Page 24

Grace

Grace had said no more than ten words from the time they’d entered the restaurant, yet he and Mirage had executed the spontaneous mission using only their enhanced communication.

No words, just feelings and energy.

If he hadn’t been there himself to witness it, it would’ve been a story he believed impossible.

Every one of his advanced abilities had kicked into high gear the moment he put his earpiece in.

He’d been waiting for this day to come, the chance to do what the Ravens had summoned him for.

Grace remembered seeing the name David Berkowitz on the DEA’s most wanted drug lords list for the past four years.

The agency had made multiple arrests that had led to zero convictions because the kingpin had hundred-thousand-dollar lawyers at his beck and call.

It had felt good to put three slugs in him.

Grace hadn’t thought twice about the added bodyguard execution. He didn’t care.

He should’ve chosen to protect a better man.

When he killed in the Marines, he’d lie awake at night wondering if he’d made a wife a widow. Was there now a fatherless child somewhere because of him, or a mother grieving the loss of her child.

Grace felt no guilt, remorse, or sadness.

He felt nothing but satisfaction.

“Look at me.”

Mirage’s silken voice broke into his thoughts.

After several seconds, Grace complied, pulling his hood back and turning away from the window. He looked into Mirage’s eyes and allowed him to do his enchanting mind-reading thing.

The darkness of the blacked-out SUV enhanced the intensity of Mirage’s stare, transforming his blue-gray irises to the color of cobalt.

The short distance between them crackled with electricity that ignited Grace’s every nerve ending.

It wasn’t delight or irritation he felt. It wasn’t dislike or desire either…it just was .

And whatever it was, it was the reason he kept Mirage so close, why he didn’t want him to go to his own apartment when their day was over.

His partner’s presence gave him a reprieve from the robot he’d become.

Grace found himself unable to turn away, drawn by the lure of their unspoken words.

He sat motionless while Mirage gazed into his eyes with understanding.

“That kill was satisfying, yes?”

Mirage ran his slim fingers through his messy, dirty-blond hair.

“I guess the Ravens are ready to allow you to right those wrongs you’ve been reading in the papers every day.”

Grace frowned.

“Excuse me, to allow us to right them.”

Us. Every fuckin’ mission will always be us , Mirage.

His partner’s solid presence had been all he’d needed to perform the way he did on that roof. To make those impossible shots.

Their driver stopped at a keypad outside a set of bay hanger doors and entered the code to open them.

They were in the garage of their building. They pulled their hoods on, lowering them to the bridges of their noses.

They were let out in front of a brown door with a face scanner that opened when they were a few feet away.

The narrow hall was dim and void of any pictures or furnishings. Mirage followed Grace to the end and stepped into an elevator with no buttons.

The tight box felt as if it were going up forever before it stopped and opened to an immaculate lobby decorated with neutral-colored lounge furniture.

Grace didn’t recall being on this side or level of the building before.

A woman he’d never seen came around the corner wearing a classy cream-colored pinstriped suit dress and holding a manilla folder.

She gave them a pleasant smile before she nodded toward the way she’d come, beckoning them to follow her.