Page 2 of Once a Hero

A crackle of thunder rocked the room.

Rocked?

Are we on a boat?

Jake couldn’t speak, but he could still hear, see, think.

He blinked, trying to recall how he got here. All he could remember was that he had been sitting in a coffee shop in Cannes, waiting for an informant, when something pricked his neck—

The next thing he knew, he had blacked out and woken up in this place.

He hadn’t eaten since then.

He felt thirsty, but the oily rag in his mouth only made him gag.

Several peals of thunder rocked the room again.

A heavy door flung open. A tall, well-armed man entered and whispered in Molyneux’s ear.

Without another word, she left with him.

And so did her goons.

The room listed. Jake’s chair tilted over and slid all the way to a wall.

Now Jake was sure they were on a boat.

In a storm at sea.

In the Bay of Cannes, perhaps?

As if on cue, the sound of thunder boomed through the vessel.

The entire cabin rolled until Jake was looking up at the locked door.

He heard all sorts of metallic and oceanic noise, but what he saw scared him.

Water seeped in all around the supposedly heavy, sealed door…

Chapter One

Six months later, Jake Kessler still had no idea why Molyneux had chosen to confront him personally, out on a fishing boat in the Bay of Cannes in a thunderstorm, no less.

All he knew was that if his private investigator friend, Helen Hu, hadn’t come to his rescue, he would have drowned at the bottom of the sea, leaving the hunt for Molyneux unfinished and someone else’s problem.

However, he had lived to tell the tale—albeit through multiple surgeries later—and so, yeah, Molyneux was still his problem, although he had to regroup without a team.

Jake couldn’t comprehend the sudden suspension without pay. For what, exactly? For almost dying in the hands of Molyneux?

The Bureau wasn’t sympathetic to his life-and-death situation. All they cared was that their multi-million-dollar operation had ground to a screeching halt because Jake had blown his cover.

Unintentionally, he might add.

But nobody would listen.

The suspension stood.

Helen Hu had offered to pay him a stipend if he wanted to continue the operation against Molyneux.

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