My heart stopped beating.

I saw the FBI agents surround Sloane with their guns drawn and knew there was nothing I could do. Her blind panic, her desperate search for escape… I stood there and didn’t even lift a finger. I couldn’t.

I stood behind a bank of slot machines as people on the casino floor slowed to watch what was going on with morbid interest.

I watched the agents put handcuffs around her wrists and drag her away, helpless to stop it while my heart tore apart.

How the fuck did they get our scent?

Gasket had left two guys behind to clear up the bodies, so the feds shouldn’t have been able to find any evidence at the cabin. Unless… Fortitude had a mole.

My heart twisted, and a wave of nausea caused my skin to heat. Sloane…

I’d asked too much of her. She’d doubted, and I’d pushed her to come here.

I kept my head down and left the Halcyon, knowing I’d have to get a message to Gasket and find a way to get Sloane out of custody. One of those was easier than the other.

I was such a goddamned idiot.

* * *

The last time I’d felt horror like this was when I’d learned Madison had been taken.

Seeing her murdered in front of my eyes was a different kind of terror, but I knew I would feel it if the same thing happened to Sloane. If she were taken from me, the anguish would be so raw I didn’t think I’d be able to survive it a second time. The only reason I was here was that I’d shut everything off and focused on the one thing I could. Repaying my debt to Anthony Marini.

I’d vowed to myself that things with Sloane would be different. I wouldn’t do things the same way. She wasn’t in the hands of the Hollow Men but knowing their reach, it would only be a matter of time before someone pulled some strings and everything we’d worked for would go up in smoke.

I shook my head and tightened my grip on the steering wheel. The Las Vegas Strip glowed in the mirror, and in the trunk were all our belongings. The moment I’d left the Halcyon, I’d cleaned out our hotel room across the street and made my way into the suburbs.

If I broke Sloane out, she would be a fugitive and slapped on the FBI’s most wanted list. If I did nothing, she would likely go to trial and be found guilty. Both were life sentences. The honest thing to do would be to plead her case as self-defense. She’d never told me exactly what had happened out in the desert that night at the cabin, but knowing Sloane, it was something she’d had to do. Cold blood wasn’t her.

Those scenarios would mean nothing if the Hollow Men had their fingers in the FBI’s pie. They knew we’d come for King, so they’d been watching.

I’d thought I was better than them. I thought I was going to be the fucking hero, but I turned out to be a tadpole in a tank full of sharks.

I stopped the car in front of a nice hose on a nice street. All I knew was this had to stop. The Hollow Men were a cancer that had destroyed more lives than just Sloane’s and mine. I had to finish what I’d started all those years ago, and I couldn’t do it without resources…or Sloane. She’d gone into all this for me. She had her own revenge, but mostly, it was mine she was fighting for.

That night we’d first driven toward Los Angeles, I should’ve made her turn around.

Staring up at the dark house, I narrowed my eyes. To think, my old life might have led me to a cookie-cutter three-bedroom, two baths, double garage slice of a suburban nightmare. Maybe I would’ve loved it…once.

Josh Holden was an FBI agent. Yeah, turning up at the house of a fed wasn’t exactly the smartest move, but I knew the guy. We’d trained together, served together, and he’d been my partner for five years before everything fell apart. I knew him, but I also understood that a lot could’ve changed. I was relying on a bond we’d shared in another life.

Glancing at the clock on my burner phone, I saw it was barely midnight. He’d always been a night owl, staying up late when he wasn’t on shift. I hoped it was still the case.

A few doors down, the sound of wheels rolling across concrete drew my gaze. I watched as a man appeared, rolling a green garbage bin down a driveway. He was tall, heavyset, and balding. He’d had a lot more hair the last time I’d seen him, but even with the new hairstyle, I would recognize Holden anywhere. Thanks for making this easy for me, I thought.

Sliding out of the car, I melted into the shadows and approached the front lawn. Holden wrested with the trash, setting it on the curb, making enough noise to wake the dead.

I edged into the light, knowing it wasn’t the best idea to sneak up on an FBI agent. I coughed softly, drawing his attention away from the garbage.

Immediately, he pulled his sidearm, aiming directly at my chest. Packing heat on trash night? I quirked an eyebrow.

“Don’t shoot,” I said, holding up my hands. “I’m unarmed.”

Holden squinted, lowering his gun slightly. “Mason? Is that you?”

“Holden. Long time.”

“Long time? It’s been like eight years.”

I looked him over and decided he’d gotten a little fat. Someone had been on the doughnuts.

“We need to talk,” I said.

“Really? Do I need to shoot you? I’d rather not deal with the paperwork. You’ve been out a long time, so you don’t know how much red tape there are these days.”

“I’m back in the game, Holden,” I said. “I’m finishing what I started.”

He straightened up and sighed. After a moment of silent deliberation, he lowered his gun. “Don’t make me fucking regret this. I’ve got a wife and a kid asleep in that house, Mason. I will blow your brains out if you try anything, got it?”

“You’ve got a kid?”

“Don’t sound surprised. Life goes on.”

I nodded toward my car, and we got inside, making sure the interior lights were off.

“So, what’s this about?” Holden asked. “You’ve got five minutes to explain yourself, or I’m calling it in.”

“It’s nice to know that after all these years, I’m still on the FBI’s watch list.”

“Only because you disappeared. I can only imagine the shit you’ve done since you went dark.”

I held my tongue. The way I saw it, the FBI went dark on me. They didn’t care about justice for Madison when they’d left me high and dry. Though it boosted my ego to know all the shit I’d done in the name of Fortitude had gone under the radar. If it hadn’t, Holden would’ve arrested me on the spot. I’d never known a more patriotic guy than him.

“Someone I care about was arrested. I suspect it was with the influence of the Hollow Men.”

“The Hollow Men?” he scoffed. “You think they’ve infiltrated the Bureau? No, I don’t believe it.”

“The things I’ve seen since…” I shook my head. “Their influence has spread like fucking cancer. Give them enough time, and they’ll burrow right into the White House.”

“After all the work we did trying to bring them to justice, I don’t see how they could’ve…”

“Open your fucking eyes. They’re everywhere. We’re trying to stop them, not just for our sakes but for everyone’s.”

“What’s this about Mason? Getting someone out of holding?”

I nodded. “Suspected of murder.”

“No fucking way.” Holden shook his head. “You want me to help you break out a murder suspect from a field office, for what? Because they’re important to you? It doesn’t work that way, Mason. What you’re asking me to do amounts to treason. Fuck, just meeting with you could get me arrested. I should be taking you in.”

“But you won’t.”

“I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

I curled my lip and looked away. He was right. I was a fool for coming here. They’d screwed me over once, after all. I didn’t know why I was expecting anything different.

“I can’t help you, Mason,” he went on. “It would be unsanctioned. I could lose my head over this. I can’t help you. I’m just a desk jockey pushing papers. Any clout I had at the Bureau is long gone.”

“What happened?”

“I got shot on a case a few years ago. Blew out my kneecap. I’m one step away from cashing on disability.”

“Luckily, I don’t need a fucking action hero,” I drawled. “I need information.”

Holden scoffed and ran his hand through his nonexistent hair.

From all the excuses he was feeding me, I knew he didn’t have the balls, but what did that make me? I was a desperate man, who had no other recourse than to beg. Holden had resources, and I had nothing…and a man with nothing to lose was the most dangerous son of a bitch out there.

“This person is important. I need them. Either way, I will be taking out King,” I said, glaring at him. “The Hollow Men will pay with or without your help. I won’t let them destroy anyone else. He murdered my wife in front of my eyes. I won’t let him do it a second time.”

“Shit, Mason.”

Holden stared at me like I was insane. Maybe I was. Was this what love did to people? Sent them wild with despair?

All I knew was if I couldn’t get Sloane out of this...if I lost her…

Holden sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose “I can find out where your contact is being held, but that’s it.”

“Fine,” I declared, a minuscule dot of hope sparking inside me. “It’s enough…for now.”