Page 1 of Knox
CHAPTER 1
KNOX
Never in my thirty-nine years of life have I regretted any of the decisions I’ve made. Not when I joined the Army, not when I broke up with Clark because the monster hated cats, and especially not when I left Delta Force to follow Logan, my friend and former colonel, to open an elite security agency with six strangers.
At least, not until now…
“What the fuck did you just say, Damián?” I growl as we both crouch behind what is left of a concrete wall in a war zone.
Damián smiles at me, all golden skin, chocolate eyes, and charisma, clearly hoping his Latino charm will save his ass.
Well, not today.
“According to Ollie, Mr. Harrington-Hale wants to hire Harknett,” he repeats, checking that his rifle is full of ammo and ready.
“And you had to tell us now?!” Björn, our Swedish engineer and ex-F1 champion, gasps through our ear comms. “We are on the most important mission of our lives, and you decide to fuck with our mojo seconds before a shootout by making Knox angry?”
“Nah… we’ll be fine, hermano.”
“Wow, Dami,” Alexios, our hacker, says over the comms. “For a former CIA guy, your room-reading skills are terrible.”
“My room-reading skills are epic, culero.”
“Everyone, calm down!” Leif, Björn’s identical twin, screams, and I can hear him both in my earpiece and a couple of yards beside me.
I follow his voice and see him halfway up a tree.
Knowing him, he’s probably either trying to get a better vantage point… or he’s heading off to feed a squirrel.
His ashy-blond hair is tied in a man-bun, his beard is covered in tree bark, and he is wearing a Kevlar vest with no shirt, showing off an entire upper body tattooed with trees and wolves.
“We are professionals,” Leif continues. “We have rescued dozens of kidnapped people, stopped terrorists, and saved countless lives. So no matter what’s happening now, we can do this. We can end this mission and go back home as heroes.”
“As heroes!” Björn growls like the Viking he is.
“Fine.” I readjust the straps of my vest, prepare my rifle, and steady my heartbeat.
“You do that, Knox!” Alexios roars over the comms. “Because just like us, when Aragorn guided the Army of the West to the Black Gate, they were outnumbered and thought they would lose, but—”
HOOOONK!
The arena’s air horn signals the start of the simulation.
And it is on.
With our rifles drawn, Damián and I vault over the broken edge of the concrete wall, dropping into a sprint across the forest.
We have sixty yards of ground to cover before reaching the central bunker where the hostage is being held, while the NYPD’s finest are trying to stop us.
Ha!
How cute of them.
The terrain is a mess. Between the mossy earth, broken concrete pillars, and exposed roots, it should be impossible to maintain a fast pace, but we Harknetts are trained differently.
We thrive in situations like this.
THWACK!
