He took the lead as he pushed open the front door all the way. Silence filled the air. He walked inside the foyer, which opened up into the living room. The place was a mess. Tables overturned, sofa cushions taken out, and everything was strewn around. Someone had been on the hunt.

They cleared the first floor room by room before heading upstairs.

“I don’t hear anything. I don’t think Diaz is home,” Cass said.

“We need to check everything.” He wasn’t going to make any snap judgments.

When they got to the top of the stairs, he turned right and walked down the hallway and into the first room. The smell hit him. A smell he knew all too well. John Diaz lay in the middle of the bedroom floor in a pool of crimson blood. His throat cut. Zane muttered a curse.

Cass’s eyes widened as she entered the room. “Oh no. We’re too late.”

They had to get the Feds in there ASAP. Zane pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts. He pushed the button and lifted the phone to his ear.

“Mason, it’s Zane. We’ve got a major problem.”

CHAPTER
FIVE

Sunday evening, Layla sat at her kitchen table, drinking a cup of tea and trying to stay focused on the task at hand. She had to keep fighting back the emotions that flooded through her from all that she’d gone through in the past forty-eight hours.

There was a loud knock on her door, and she jumped up from her seat. Picking up her side arm, she walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Zane’s bright blue eyes stared back at her. She opened the door and realized Zane wasn’t alone. He’d brought Cass with him.

And Hunter.

“Hunter? What’re you doing here?” The words came out more harshly than she’d intended, but she didn’t know what was happening right now.

Hunter’s eyes widened. “I didn’t expect to see you either.” He turned to Zane. “Layla’s your CIA team member?”

“I didn’t know the two of you knew each other,” Zane said.

“We went to law school together,” Layla said quickly as she exchanged a look with Hunter. She didn’t want to get into their past with Zane and Cass. It wasn’t relevant to the issues in front of them. “Come in and have a seat.” She showed them into the living room and offered them some water and coffee, then tried to steel herself for what was to come. “Will someone please tell me what’s going on and why Hunter is here with the two of you?” Her tone was stern, but she wanted answers. Could it be that Hunter wasn’t a PI anymore?