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CHAPTER ONE

David Wolfe’s past caught up with hirocery store in the Rocky Mountains Late-Nove to rid hi that sank into hi officer

Colonel George Monroe lounged against David’s Jeep, blocking his escape

"What are you doing here, sir?" asked David, his tone sharp with displeasure

Colonel Monroe regarded David with a steady stare that would have o pale Monroe’s once-black hair was shot steely gray with age, and he had the e in one lifetime But in his white knit shirt and khakis, he looked olfer than he did a co force

"You’re a hard man to find, Wolfe," said Monroe

"I wasn’t wanting to be found, sir," replied David "I’ot this far"

"We traced the ery"

David spat a searing curse He’d wired the funds from over a hundred miles away under an alias of an alias of a man who didn’t even exist Monroe should never have been able to find hi at it

Ripples of unease slipped down David’s spine Whatever Monroe wanted froood Powerful military leaders like Monroe didn’t a lots just to catch up on old times

"What do you want?" demanded David

"We need you, Wolfe There’s asituation"

"I don’t give a da a belated, "Sir"

Monroe’s mouth twitched with a hint of a smile "I see you haven’t lost your respect for authority these past two years"

"No, but I’m about to lose my temper, so you’d best move away from my Jeep and find yourself another o, ree and David was quickly beginning to think that he was going to have to show Monroe just howunder his coht hatever was at hand, and when nothing was at hand, fighting with nothing His body tensed as he sized up Monroe for a quick, efficient takedown

"I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Wolfe," said Monroe as if reading David’s violent thoughts "I’ht, so I brought backup There’s a sniper a hundred yards behind you in the trees He’s not as good as Grant, but he’s good enough" A brief, feral smile flashed over Monroe’s face

David froze, suddenly feeling the weight of a lethal rifle aimed at his skull If he touched Monroe, it would be the last thing he did

"You’re a bastard, sir," said David

"So says my wife, but then she doesn’t know nal at the sniper and David recognized the con no for an answer"

"Yes you will I don’t owe you anything I walked aith a clean slate The only favors I owe are to Grant and Caleb, and they’re not the ones asking" David suppressed his guilt as he mentioned his two closest friends--the men he owed his life to countless tio, leaving theht for freedom without him

Monroe tilted his head and looked directly into David’s eyes He was one of the few men David kneho could really look at hi You do owe me"

The sudden softness in Monroe’s voice worried David Men like Monroe were never soft--not with their wives or children and certainly not with the men like David, who they ordered to the most hellish places on earth to kill some of the most vile people ever to draw breath

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked David

"I was the one who ordered the rest of Delta to stand down on your last op"

Pain seared David’s chest at the mention of that failed operation and just how roceries crunched under his tightening grip Against his will, his eyes shut and he was forced to face the horror of his two-year-old memories, still painfully fresh in his ave that order?" The lack of air in his lungs made the question come out as a thready whisper

"I did," said Monroe "And I’d do it again today if faced with the same choice"

Had David not had the siven hiuilt would have eaten him whole

"Were you court-martialed?" asked David

Monroe looked away, his gray eyes sliding uncomfortably to the woods behind David, where the sniper waited for a sign to kill "It doesn’t matter now What does matter is that I need your help I never meant to call in that particular favor, but I don’t have any choice I need you to come back for this op Lives are at stake"

Bleak, painful ht to hold them back--to stem the flow of blood, death and pain all cloaked in shades of nightrowled David, unfamiliar with the raw sound of his own voice "I can’t I lost too o back"

Monroe’s ri again"

David was so shocked it rocked him back onto his heels "That’s i and watched to make sure not one of thele moment of his last op in the space of a heartbeat He felt the blind rage that had gripped hi that the Sould never hurt anyone again, felt the hollow e that noback the dead Revenge changed nothing

After several tense moments, David was able to rebuild the barrier on the part of his es that beat at his sanity until only a bubble-thin film remained