Horribly abused by his mother, Van eventually goes in search of his father. When he finds him, his life is radically changed. His father works for the FBI, and has contacts to a covert group, run by the Old Man, that goes after the worst of the worst criminals. Van is recruited to join both -- and does. Van handles every job he's sent on with cold efficiency, letting nothing stand in his way of gaining the information he seeks and stopping his foes. Eventually, he's offered a team of his own within the Old Man's organization. He accepts, with one caveat -- none of them can be female. Because of his mother, the only woman he has ever trusted is his handler, Makie. His attitude takes a hit when he meets Ginna, a cop, while on a job for the Old Man. When it's over, much to the shock of everyone involved, he requests that she be added to his team if she's willing -- which she is, as long as the organization can promise to keep her young son safe while she's on assignments. Ginna fits in well with the team, and though she is appalled at some of the tactics Van uses to gain information, she finds herself attracted to him. Can she break through the walls he's erected around his emotions? If so, then what? Only time will tell.

A Shattered Life

Giving up for the time being, he returned to the parks and the streets, watching every male and female who approached any of the kids. He’d see girls, and some of the boys, go off with someone for a while and then return. Most were the loners, trying to keep it together by selling their bodies for survival sex—the others looking at them angrily when one of them ‘got lucky’ and a john picked them.


He noticed, too, quite unsurprised by it, that some of the boys in what could loosely be called couples encouraged their girls to go off with a stranger. It was one of these boys that caught his attention toward the end of the week. His girl had gotten into one of the passing cars half an hour earlier. Now the boy was pacing anxiously up and down the darkened sidewalk.


When another half hour passed and the girl hadn’t returned the boy looked frantic. On the off chance the boy would talk to him, Vance approached.


“What do you want?” The boy backed away, snarling.


Chapter 37