For the Faceless (CAMREN)

Prologue

Elias Anthony

I knew it was a stupid idea the second I told him I knew where she was.

It was an unravelling of a secret only known by three.

Maybe it wasn't the secret. Maybe it was me.

The temptation was too enticing to turn down, and before I could even take a second to think about it, I'd bitten the apple offered to me. But now that tiny scrap I was meant to chew and swallow was lodged in my throat.

Guilt refusing to go down, digested and forgotten.

It was unlike me. I don't do this. I don't feel this. But desperation could mould a man like clay.

I'd wanted something in return no matter how many times I'd told myself it was redemption for them. For them. For them! For me! Damn it all! I did it for me! But I couldn't stomach getting the life I wanted at the expense of another. Even if another soul would finally be at peace.

She didn't deserve any of this. She deserved choices just like they did.

And I'm still here, leading us to a trap. I could call him and say it was all a mistake.

But I wasn't willing to take it all back.

I pressed a revolver to my partner's hand and squeezed, my calloused palms grating her skin. She's some cop from Utah, an FBI liaison. Her eyes flit to mine as if to ask what was up. If she was surprised with what she found, she made sure it didn't show in her face.

But her soul resided in the depths of her brown eyes.

Tendrils of my mop of hair fell over my eyes but I could still clearly see the determination in hers. I'd seen fear in them the first few weeks. It had vanished since, but now it's back. I couldn't fault her. What we were about to do was more reckless than bold.

An opportunity is an opportunity. And this one was the break we'd been waiting for.

Coincidentally.

Cartel de la Garza decided to do something bold. The Kingpin's right-hand man, Vibora, the cartel's hit man is in U.S. soil and taking him out would weaken their foundation. Rafael Ortega doesn't know his loyalty wasn't entirely his but that secret wasn't of concern to me.

If we fail, I can't say I won't like the outcome either.

Because the decision I'd made, I couldn't own it. I'm leaving it all to fate. If she could change it, I'd be there with her.

"Kill," I reminded her in a gruff command and she answered with a nod. "They won't hesitate to kill you." I added as a warning I hoped she'd heed.

Something in her was jaded. But not this part of her.

She'd been here for nearly two years, pretending to be some ordinary insurance agent living in Ortega's neighbourhood, dating his daughter. We'd been waiting for this.

The same two years have revealed how much she avoided taking a life. I had to give it to her. I'd never seen anyone handle a knife like she did. She may be better than her father.

She could disable a man twice her size but she'd kept them all alive. I'd made her believe I had people pick them up. Loose tongues could blow our cover. I didn't want to take the risk.

I hoped she saw how desperately I begged for her to use it this time. For her sake. For mine.

Her moral compass is stiff but if survival dangled a knife in front of her, she'd take it. In this case, a gun. She'd be wise to use it.