t, and the whole SWAT te

isted me onto their shoulders,

ike a hero'

son wasn' t

ha

star, was frantically pushing through the cro

earching

cameras flashing, repor

ow do you feel about your

the cameras, a performa

We'll all miss him. He ta

All

of the station. I just wanted to g

't the first time

was Alex, the decorated SWAT team leader. I was

than a

c, good-looking,

t "danger p

get a feeling" the suspect was in a different room than our

ense" a hidden bomb, s

fully laid plans were upstaged by

e hero, the

ecame t

ompetent, a relic who was past his prime. Online forums were filled

was holdin

was a rescue operation on a ste

He claimed the kidnapper was goi

fiancée, Sarah, who was also m

gerous for you to go first. You're t

her. I l

d, she gave m

ks rushing up to meet me. The last thing I saw was h

save me. The

dark

I wo

streaming through the window. My body

a message about a major

same

ay I

given a sec

briefing room, my team

sweet!" one of my guys, Miller, che

taste filled my mouth. I rememb

e beginning

rst operation where Ethan publicly o

let it ha

my voice hard. "We'r

ath through the back roads, designed to avoid d

is safer," my second-in-co

noring him. "It's faster, riskier, but

han. I had to ch

, my knuckles white on the steering

to be

t a block away from the targ

was already

by

Narcoti

uffing the last of th

had just finished a routine training exercise. They had completely bypassed all the tr

w could

ered from the back seat. "Ho

ix of confusion

tages," I ordered

rrived "late," and in the ensuing chaos, one of the hostages

hostage held a press conference, their faces filled w

to take full

t got

etence. Director Thompson, my mentor, my boss, backed her up. They s

. My reputation was in

g Ethan soak up the gl

tory would not