Chapter 1: Prologue.

Volume 1: Stolen Risk

Monday. Aegis Group Offices, Seattle, Washington.

DAYS LIKE TODAY JAMIE Silva was glad he lived across the country from his family. He took the stairs two at a time while his oldest sister regaled him with his brother's indiscretions at family dinner. Mainly, their little brother had the nerve to be anything but a Cowboys fan.

There were worse crimes in Jamie's book, but he wasn't about to tell his sister that. She'd switched to Spanish, which was never a good thing.

"Hey? Hey, I've got to go into the office." He smothered a chuckle. "I'll call him and we'll work this out."

More like Jamie would call their brother and convince him to lay off the shit talk. It was football, not World War III.

"You do that. When are you coming home? And when are we meeting this latest girlfriend of yours?" his sister demanded.

"Soon, I hope." Jamie had a good feeling about this one. Maybe she was the one?

They ended the call as he reached the floor that comprised the whole of the Aegis Group offices in Seattle.

It was late enough that the building practically deserted. Team meetings at this hour weren't unheard of, but unusual enough that Jamie had to wonder just what kind of job the Department of Defense was throwing at them this time.

For the last few years the Troy Team had worked one job or another for the government, doing what the military couldn't, assisting in emergency situations and other jobs. The really dangerous, off the books kind. It was like being active duty but with better pay and much better insurance.

Jamie grinned as he caught the sound of voices.

He had the best damn life.

"Silva, get in here," his Team Leader Logan Muller called out.

Unlike the other teams that made use of the conference room, Troy Team ops were of a more sensitive nature. For that reason, most of their briefings happened within the confines of the SCIF or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility room. It was a glorified broom closet off the operational room outfitted with the proper security to allow them to deal with classified material on site.

Jamie squeezed into the tiny space, lamenting that the three chairs lining the back wall were already taken up by his more punctual team members. Besides the other four guys, their boss Zain Lloyd had joined them. Again, not unusual, but the grim set of his mouth wasn't the norm.

This job must be pretty damn bad.

"Thanks for joining us, asshole." Harper Wright, the team's communications officer, lobbed a balled up, empty water bottle at him.

"You're welcome." Jamie blew a kiss at Harper, caught the bottle then dropped it in the waste basket.

"Guys," Logan barked.

"Sorry," Jamie muttered.

Logan leaned against the wall opposite Jamie and directed his attention to Zain. "What do you have for us?"

"Nothing normal." Instead of turning on the projector or pulling out a tablet, Zain slid his hands in his pockets and glanced at each of them. "This isn't a onetime job. You guys have an opportunity I can't in good conscience pass up on, but I also can't take the contract without allowing each of you to opt out of it."

Fucking hell.

Jamie crossed his arms over his chest. They took on some scary jobs. That was the nature of their business. Just what kind of work was this?

"It seems that Troy Team has impressed the DoD so much that you have been recommended for a very special job." Zain's normal seriousness was ramped up to ten. "The DoD wants to retain the team and use you for a special, joint task force between DoD, CIA, FBI, NSA and probably a few others. There is no end date. You would start immediately. All of your support would come from the task force, not us. I couldn't even be your emergency call. They were very clear that you would not know the nature of your missions except the objective. And you would all have to move to DC in the next week to be available to start in seven days."

The room was quiet as they each processed the information.

Someone at the DoD thought they were good enough to include on a task force like that?

Hell, talk about a boost to the ego.

But pack up his life and move across the country?

A sick sensation knotted his gut. Jamie had a life here. A girlfriend, pool league, friends. Hell, buying a house had even begun to sound like a good idea. He couldn't just pack up and leave all of that.

If the rest of the team went and he chose to stay here, that would be the end of the Troy Team he knew. He'd go into the pool of guys farmed out for random assignments or have to wait for a spot on another team to open up. His whole life would change.

"What would you have us do?" Logan asked, as always speaking for their team.

"From a business perspective, it's good. Real good for us." Zain's mouth twisted up. "But not being able to watch over you guys? To make sure you have everything you need? I'm struggling with that. I've pushed them on it, but they aren't going to budge. Whatever this task force has been put together to handle has to be pretty serious if they aren't sharing information. And that's not even touching on what you all would be giving up."

Logan pushed off the wall. "Do you trust them?"

"I trust you guys. And Agent Clark. She's good people, but she's the assistant to the director of the task force on this one, she's not the one calling the shots."

"How long do we have to decide?" Harper asked while the others remained quiet.

Zain grimaced. "I need to give them an answer by tomorrow morning. I suggest you each think this over and let me know as soon as you can what your decision is."

The room was quiet for a few moments.

Tucker, the team's second in command, got up and left the room without saying a word. Something was up with him, had been for a while, but he wasn't talking about it with anyone.

Logan glanced after the man then at the rest of them. "I'm headed to the pub if anyone wants to go talk this out?"

"Come on, Silva." Harper smacked Jamie's shoulder.

He remained where he was, his gaze on the floor. "I might pass, guys."

What was he going to tell his girlfriend?

He was thinking about taking her home, to meet his family. This was getting serious. And yet, if he said no, if he didn't take this job, he'd lose the best team he'd ever been part of. There was no doubt in his mind they'd replace him permanently.

"Talk this through," Zain said again. "See you guys in the morning."

Their boss left them in silence.

"Evan?" Logan turned his gaze on the remaining team member.

Evan nodded and got to his feet.

"I'm in," Harper said and stood.

Jamie pulled out his phone.

Was it too soon to ask his girlfriend to move with him?

Logan and Evan filed out of the room. Harper came to a stop in front of Jamie.

"What's your hang up, man?" Harper asked.

"This is all happening so fast." Jamie met his friend's gaze. "I can't make a decision like this in an instant. What do I tell my girlfriend?"

Harper's face twisted up, his nose wrinkling and brow furrowing. "Her? You're going to pass this up for her?"

Jamie scowled at Harper.

He held up his hands and took a step away from Jamie. "Look, she's a nice girl and all, but you're way more into her than she is into you."

"You don't know that."

"Okay." Harper backed toward the door, hands up.

"You don't fucking know that," Jamie mumbled as Harper turned.

This could be the girl. The one Jamie would spend the rest of his life with. And if he felt that way, she probably did, too. Then why not take a chance? Ask her to move with him? Start this exciting new chapter together?

Yeah.

He'd do that.

Jamie swallowed, a new set of nerves setting in.

Okay, so this was fast, but if it was right, it was right.

He paced out into the lobby of the office and hit dial on his girlfriend's number.

Sometimes the best things happened when you had to make the leap of faith. What if this was one of them?

"Hey." That one, short word conveyed so many things.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" He knew those notes. She was distracted, probably doing her nails.

"No." Her sigh said otherwise. "What's up?"

Okay, so he'd have preferred it if she were in a better mood, but maybe his news would change that.

"Listen, something came up at work today and I want to run an idea by you." He glossed over the new opportunity in as few details as possible. It wasn't like he could convey the actual nature of what they'd be doing since it was more than likely classified up the ass.

"I think you should go," she said.

He paused. They hadn't even gotten to the part he was most anxious about.

"About that..." He licked his lips.

"Look, Jamie, I know how much you love your job and you sound really excited about this. You shouldn't pass this up because of me. And-fuck. I don't know how to say this without hurting you. You're a really sweet, nice guy, but I think we just want different things. So maybe this is the universe telling us it's time to end things."

Jamie stood there in the lobby, staring out at the Seattle skyline, while the woman he'd been trying to talk into leaping with him left him on the edge alone. She kept talking, calling him sweet and nice, talking about the universe, but never coming out and saying it.

She wasn't as into him as he was into her.

Harper was right.

How blind had Jamie been to not see this?

Movement in the glass caught his attention and he glanced back to see Merida, the company's office manager, at her desk, watching him with wide, knowing eyes.

Shit. Had everyone seen this coming except him?

At long last his now ex-girlfriend took pity on him and ended the call.

Jamie turned his back on the window, staring at the carpet. He'd been thinking about a life together, a future, something to build on. And this whole time the woman he'd thought he'd do that with was looking for a way out.

There wasn't any reason for Jamie to not go to DC now. Except he'd be going it alone.

"She break up with you?" Merida's face creased with sympathy.

Great.

Jamie tapped his phone against his palm. This moment was oddly familiar.

Because he'd been caught in exactly this same situation, the last time a girl broke up with him. He'd been called in for a job and on his way into a briefing his then girlfriend had broken up with him.

"Am I the only one who doesn't see this coming?" He kept staring at the carpet.

"Yes," Merida said.

"Ouch." He glanced up and grimaced at.

"Would you prefer I lie to you?" Merida arched a brow. She might be a petite woman, but there wasn't a man who worked for the company that wasn't a little scared of her, Jamie included.

"No." He dropped into a chair. "I just thought we were..."

"Oh honey, you think that about every girl." Merida reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a chocolate bar, tossing it to him. "That's you."

Jamie held the chocolate and frowned at her.

"Silva, you're a great guy. You're sweet, thoughtful, nice. If you were candy, you'd be a milk chocolate bar. Comforting, good..."

"Is there something wrong with that? What the hell are you trying to say?" Jamie scowled. All he did was treat women like his parents had taught him. How was that a bad thing?

Merida blew out a breath and rolled her chair around the desk until they were facing each other. She patted his knee. "There's nothing wrong with being the nice guy. You just don't look like one. The packaging doesn't match the inside, and the kind of girls you attract, well, they aren't looking for the same thing you are."

Jamie tore the corner off the wrapper and broke off a piece of the candy. There wasn't anything wrong with chocolate. Why would someone throw chocolate away?

"Can you answer me a question?" Merida tilted her head to the left, her ponytail swaying with the motion.

"Sure?"

"What do you feel about being broken up with? Right now?"

Jamie frowned and considered the question. "Disappointed, I guess? I was going to ask her to move to DC..."

"That's my point. Sitting here right now you've shown more emotion about being labeled a milk chocolate kind of guy than you did over her breaking up with you."

Shit.

He ate another bite of the bar, mulling that point around in his head. Was Merida right? Had he been wrong about this last relationship the whole time? Did he even know what love felt like?

"May I make a suggestion?" Merida folded her hands in her lap.

"Am I going to like it?"

"Probably not."

"Go ahead."

"Stop picking up girls in bars or clubs. Stop with the dating apps. Just stop for a while. I know for a serial monogamist like you that'll be hard, but it will also be good for you."

"Serial monogamist?" He frowned at Merida.

"Silva." She held up her hand. "I swear every time I blink you're in a new relationship saying this is the one. You don't know that. You're so codependent on having a girlfriend you don't really know why you want one in the first place. So stop trying to fit square pegs in round holes. And do not look at me like that. I am not interested in you. I don't like milk chocolate guys either. Maybe dark chocolate with nuts, but not milk chocolate."

Jamie couldn't help snorting a laugh so hard he doubled over. "What kind of guys do you like?"

"Not you." She nodded at the door. "Go. Logan and the others are probably at Trinity Hall Pub now. Figure out what you want to do, and for the love of God, no new girlfriends, okay?"

Jamie handed the half eaten bar of chocolate back to her and stood. Despite the fresh wound, part of him really was excited about this opportunity. So maybe the universe really was trying to tell him to take this risk?