Page 3 of Oliver

But it didn’t.

The ocean looked the same, high up here looking down.

Just stillness.

It should’ve felt peaceful.

But all I felt was restless.

I’d built this life—brick by brick—after the last mission nearly ended me. And then Dana showed up and said I had a son, and she was dying. I decided to care for her. After all she was oncemy wife, and my son’s mother, even if Olly was four when she told me about him. I couldn’t let her go into a place and die with nobody there for her.

After the funeral, I took Olly to Disney World. We stayed three weeks, traveling everywhere on a whim—just my son and I. That was two years ago. Now, I was ready to go back to work.

Sometimes, I felt like a lion pacing in a cage.

The phone buzzed on the counter.

I glanced at the screen and stopped pacing.

I answered without thinking. “Yeah.”

Cyclone’s voice was tight. Focused. No greeting. Just mission-mode. We often teased him that he would have stayed in combat mode if it weren’t for Jude turning him more human.

“I need you on a plane.”

“Where?”

“Southern Europe. Off-grid training facility. Female target extraction. Name’s Emery Blake. You did say you were ready to get back to work, right?”

I frowned. “Yes, are you talking about the swimmer?”

“Yeah. Gold medals and magazine covers she vanished three days ago. No ransom. No demands. Not a single damn trace.”

“Why me?”

“She’s got fight. And she’s scared. She needs someone who can calm a fire without putting it out. You are that person.”

Emery Blake: Olympic royalty. America’s Golden swimmer. And now... missing.

Cyclone’s voice dropped lower. “Oliver—whoever has her? They’re not amateurs. If she’s still alive, it’s only because they want something.”

I straightened.

Coffee forgotten. Mind already racing.

“I’m ready right now.”

“Wheels up in two hours. I’ll meet you there.”

I hung up and looked around the kitchen. I needed to tell Olly goodbye. I walked next door to Lyon’s home and took Olly’s suitcase to Niki. I called her first and she said she would love having Olly stay with her.

“Are you sure you're up to babysitting a six-year-old boy? He has so much energy.”

“I love Olly, of course, I am up for watching him. How long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know,” I said, explaining everything about Emery Blake and how she had disappeared without a trace. Niki understood this life; she was once a top FBI agent, and still did some work for them.

“I hope you find her. Are you going to the school to tell Olly goodbye?”

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