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.

report, scrutinizing every word, imprinting them

years, she had hacked into the Vanguard Agency’s secure servers seeking the “Destruction Plan”

doubt, this was Karen’s

the hacker, without the correct file code, the

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

Vivienne had

Vivienne a glass

passed the papers to Percival and began

he compared the new printouts with the old; his

operation trajectory of

only remaining document after Karen’s “suicide,” clearly showing GTO’s movements during the

matched

it wasn’t the Vanguard Agency chasing GTO but rather GTO ambushing the

GTO’s location provided to

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

such blatant evidence, no wonder Lark never

was a mole within their

a red line on the map. “This route? My mom

though they eventually walked into

that the Agency suspected her, leading to the relentless pursuit,” Vivienne added, pointing at an image of the squad’s uniform. “Our

words tightened

He remembered.

trusted only him and Micah within

sides, she never revealed

had shared the truth, it might have unleashed a storm of blood and betrayal within the Vanguard Agency, and whether Percival would have survived was anybody’s

fully developed, and even Karen was in

never imagined that someone within

two sat in silence, the weight of revelations heavy

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

last page of the dossier with a sense of