Page 1 of Ground Zero

CHAPTER 1

The morning waves rolled onto Lantern Beach in perfect three-foot swells. Maverick Adams couldn’t have asked for better conditions.

He paddled out on his surfboard, the salt spray cooling his face as he left the chaos of the past few months behind him.

Between bomb threats, an artificially enhanced hurricane, and the lingering suspicion that someone on his own team might be a traitor, he needed this. He needed the simplicity of just him, his board, and the ocean. This was the first day off he’d taken in months, and he intended on enjoying it.

His waterproof phone buzzed in his wetsuit pocket, but he ignored it. Whatever crisis Blackout was dealing with could wait thirty minutes. The waves wouldn’t.

He caught the next swell, riding it toward shore with fluid grace that came from years of practice. This was where he did his best thinking—not hunched over a computer screen but moving with the rhythm of something bigger than himself. The ocean reminded him of the vastness of God, reminded him of what a small piece of the puzzle he was in the grand scheme of things.

But he planned on making the most of that small puzzle piece that was his life.

As he kicked out of the wave and paddled back toward the lineup, his phone buzzed again. Then again.

Seriously?

Stradling his board, Maverick pulled the device from his pocket, water dripping from his curly hair onto the screen.

Seven missed calls from Colton Locke, one of his bosses. A string of texts from Ty Chambers, his other boss at Blackout, a private security firm made up of former special ops military.

As Maverick read the words on the screen, his blood ran cold.

Where are you? FBI is here.

They’re looking for you.

Get back. Now.

The last message was from his colleague Jake Laudner.

Whatever you do, don’t come back to headquarters. Something’s wrong.

Maverick’s stomach dropped faster than if he’d wiped out on a huge swell. The FBI? Looking for him? That made no sense . . .

He tucked his cell phone back into his pocket and began paddling toward shore, his mind racing through possibilities. His latest security protocols for Blackout. The encrypted files he’d been working on. The investigation into their compromised communications.

What if someone had used his own work against him?

The beach came into focus as he rode a smaller wave to shore. This was his favorite beach—one of the most secluded here on the North Carolina island of Lantern Beach.

It wouldn’t be secluded for much longer as several new houses were being constructed on the other side of the dune, but he would enjoy the area for as long as he could.

He glanced down the shore. A few early morning joggers claimed the beach to the south, some beachcombers slowly walked the sand in the other direction, and a woman in a dark suit who seemed entirely overdressed for?—

Wait. He pulled in a quick breath.

The woman in the suit was watching him. Intently. Even from a distance, her stance screamed law enforcement.

Maverick’s instincts kicked into overdrive.

He angled his board away from her, hoping to avoid whatever trap waited for him.

But as he threw his legs off the surfboard and waded into the knee-deep water, pulling his board toward the sand, he saw her move.

The woman wasn’t just watching anymore.

She was running.