1,200 miles away, in the capital city of Lincoln, Nebraska, a black Ford Mustang sat parked on the side of the road just across the street from the Lincoln Police Department. Many cars whipped by along the busy, multi-laned road, but the man sitting in the driver’s seat remained undisturbed by traffic. He appeared to be in his thirties, wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of aviators over the cold and hardened expression of his face. In his hands, he was fiddling with a small Ridge wallet that contained only a handful of cards. He picked up a driver’s license sitting on the center console next to him, glancing briefly at the photo of himself and the name which read, “Shane Wilder,” before sticking it among the other cards in the wallet and slipping it into a zipped pocket in the right sleeve of his jacket. The last thing he reached for was a small manila envelope sitting on the passenger seat.Shane took a deep breath as he opened the door and exited the vehicle. He waited for a

Anna hardly slept a wink that night. For one brief moment her life seemed to be going her way, and in the span of a few hours it had all been torn apart. She sat on the edge of her bed and watched the dark canvas of the predawn sky outside her room, which felt more like a prison now than a home.Abigail had not said a word to her the previous evening. It was quite unusual for her to not try teasing her in any way she could, and Anna guessed that she already knew what had happened and was told by Lynn not to speak about it. Despite her compliance, Anna still felt a twinge of anger as she wondered how Abigail would feel if she was taken away from them by the court. It made her want to punch a hole through the wall. Abigail had treated her like an intruder in her home for over a year, and the more Anna dwelled on it, the more she wanted to take her frustrations out on someone.The hours ticked by ever so slowly. Anna did not go down for breakfast, so Lynn brought her a dish which she lef

Nearly three miles outside of Meadowvale, Cerberus stood firm as a sentinel on the hilltop overlooking the small, rural village in the distance. The last few hours had been deathly silent since his team had begun infiltrating the town in search of their target, and all the while he knew that the Pentagon was eagerly awaiting his report more than a thousand miles away. It was only a matter of time.“Cerberus! Cerberus, come in! This is Nexus!”Cerberus raised a hand to the earpiece he was wearing as Nexus’ voice broke the intense silence like thunder. “Go ahead,” he said steadily.“I have positive locations on Andromeda and Ajax! Both are here right now!”“Ajax,” Cerberus muttered to himself as his eyes twitched in surprise. “He must be trying to reach her first.”“He is,” Nexus responded. “What’s the plan? Should we split up to take them both?”“No,” Cerberus answered. “Andromeda is the target. Once we take her, we’ll deal with Ajax. All units, switch to the uplink and converge on the

“Anna, stop!” Jason shouted. He grabbed Anna by the shoulders to try to pull her away from Abigail, but she only shook him off and tightened her grip around her neck. Abigail’s eyes were clenched shut and she could no longer breathe. “Please, Anna! Let her go!” Daisy squealed, tears falling down her face. Anna ignored their pleas. It was as though she could not even hear them. The only thing she could feel was the burning rage inside her. There were no thoughts, only anger. Jason wrapped his arm around Anna’s neck in a last ditch effort to pull her away. Anna suddenly whipped around to face Jason and Abigail collapsed like a rag doll, struggling to catch her breath. Jason was caught off guard as Anna tackled him to the ground. He was completely unprepared as she pinned her arm against his throat. He tried in vain to push her off of him. She was far stronger than he ever imagined. All Jason could do was stare up into her eyes of fury. “Anna,” he uttered feebly, the weight of her arm