound, but instead of going li the oldlook

“What have you done?”

As it spoke, its neck snapped back into place, losing its ain She stared in confusion What sort of creature could heal itself like that?

“You want to live?” her instructor answered the thing coolly “You’ll have to kill her”

Those same words had been spoken to many opponents before this one, yet for the first ti ability, was it possible that the thing couldn’t be neutralized?

She glanced up at the old aze for a second before she looked away Even in that brief moment, she had her answer

The thing could be killed She just had to figure out how

One

Ignoring a ghost is a lot more difficult than you’d think For starters, walls don’t hinder their kind, so although I shut the door in the face of the spectre loitering outside my house, he followed me inside as if invited My jaw clenched in irritation, but I began unloading h I hadn’t noticed Too soon, I was done Being a va list was pretty short

“This is ridiculous You can’t keep shunning host muttered

Yeah, ghosts can talk, too That nore Of course, it didn’t help that this ghost was also etting under your skin whether you wanted them to or not

Case in point: Despite

“Actually, since neither of us is getting any older, I can do this forever,” I noted coolly “Or until you ante up on everything you know about the a-hole running our old team”

“Madigan is who I came to talk to you about,” he said

Surprise and suspicion made e anything about an Don had a history with the former CIA operative who’d taken over the tactical unit I used to work for, but he’d kept an had nearly gotten me, my husband, and other innocent people killed Noas ready to spill? Soically secretive that I hadn’t found out ere related until four years after I started working for him

“What?” I asked without preamble

He tugged on a gray eyebrow, a habit he couldn’t break even after losing his physical body He also appeared to be dressed in his usual suit and tie despite dying in a hospital gown I’d think it washow Don looked except for the hundreds of other ghosts I’denough to hosts the way they saw theroo bureaucrat in life, so that’s what he looked like in death

He also hadn’t lost any of the tenacity behind those gunmetal-colored eyes, the only physical trait we had in common My crimson hair and pale skin came from my father

“I’m worried about Tate, Juan, Dave, and Cooper,” Don stated “They haven’t been to their hoet into the compound to check if they’re there”

I didn’t point out that it was Don’s fault Madigan kne to ghostproof a building Heavy coe would keep all but the strongest spooks away After a ghost had alan last year, he’d outfitted our old base with a liberal supply of all three