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.

scrutinizing every word, imprinting them in

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

doubt, this was Karen’s

matter how skilled the hacker, without the correct file

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

had never succeeded—until

slid over, handing Vivienne a glass of

passed the papers to Percival and began rapidly typing on her

he compared the new printouts with

original operation

Karen’s “suicide,” clearly showing GTO’s movements during the

matched almost

wasn’t the Vanguard Agency chasing GTO but rather

location

annihilation of the Vanguard Agency’s special squad, orchestrated

as cold as ice. With such blatant evidence, no wonder Lark never

have realized there was a mole within

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

because of this decision that most of the first squad survived, though they eventually walked into an ambush. Still, it was a better fate than the total

the relentless pursuit,” Vivienne

words tightened

He remembered.

only him and Micah

being hunted from all sides, she never revealed to

unleashed a storm of blood and betrayal within the Vanguard Agency, and whether Percival

not yet fully developed, and even

never imagined that someone within

two sat in silence, the weight of revelations heavy in

still hit hard when it was finally

a sense of dread.