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.

every word,

into the Vanguard Agency’s secure servers seeking the “Destruction Plan” files but

doubt, this was

without the correct

wrong input would trigger a counter-hack sequence, pinpointing the intruder’s location within

had never succeeded—until

handing Vivienne a glass of juice, and

passed the papers to Percival

up, he compared

the original operation trajectory of

only remaining document after Karen’s “suicide,”

routes matched almost

the Vanguard Agency chasing GTO but rather GTO

location provided to the “Destruction

was a calculated, swift annihilation of the Vanguard Agency’s special squad, orchestrated by an

ice. With such blatant

have realized there was a mole within their

page, her finger tracing a red line on the map. “This route?

survived, though they eventually walked into an ambush. Still, it was a better fate than the total loss of the

leading to the relentless pursuit,” Vivienne added, pointing at an image

tightened Percival’s

He remembered.

trusted only him and Micah within the

she never revealed to Percival who

truth, it might have unleashed a storm of blood and betrayal

power was not yet fully developed, and even Karen was

never imagined that someone within the Agency had also been gunning for

in silence, the weight

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

of the dossier with a sense of dread. There, in meticulous handwriting, was the