Tristan's Choice (The Darkest Day Series - Book 2)

Chapter 1

As Kyle Avery sidled up to the warehouse, his heart pounded. Wind howled against his face, cooling the sweat there, stealing the sound of his breathing. The thatched pattern of the gun grip reassured him, soothed him, but still, he just knew this mission would go balls up.

No, Avery. That kind of thinking will only get someone killed.

He shook his thoughts away, gripping his weapon tighter as he pressed his shoulder against the cold, corrugated metal at his back. Across from him, his partner, Kaufman, nodded. As a whole, he didn't like the man. He was too impulsive, too prone to leaping before looking, but he was a damn good investigator. Kyle wouldn't have gotten this far without him.

Kaufman raised his hand, counting down on his fingers.

3.

2.

1.

They spun around, slamming through the door with a jarring groan of distressed metal. Kyle scanned his surroundings gun first. They separated, sweeping the building on each outer wall, keeping their backs protected.

His hackles rose.

It was too still, too quiet, too empty. Where was everything? Along the walls, he spotted a few offices, but nothing else. No boxes, no vehicles. It felt abandoned. It didn't feel like the lair of an organization that had sabotaged a diplomatic mission, a mission that nearly took his life. If not for Mila, a shape-shifter masquerading as her best friend, he would probably be dead right now.

He frowned. This was their first lead in months, their first real chance to get these guys. He ground his teeth with the remembered frustration of not catching them. Avery and his team on the Orleans had worked themselves to the bone to catch all those behind the sabotage, but some had still slipped through their fingers.

"Something's not right," he whispered as he met up with Kaufman near the end of their search. They'd found nothing.

"Nah," Kaufman waved off the comment, angling his gun around the corner toward the rear offices.

Kyle followed, his chest tight as he struggled for breath. The farther inside the building he got, the more things didn't seem right. Something was off. Some detail he couldn't quite put his finger on.

A series of rooms decorated the wall they slid past. Kaufman had already checked two, swiping his gun from side to side in the doorway before whispering, "Clear," and moving on to the next.

They'd reached the second to last room, when Kaufman swept his weapon in, started to say clear, and stopped. "Oh shit."

That was all Kyle needed to hear. He grabbed Kaufman by the arm, hauling him out, and running for the door. He didn't know what Kaufman had seen and he didn't want to know.

Kaufman didn't fight him, racing out right behind him, their steps echoing off the empty walls. They had just reached the exterior door when a loud percussion threatened to rupture his eardrums, sending him flying on his face with Kaufman landing on top of him.

As pain and a ringing in his ears settled into him, he wondered, What happened?