The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

The “Destruction Plan” was the ill-fated op that Karen led with the Vanguard Agency’s elite squad, ending in a devastating failure.

After the mission’s collapse, Lark went AWOL, Micah vanished into obscurity, and Vance Edwards went deep undercover while the rest of the special squad was nearly wiped out.

Years later, Lark’s deputy team leader, Daphne, met a mysterious end.

Lark herself ended it all with a supposed suicide.

Due to the tragic consequences of the mission, the “Destruction Plan” was classified as top secret by the headquarters, never to be spoken of again.

For years, Percival had been itching to unravel the whole story, but his clearance level was far from sufficient.

Now, however, no longer being a part of the Vanguard Agency, he found himself with more freedom to act.

Vance rubbed his temples, his voice grave. “You should know that even with my clearance, I can’t access those files.”

“You just need to give me the “Destruction Plan” code. I know you remember it better than anyone.”

The past haunted every surviving member, and Vance had once climbed to the rank of second-in-command at the Sea City Vanguard Agency HQ.

He definitely had access to the detailed case files and that unforgettable sequence of numbers.

Vance hesitated. “You’re asking me to make a mistake.”

“You’ve done it before, Vance. It’s important to me.”

Silence stretched on the other end of the line before Vance finally spoke, “245214216589.”

After getting the information, Percival hung up and entered the code into his computer.

Seconds later, the connected printer whirred to life, detailing the “Destruction Plan” documents.

up the report, scrutinizing every word, imprinting them in her

secure servers seeking the “Destruction Plan” files but always hit

doubt, this

hacker, without the correct file code, the

wrong input would trigger a counter-hack

had never succeeded—until

slid over, handing Vivienne a glass of

She passed the papers to Percival and began rapidly typing on her

life once more. Standing up, he compared the new

original operation trajectory of

the only remaining document after Karen’s “suicide,”

routes matched

chasing GTO but rather GTO

GTO’s location

Vanguard Agency’s special squad, orchestrated by an insider in

as cold as ice. With such blatant evidence, no

have realized there was a

finger tracing a red line on the map. “This route? My mom led the first squad to safety

“It’s because of this decision that most of the first squad survived, though they eventually

pursuit,” Vivienne added, pointing at an image of the squad’s uniform. “Our pursuers wore this. I

tightened

He remembered.

trusted only him and Micah within the

all sides, she never revealed to Percival who

clear—if Karen had shared the truth, it might have unleashed a storm of blood and betrayal within the

yet fully developed, and even Karen was in

within the Agency had

in silence, the weight of revelations heavy in

it was an open secret within the Vanguard Agency that there was a mole in their midst, and the mole had indeed been identified, the raw truth still hit hard when it was finally laid bare before one’s eyes. No matter how mentally prepared you might be, betrayal by someone you trusted implicitly is a pill

dossier with a sense of dread. There,