Amanda Matti: Author, Veteran

Chapter 2 Elora pulled into the parking lot of the CIA headquarters outside Langley, Virginia. Nick followed behind her in his car; the two were coming from Brendan’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. Nick had urged Elora to go home after the funeral but she flat-out refused. “If I go home right now and sit alone in my house, I’ll go fucking crazy,” she’d told him. “I want to work—I need to work. I can’t rest until I know the assholes responsible for Brendan’s death are in prison or dead, preferably the latter. The NDU Task Force still has a job to finish. You and I both know Malik Khalid wasn’t killed in the raid. We don’t know for sure if he was even there that night. We still have work to do, and I will not stop until that son of a bitch is brought down.” Nick didn’t have the heart to tell Elora there had already been talk of dissolving the CIA’s NDU Task Force, of which he was the team leader, and Elora, along with three other analysts, were members. “Okay, let’s go to w...

Chapter 1 CIA Analyst Elora Monro stood on the tarmac of Dover Air Force Base awaiting the arrival of a C-17 cargo plane bearing the remains of her fiancé, U.S. Army Major Brendan Jacobs. Her friend and colleague, fellow CIA Analyst Nick Hildebrandt, stood next to her. Nick had also been close friends with Brendan, he was even slated to be one of the groomsmen in Elora and Brendan’s upcoming wedding. Now, instead of marrying Brendan, Elora was burying him. She and Nick stared silently off into Delaware’s gray March sky—watching, listening. They heard a low rumble begin to approach from the east and looked up just in time to see the C-17 break through the cloud cover. As the plane dipped its wings to circle the airfield and line up for landing, Nick placed a supportive hand on Elora’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Are you okay?” “Nope,” Elora replied, feeling her chest tighten as she struggled to maintain her composure. Nick didn’t press further but kept his hand on he...