SATURDAY. HARTSFIELD–JACKSON Atlanta International Airport, Georgia.

Adam pushed Heidi’s chair out of the security check and into the terminal. Despite the early hour there was a thick flow of people heading to their gates.

Though he was trying to not get his hopes up too much, Adam couldn’t deny that he was excited to bring Heidi to his home. The little bungalow he’d purchased was a decent sized house for two. Not that he expected Heidi to live there, but perhaps she could visit. At least until they figured out the future.

“We should be down this way.” Grant nodded to their right.

Adam turned and proceeded along with the flow of traffic. He was more than a little surprised that they were being cut loose this quick. Given everything they’d seen and done, Adam had thought the authorities would want to talk to them a little more than the round of interviews they’d performed at the safe house. Then again, Abigail was still on the ground, and who knew what role she was playing in the greater drama unfolding they knew nothing about.

“You two coming to the pub?” Riley asked.

“Maybe sometime this week,” Adam replied.

“Pub?” Heidi tipped her head up.

“Yeah, one of the guy’s family owns a decent pub.”

“He’s not telling the whole story.” Riley sped up to walk next to Heidi. “See, a year—year and a half ago—one of the PIs, Ian, did this thing for his niece and got a bunch of the guys involved. You might have seen them? The Dancing Princes?”

“Riley just wants uglier guys there so he’ll be more appealing to the ladies,” Grant said.

“Did you just make a joke, TL?” Riley gasped.

Adam shook his head, grateful once again that Riley was not part of Alpha Team permanently. The guy wasn’t bad, but he just never stopped.

“I’m going to stop in here and get something to eat on the plane. Catch up with you guys,” Riley said.

“I’m going with him. Want anything?” Grant asked.

“I’m good. You?” Adam slowed and glanced down at Heidi.

“I don’t need anything, thanks.” She rubbed at her eyes and smiled, still not quite awake.

“We’ll meet you at the gate.” Adam pushed the chair onward.

“You know, I can walk, right?”

“But then you’d make Riley lose our priority boarding. Why would you be so cruel?”

“When did this all become about Riley? What about me?” Heidi chuckled and shook her head.

Despite the events that had brought them together, Adam was happy. Heidi was with him. Everyone had come home safe. The only darkness on Adam’s conscience was that Kyle had to return home alone.

The home office would no doubt have informed the others. Though Shane, Isaac and Felix were all laid up on medical leave, they’d no doubt be there the moment Kyle arrived. Aegis Group was more than a company, for many of them it was their family.

Adam glanced down at Heidi. And now, he had her again. The future was brighter. He couldn’t wait for quiet evenings at home with her, talking about the years they’d missed, catching up about everything. His parents were going to be thrilled. They’d always liked Heidi, even if they’d never truly understood her.

“Adam.” Heidi reached back and grabbed his wrist. It was the tone of her voice, the strained, alarmed notes.

“What?” He stopped in the middle of the terminal, gaze searching the people ahead of them.

“The man in the blue coat—that’s Léo.”

There was only one man in a navy coat ahead of them. He wore a ball cap and jeans. Nothing about him was familiar.

“Are you sure?” Adam began walking again, keeping his pace slow.

“Yes. He came out of that bathroom, glanced at us, and started walking.”

Adam continued walking, but not with any haste. He doubted they were going to run into Léo here. Alone. When the whole city was looking for him. This was probably stress and lack of sleep making Heidi see things.

“What are you doing? Go faster,” Heidi said.

“I don’t—”

The man glanced over his shoulder, his gaze locking with Adams.

Fuck.

Léo lurched forward, shoving a man aside and bolted.

“Stay here,” Adam ordered.

He side stepped the wheelchair and broke into a run.

If Léo was in the airport, then it must factor into the larger plans. Atlanta was a major travel hub. Hell, his team was in and out of here so often they had the terminal map memorized. Some of the gate staff knew them by name.

Adam pumped his arms. People skittered out of his way.

There wasn’t anywhere for Léo to go except on a plane or on one of the rails.

Léo vaulted over the rail on the escalator heading down. Adam bypassed the clogged escalator and took the stairs two and three at a time, but there were still too many people. Léo was drawing further away.

“Move!” Léo shoved through a family at the very bottom.

He tripped over a child’s rolling luggage and sprawled on the marble floor.

Adam threw himself down the last few stairs, tripping over his own feet, and landed squarely on top of Léo, driving a knee into the smaller man’s back.

“What are you doing here?” Adam snarled. He grabbed Léo’s hands and wrenched them up almost to his shoulder blades.

“Ow! Help!”

“The whole state is looking for you. You think anyone’s going to help you?” Adam crouched next to Léo and hauled them both to their feet.

He glanced up at a line of people, cell phones out, cameras aimed at them.

“Someone call 9-1-1,” Adam ordered.

“Novak—you got him?” Grant called out.

“Move, everyone. Move!” Riley hit the bottom of the stairs and began ushering people away.

“I’ve got Abigail,” Grant yelled over the noise.

Léo wasn’t even struggling now. He stood with his head bent and shoulders slumped.

Why was he giving up? What was he up to? Had they just played into a trap?

“Guys—where’s Heidi?” Adam glanced around.

SATURDAY. JOINT FBI-CDC-DOJ task force office, Atlanta, Georgia.

Heidi was fairly certain her hand would be permanently warped by how tight Adam held onto her. Still, after the way he’d scooped her up, fear shining from the depths of his eyes, she couldn’t tell him to ease up.

“We have officially missed our flight,” she mumbled.

Adam didn’t reply. Grant and Riley were both equally silent.

While the terminal was shut down and everyone inside held until the CDC could clear them for travel, their team had been removed by the FBI with Léo. The last they’d seen of him was an agent hauling him off in handcuffs under the protection of a police riot shield.

News about the intentional infection of the airmen had spread and there were plenty of people who wanted someone to pay for the disease now spreading through the Marietta hospital and the reserve base.

Heidi wished her superiors would allow her to do something, but until she was thoroughly cleared and the internal review done, she might as well be out of a job. At a time when the one thing she could do to help was taken from her, it was a very helpless place to be.

“Do we think he was there to infect people?” Heidi asked.

No one answered.

The picture of the fearful man standing there with his head hung low was not the Léo she’d come to fear. Something wasn’t right.

The only door to the room opened and the FBI agent, Brooks, and Adam’s coworker, Abigail, entered, their faces grim.

“What’d you find out?” Heidi asked.

“He wants to talk to you,” Abigail said.

“Me?”

“No,” Adam snapped and his hold on Heidi’s hand tightened.

“Ouch. Ease up before you break my hand.” She stroked his arm then turned her attention to the two who were running the show. “What do you mean, he wants to talk to me?”

“We’ve asked him dozens of questions but he keeps saying he wants to talk to you. That you’re the only one who will understand. Does that mean anything to you?” Brooks asked.

“No.” Heidi frowned. “That’s really all he’s said?”

“To the word. If we’re going to get anything out of him, we’re going to need your help,” Abigail said.

“Absolutely not.” Adam sat up straighter. He was about point five seconds from getting up and pacing.

“I wouldn’t be alone, right?” If Heidi could do something, if they could give her a way to fix this, she’d take it.

“You can’t really want to put her in a room with that guy.” Adam was fuming to the point she could practically see smoke coming out of his ears.

“The facts are, we don’t know where John has gone with Cindy, what they’re aiming to do, and right now Léo is our best source. If we can get him to talk, we have to gamble. I wouldn’t put you in there alone, and he won’t have any direct contact. He’s in a containment unit we see how this plays out.” Abigail stared back at Heidi. She was a cool cookie. Heidi liked her.

“Then there’s no risk to me.” Heidi stood and turned to Adam. “We’ll be separated by a wall.”

“I’m coming with her then.” Adam stood.

“We’re going, too.” Grant pushed to his feet.

“I’m sorry, no. There’s not room for more than the necessary people,” Abigail said.

“I’ll be fine.” Heidi squeezed Adam’s hands. “You’ve kept me safe, now let me do this, okay?”

Adam’s frown lines grew deeper. He wasn’t happy, and she knew she’d hear about this later, his overbearing protective nature commanded he shield her at all times. They had no other option. For a long moment they stared at each other. What she saw surprised her.

Fear.

He was afraid.

Of what?

She swallowed and leaned toward him, kissing his cheek.

“I’ll be okay,” she whispered.

Adam let go of her and sat, staring at the ground.

“I’ll be right back.” Heidi took a step toward Abigail.

Adam remained seated. He’d been her protector through school, always by her side. He hadn’t changed all that much. He still wanted to shield her from threats bigger than both of them.

God, she loved that man.

She ducked out of the door, walking as fast as she dared. Her feet ached, but the pain was good. She was alive. She could feel. And she had hope.

“Do you want this?” Abigail closed the door behind her and gestured to the wheelchair folded up by the door.

“Don’t even.” Heidi swiped at her cheeks. “I’d rather limp around than sit in that thing anymore.”

“In your shoes, Luke would do the same thing. Insufferable, the lot of them.” Abigail rolled her eyes and chuckled, kindly ignoring Heidi’s tears.

The two women began walking in step, the pace slower for Heidi’s benefit.

“I thought Aegis Group was a bunch of body guards and stuff. What is it you do?” Heidi couldn’t place Abigail on the scale of military she’d met and worked with. She was something different.

“Every company has to grow and change to survive. I’m part of that change.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Abigail shrugged.

Heidi didn’t like the idea of Adam in danger. She never had. They’d fought about it some when they were younger before she realized how dug in Adam was to the idea of being a SEAL. Now, she wished he’d do something that didn’t put their future in jeopardy as much.

“Is this change going to put Adam at greater risk?” she asked.

“Risk is part of life.” Abigail swiped a security card in the elevator, granting them access to the controlled floors. “I’m no fortune teller, but we never knowingly send our teams into situations they can’t handle.”

“What about the job that got three of Adam’s team hurt?”

“That was an exceptional case. Our initial evaluation was that it might be a little more dangerous, but not more than they could handle. Once they were on the ground, the situation kept changing, getting more dangerous. I advised Kyle to get out, but that was their problem all along. Leaving was dangerous.”

Heidi stared at the floor. Could she do this? Live with the knowledge that each and every time he went to work, he could die?

If it boiled down to having Adam in her life or being alone, she knew she wanted him.

That was a fact burned into her soul.

They got off on one of the lower levels. Down here it was layer upon layer of security. Badge wearing people along with very tense CDC officials stood around.

Brooks waited for them outside one of the quarantine units with a clipboard in hand.

“Did she brief you?” Brooks asked.

“Léo wants to talk to me. What else is there?” Heidi glanced at Abigail.

“We need to know what John is planning and who else in the CDC he’s working with. If we can get him to tell us where John’s people are, or John himself, that would be ideal.” Brooks handed her the clipboard.

“We’ll be recording the whole thing, so don’t bother writing it down. Focus on him. If Léo wants to see you, there’s a reason for it, and if we’re giving him what he wants, we want to get as much information from him as we can. Got it?”

“I guess so.” Heidi took the clipboard.

She needed to treat this like she was looking at a patient, asking them where they’d been, what they’d done, the severity of their symptoms. This problem was just another sickness that needed a cure. Never mind she couldn’t fix this even if she uncovered the root cause.

What if Léo had other intentions? What if she was walking into a trap?

She swallowed down the fear.

Nothing was going to happen to her. Everything would be fine. This time, it was Léo who was a prisoner. Not her.

“Do you need a moment?” Abigail asked.

“No, let’s do this.” Heidi set her gaze on the door and walked forward.

This was one, small thing she could do to help make everything right again.

LÉO PACED THE SMALL room. It was more like a glass cell with a bed, toilet and a sink. The light was tinged blue, probably some sort of UV. Half a dozen law enforcement lined the walls, watching him, whispering, taking notes, while the doctors stared at monitors. They’d finally taken the sensors off, though he hadn’t given them much choice.

He wasn’t sick.

He wasn’t the risk here.

He needed to talk to Heidi. She might not understand John, but she was his best hope. John had considered her a friend. If anyone could help him save John, it was her.

The dry air was getting to him. He went to the sink and got yet another glass of water. He couldn’t wait to piss with an audience.

The door to the outside world opened and two people entered. A man he didn’t much care about—and Heidi.

Léo downed the water then tossed the cup. He crossed to the only chair in the room, right in front of a microphone and speaker that allowed him to communicate with those on the outside.

Heidi kept her eyes on him. She was still wary of him. He couldn’t blame her. To him, she’d been a means to an end, a way of keeping John happy. Now, if he was lucky, she would be the tool by which he would save his father.

She leaned forward and flipped a switch. The speaker on his end hummed.

“They said you wanted to speak with me?” Heidi said.

“Yeah.” Léo scrubbed his hand across his jaw.

It’d come to this.

Where did he start?

How did he begin?

“Can you tell me a few things first?” Heidi glanced at her clipboard.

“No. Not yet.” He leaned forward. “How long have you known John?”

“I don’t know. Years?”

“Would you call him a friend?”

“Before this week, yeah.”

“You might not believe me when I say this, but John did this—all of it—because he cares about you.” Léo knew that to people unlike them, this would be hard to understand. John looked at Heidi and saw another child in need of saving. That was the god complex showing through. Heidi didn’t want saving. Léo had seen that the moment he laid eyes on her.

“He—what?” Heidi’s mouth gaped open.

“I’m willing to tell you where he is, who is working with him, everything—but I want a deal.”

“I’m not—that’s not what I do...” Heidi glanced over her shoulder.

Léo could hear the voice of the man who’d entered with her speaking, but not what he was saying. The man clicked Heidi’s microphone off and Léo watched them put their heads together and speak.

He wasn’t kidding when he said he could give them everything. John hardly knew what their resources were, only the results they could deliver. Léo was the operations guy. He might not know everything about John’s pet project, but he could fill in the blanks. If nothing else, he still had the Williams card to play. The scientist was just as dirty as John, just as liable, and Léo could use that.

The speaker crackled to life again and this time the man spoke.

“Léo, my name is Ryan Brooks. I’m with the FBI. At this point the DOJ wants to treat you as a terrorist. The Unites States does not bargain with terrorists...”

“I hear a but in there.” Léo tilted his head.

“If your information is good, we could offer you something.”

Another person stepped forward, this one without the FBI badge on their hip. The speaker clicked off again.

Léo leaned back and focused on Heidi, who was still watching him. There was intelligence behind those eyes. She couldn’t be won over easily. It’d taken John years to wear her down, to confide in him. He’d missed the signs with her, somewhere. She didn’t want their brand of saving.

Did she understand yet? Did she know?

He didn’t think she did. John hadn’t gotten the opportunity to try his hand at turning her. He was the one that had the way with people, not Léo.

The speaker crackled once more.

“Mr. Peloquin, if the information you give us leads to an arrest and dismantling your organization, I am prepared to authorize a deal,” the suit wearing man said.

Music to Léo’s ears.

“My terms are simple.” He kept watching Heidi. She was the only one who mattered. “When you catch John, I want him taken alive and unhurt. No death penalty, understand? He lives out whatever sentence he’s given in comfort and care. Those are my terms.”

In the greater scheme of things, he had to protect dad. Léo’s bargaining power only went so far. One of them would have to take the fall, and if he could pick, it would be him, not John. Whatever his lot was, he’d take it if it meant John was spared.

“I’d authorize that,” the man said. He nodded at the agent seated next to Heidi, then backed up.

“Where is John, Léo?” Agent Brooks asked.

“To understand where he is, you need to know where he’s been. Where we’ve all been.” Léo leaned forward, willing Heidi to understand. “Did he ever tell you about his parents? Growing up?”

“Y-yes,” Heidi said. Her eyes were large, so deep and dark Léo could fall into them.

“Then you’ll understand that when we met—”

“Which was...?” Heidi glanced at her clipboard. That must be one of their questions.

“I met John in Nicaragua in 2000. I was fifteen. My parents were there to make plans and review bids for some tourist traps they wanted to build. Dengue Fever was a major problem, and they both came down with it. By the time they wanted to get help the hospital turned them away, directing them to the CDC facility. They were in pretty bad shape so they were taken in immediately while I waited my turn. I wasn’t sick, but they wanted to check me out, anyway. The nurse made me take a test and then wanted to check me over. There was no hiding my multiple broken ribs or the bruising. The nurse went to get a doctor. John walked in and...he recognized me. The same way he recognized you.”

“I don’t understand. Are you saying your relationship with John is based on-on what happened when you were kids?”  Heidi’s voice grew tense. She didn’t want to examine her own history.

“Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.”

“I don’t get it. I never—my parents never did that to me.”

“Not your parents, no. Your husband. John wanted to save you from an empty marriage that hurt you. Damaged you. He also wanted you to work with us, which was the only reason I agreed to this mad scheme. I won’t pretend to know your whole story, but over the years John knew you he grew to care for you. He’d talk about you. He wants to protect you, just like he protected me.”

Heidi stared at him, her mouth open.

John’s ego had gotten in the way. He’d wanted to acquire Heidi as a devotee, someone who believed in him, without considering if she would be willing.

Léo should have fought harder, denied his father this prize. When had that ever worked?

The agent nudged Heidi. She glanced at her clipboard of questions, gaze lost in time and space.

He’d throw her a bone. Give them a truth they couldn’t prove.

“Am I saying John killed my parents? Hell yes he did, and I thanked him for it. I didn’t know at the time that this was who he was. What he did. I guess he’d never helped a teenager before, though. He adopted me and that was that.”

“There were people before you?”

“Yes, though as I understand it, they never knew who their savior was.”

“W-what about later? T-the other people?”

“Just because John adopted me didn’t stop him being who he was. I think I changed him, just as he changed me. Back then he was well meaning, but he didn’t know how to stop himself. What to do to cover it up. That’s where I came in. After a brief period of shock we figured out a system. He’d help someone get out from under their abusive family, friend, whatever. Then I’d make the body vanish.”

“I’m sorry.” Heidi reached forward and flipped the switch, descending him into silence. She pressed her hand to her chest and blew out a breath.

It was a lot to take in.

The man and woman on either side of her leaned in, no doubt speaking encouraging, soothing words.

Léo leaned forward and tapped his knuckle on the wall. They didn’t have the luxury of time.

The male agent flipped the microphone back on.

Heidi cleared her throat and leaned forward, her voice clearer.

“When did it change? When did-did you turn it into a business?”

“What John did, it drew attention. Someone offered to pay him, I told him to take it. Making bodies disappear is expensive, and we needed the money. I created a monster.” Léo shrugged. If he could go back and keep them the two man operation, he would. But that was unrealistic. Eventually it was going to happen.

“Where is he now?”

“Last I saw him? Dayus Pharmacy basement apartment. He won’t be there now though. We own it through one of our subsidiary accounts.”

“How does all this work? The labs? The business? How do you sleep at night?”

“On Egyptian cotton sheets like a baby. There’s a lot of bad people in the world. The ones who want to do business with us? They’re generally the worst. John views what we do as a public service, weeding out the bad guys.”

“And Laranya?”

“An unfortunate casualty in all of this. She was like you. Unwilling and uninterested in her savior. If you ask me, she was a spoiled child who married too young. She wasn’t a victim. By the time our opportunity in India opened, she’d grown up. I respect the lengths she went to for her family, though it’s because of her that we’re even in this mess.”

Heidi didn’t answer. He knew the details though.

“From time to time John remembers he’s the boss and makes decisions. The India lab was his doing. I got tasked with the unfortunate responsibility of making sure events rolled out how John wanted. I didn’t want to have a lab there. I didn’t think Sorkin was a good business partner. And I sure as hell didn’t think kidnapping would serve our end goal. But, I live to serve.”

“The attack. What about the attack you were planning?” Agent Brooks asked.

“She asks the questions.” Léo pointed at Heidi.

“What he asked.” Her voice was dry, probably from gaping at him.

“Last I heard, there was no job.” Léo shrugged. That was the truth. There’d never been an East Coast job, just John’s fanciful plans.

“What is John planning to do?” Brooks asked again.

Heidi nodded at Brooks.

Léo would cut her some slack. This time.

“You have to understand, John is my father, and I love him, but I’m not delusional like they are. He’s not well. He’s not always right. And...I’d be willing to bet that he intends to spread a contagion somewhere he feels it will make an impact. Create a statement. Kill—thousands.”

“Oh, God,” Heidi muttered.

“Are you going to tell us how to stop him then?”

“She asks the questions.” Léo pointed at Heidi. “When you get me, my deal I’ll see if I remember anything else. No paper, no details.”

Léo could afford to wait a little while at least.

SATURDAY. ATLANTA, Georgia.

John frowned at the empty seat beside him. It wasn’t like Léo to fail to micromanage everything. Where was he with his to do lists and color coordinating calendars? He might not have known there wasn’t a client, but that shouldn’t stop him from being over prepared.

Had John missed something?

This was the part about aging he didn’t like. Used to, he could juggle everything, he knew how to organize his life and shuffle it around. Sure, he’d had some close calls along the way, but he’d managed. Then Léo had come into his life and all John had to do was tell him what he wanted and when.

In many ways, it wasn’t John who was Léo’s keeper. It was the other way around. John had never done well with boundaries, so he’d pushed. Léo pushed back. Ultimately, John wasn’t proud of what he’d done, going around Léo’s back but he needed the freedom. He needed the thrill. Which was why, when an opportunity presented itself, he’d made Julie his under the table assistant to help him with things he couldn’t tell Léo about. His passion projects.

Ever since they enlarged their operation, Léo had sucked all the fun out of it.

“Here’s everything, sir.” Julie handed a folder back to John.

He took it, frowning at the colored tabs.

This was Léo’s work, but his son wasn’t here. What was Julie not telling him?

John stared at the driver’s profile.

C-something. He was Léo’s assistant, driver, friend. If he was here, then what was Léo doing?

“I want some answers.” John laid the folder on the seat beside him.

“About what, sir?” Julie twisted to face him.

“Where is my son?”

“I’m right here, sir,” the driver said.

That wasn’t what he meant and they damn well knew it.

He hated these people calling him father and dad. The only person he’d ever made that commitment to was Léo. John swallowed his irritation.

“Where is Léo?” he asked.

Julie glanced at the driver then back to John.

Her throat flexed, the blood pumping faster.

She was nervous. Scared? Julie was a trained sniper and had done three tours of duty. Enlisting had likely saved her from a grandfather who’d invested ten years of her life into routine torture before John put an end to that. And she was scared now? Of what?

“Léo...he left.” Julie glanced at the floor. “I didn’t want to tell you. I know how much he meant to you.”

She was lying. Not about Léo being gone, but the rest. He hadn’t left on his own. Léo wouldn’t do that, not after all these years. So where was he? What were the events that led to this?

“Where did Léo go? Why didn’t he say anything to me?” John was curious where this would go, what they would tell him.

The driver and Julie glanced at each other.

Crane. His name was Crane, like the bird. He’d been brought to this country as a child worker, grew up under someone else’s thumb until their paths happened to cross. It was Léo’s doing, but John needed to help. He was their patron saint, the forgotten and abused, the ones hiding their brokenness, begging for freedom.

Their fear was palpable.

The only reason they’d need fear him was if they’d done something.

“Someone needs to tell me what’s going on, right now.” John folded his hands in his lap and picked at the side of his watch. Léo had given him the item as a gift because plans didn’t always go as they should and everyone needed a backup.

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror.

“He wanted to stop your work. He wanted to take over what we’re doing because you were too unstable to continue to lead,” Crane said.

“We told him to leave, or we’d kill him for trying to stop your work.” Julie watched him in the vanity mirror. She wouldn’t even face him.

Léo was pragmatic. He’d have looked at Julie and Crane and seen no way of surviving a physical altercation. Léo would do the sensible thing and leave. He’d run. It wasn’t what Léo would want to do, but that was what Léo did. He made the hard calls so John wouldn’t have to. And these two leeches wanted to take his son away from him. The only person John had ever truly called his own, who’d known and loved all parts of him.

“You decided it was okay to kill my son? Léo?” John spoke softly, the rage simmering in his veins.

“We didn’t kill him,” Julie said in a rush.

“He chose to leave because we were right,” Crane said.

“You were wrong,” John snarled.

He pulled the tab on his watch, the coil of wire inside of it releasing. Before Julie could react, John looped the wire over her head, around her throat and hauled back, putting his weight into it.

He might have freed these people from the people who set out to hurt them, break them, but that didn’t give them license to do the same to others. Especially not Léo. John would burn the world to the core for his son.

“What are you doing? Stop!” Crane pulled the vehicle into the loading bay of some building and turned, staring in horror at Julie’s slack body.

It took close to three minutes to kill someone from strangulation. She was just passed out though her wind pipe could be crushed for all he knew.

“You are alive because I allow it, understand?” John stared into the wide, fearful eyes of his son’s friend—former friend—and promised himself that someday, this man would die for this betrayal.

John let go of the end of the wire. His watch slowly wound the line back in.

He got out of the SUV and closed the door.

To hell with the job, he needed to find Léo and get him back here. Didn’t these people realize that without Léo none of this would be possible?

John began walking, but he didn’t get far.

A restaurant’s flat screen TV caught his attention, the scene playing out one of his worst nightmares.

Léo was on the ground, Adam Novak had him restrained, and standing in the background was Heidi, looking on while his son was roughed up by her lousy excuse for a husband. This whole time, he’d been trying to do what was best for her, and this was how she repaid him? By siding with the enemy? The man who hurt her time and time again?

John was going to get Léo back and make Heidi sorry she’d ever thought to bite the hand that only wanted to free her.

This was revenge.

He pulled his phone out and kept walking. He had two cards left to play, Williams and Cindy. John was going to get Léo back, or he’d take everyone down with him.