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

He closed the door and leaned against it, staring at her with crossed arms. “No, I don’t enjoy it; I do it because it’s sometimes necessary.”


“Well, now you’ve had a taste of what your victims go through, haven’t you? So now that you know maybe…” Ginna blew out a long breath, waiting for him to blow up as she continued. “Maybe you’ll figure out some other way to do it than torturing them?”


“Do you think this is the first time someone’s intentionally hurt me like that?” he asked, his voice deathly quiet. “I’ve been ‘tortured,’ as you put it, by the best of them. I know what it’s like, and I know that done correctly it can get me the information I need so that other people don’t get hurt.”


“And that makes it right?” she said angrily.


“No. I’d never say it was right. It’s fast and effective. It serves a purpose. It’s no big secret I do it, but so far no one’s pulled the plug on me. They know the end justifies the means.”


Chapter 86