Page 2 of Trapped

“… prior infringements on his record forbade a return to active service…”

Tuning in just long enough to get the gist, my stomach sank.If I wasn’t authorized to return to active service, then why was I even there?They could have sent me an email to tell me it was over.That would have been kinder, but then, the security services had never been known for kindness.

“There!”The holler came from the other side of the bunker, my eyes squeezing closed as the enormous searchlight held me in its sights.“I see him!”

Running on adrenaline, I was on my feet in seconds, weapon locked and loaded, aiming at the unknown adversary.

The next few moments were murky in my memory, but I remembered the screech of gunfire, though whether it came from my gun or his, I couldn’t say for sure.The volley lit the black like trails of fireflies, fleeting and ferocious.In those protracted seconds, my dread nearly overcame all those years of drills I’d been forced to endure, but somehow, I kept it together, taking out at least three foes before the searing pain of the gunshot wound scorched my skin.

The guttural screech that left my lips filled my ears, but I stumbled on in spite of the hurt.All I knew as I ran toward my fate was that I’d made a huge mistake and we were all going to pay for it.

“Do you have anything you’d like to say for the record, Commander?”The tiny man peered over his spectacles at me, his stare reminding me again of where I was.

Still on parade in the nicotine-stained room—all eyes drilled on me.

“No, sir.”

I hadn’t even been listening, so saying anything at that juncture was out of the question.Besides, at that moment, I believed the narrative Hawkins had forced me to swallow.

It was my dereliction of duty.

I deserved to be punished.

“I accept full responsibility.”There was no point blowing smoke up his ass.Everyone in the room knew what I’d done and why we were there.

Rosen had messed up, and he’d have to pay.

“Understood.”The gray man glanced down at his paperwork, though I wasn’t sure why.The decision had already been made.“Your country appreciates your service, Commander, but we won’t be renewing your license.”

“Yes, sir.”

All those years of responding to futile orders had conditioned me so well that, even in the face of the rebuke that curtailed my entire career, all I could do was parrot the required response back to my superior.

“Thank you, Commander.”He nodded in my direction, his grimaced expression slightly more relaxed than before.“These proceedings are over.”

Standing there as the court-martial dissolved around me, I was struck by how the insignificant man had continued to use my title.

Commander.

Was I still one of those after being summarily dismissed from duty?

“You’re done, Rosen.”My boss’s boss, Baron, moved in beside me, whispering into my ear.“This is over.”

No words had ever been truer.

“Where do I go?”

Disorientated, I glanced around as though I didn’t know the place when, in truth, I’d been based at the London site for nearly a decade.

“Come with me.”Baron tugged at my jacket, persuading me to turn and face the virtually empty room.“You look like you need a drink.”

“Right.”I’d managed to terminate my career as a state-employed assassin—the only thing I was qualified to do—while I was still in my prime.It was going to take more than a drink to remedy the void opening up in my so-called existence.“Sounds good.”

He led me from the room, out into the stony silence of the beige corridor, and eventually, to his office.

“You’ll need to pack up your stuff.”His gaze was steely as he opened a cabinet and retrieved a bottle of an expensive-looking liquor.“They’ll want you off-site by the end of the day.”

The end of the day?

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