The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Gunshots echoed through the lab, but the Vanguard Agency was ready for anything. The GTO guards left behind were caught off-guard, especially since their boss had hightailed it out of there.

It was a spectacular defeat, like watching petals swept away by a swift stream.

Vivienne continued to monitor the screens, her fingers dancing over the keyboard with urgency, “The left passage is clear. Follow it.”

She was analyzing the layout of the building, switching to real-time mode, and connecting to infrared imaging to track Scott’s possible escape routes.

Although Percival had come prepared, they were short on hands, what with all the kids around.

Scott knew the place like the back of his hand; if he had planned an escape route in advance, he would be a tough one to catch.

Suddenly, Vivienne spotted a blinking light on the screen. “Mr. Wolf, watch out, there’s a bomb!”

A loud explosion rocked the area 800 meters from the lab entrance.

The thermal imager fizzled out, and the screen became a flurry of scrambling red dots.

Vivienne cursed under her breath, slammed her laptop shut, and sprinted toward the blast site.

“Mr. Wolf! You oka…”

“Vivienne.” Percival emerged from the ashes, one hand gripping Thomas, the other holding Leopold. “I’m fine. Check on these two.”

Leopold let out a groan. “Vivienne, my hand’s done for.”

Thomas gestured to his own left hand. “Same here.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Vivienne quickly picked up some scattered wooden planks and expertly fashioned splints for their broken hands.

“This will do for now. We’ll get it fixed back at the base. It’s not a big deal.”

Vivienne’s gaze met Percival’s.

He was staring into the rubble, his expression grave, eyes sharp as blades.

She understood his frustration.

had been so close

would have thought a new type of bomb was buried here, one that even their detectors had

they might have been dealing with more than just

on Percival’s shoulder. “Mr. Wolf,

GTO’s third in command, not someone

infants. Two are

blinked at the term

except Leopold looking at

the ‘ma’am’ was

be ridiculous, people, we’re only engaged, not married! ‘Ma’am’ sounds so old!” She

a rock, kicked the messenger. “What ‘ma’am?’? Did I give my

Husky’s’ outburst,

snapped back to the situation, patting her subordinate’s shoulder, “Call me

she rushed to the lab;

dusted himself off, consoling his team member,

member beamed, then thanked

clench his fist, a

But, of

Checking the caller ID, his deep-set eyes

conversation, he announced, “Calista was

delay it for

eyes narrowed, a cold laugh escaping her. “The reach of our adversaries is

darkened, but he

the kids are safe now. We’ll deal with that man slowly.” Vivienne noticed

captain responsible for national security and having someone pull strings

managed a smile. “Yes, we’ll take care of

lab, the situation with the two infants

not just them; all the children were

while keeping them quiet, GTO had injected them

foster organ growth for their experiments, such a drug could harm the brain, potentially

two critical children had already been cut

fury as she realized GTO’s intention to use the children’s

Such inhuman cruelty!

administered the antidote to the sedative to each child. Apart from the two with damaged hearts, the rest were sent to the police station, awaiting their parents to claim