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

“What I really want to do is get my hands on the men who set the clubs up in the first place and do a little S&M on them, see how they like it.” Vance gave a slight nod of acknowledgement when Troy glanced at Ginna without moving his head. “Not that I really would,” he added, “but damn it would feel good to get my hands of them for a couple of hours. Four deaths, because they wanted the clubs to be known as no-holds-barred ones, is four too many.”


“And we’ll never catch the ones who really caused the deaths,” Ginna said angrily.


“Actually,” Stuart told her, “they might be found. According to a call I got from Makie just before I got here, there was a lot of information on the computer you broke into. It seems the local boss wasn’t above a bit of blackmail in addition to everything else.”


“Thank God for stupid criminals,” Vance said, and everyone nodded in agreement.


Chapter 81