“Agent Vaill, my name is Dr. Nayan Gunter. I’m a neurosurgeon here at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital—your neurosurgeon. You were shot while on duty. You’ve suffered a fairly significant injury to your left temporal lobe, but the bullet was easy to remove, and you seem to be recovering nicely.”

The gunshot.

Vaill’s memory began to solidify. A bullet had struck him mid-chest, impacting his Kevlar vest hard enough to knock him off balance. He was falling backward when a second bullet hit. The fall prevented what most certainly would have been a kill shot to the head.

“Maria … where is she?”

Beth spoke now. “Tim, you’re doing well, but it’s going to take some time for you to recover. It’s a miracle that you’re alive.”

Then why don’t I feel like a miracle? What’s gnawing at my guts? Why do I feel like I’ve been handed some sort of death sentence—something that would leave me crippled for the rest of my life?… Maria …

Beth took hold of his hand—not a normal gesture for her. Her heart had been calcified from years of wading waist-deep in human misery.

“Tim, you need to brace yourself,” he heard her say.

Then it came to him, like a tsunami crashing down, drowning him in despair. He swallowed back a jet of bile. What was a hazy recollection gave way to vivid detail. Maria’s head snapping back … The hole in her forehead … Blood exploding out from her ruptured skull … The gruesome crimson spray on the wall behind her … Her body going limp as though she’d been unplugged from some life-giving machinery … Her horribly vacant eyes.

Vaill remembered now. He remembered his programming kicking in with knee-jerk speed. He remembered going for his gun, obsessed only with shooting Alexander Burke dead. But either the man was simply faster, or seeing Maria crumple had cost Vaill a split second. Now, he was imprisoned in a hospital room, about to be told by his boss that his wife was dead.

Tears stung the corners of his eyes as Snyder talked on, but he battled them back. He would cry for Maria later. He would cry rivers. But first, there was a promise to be made—a commitment to vengeance. Vaill had always been cautious when it came to making promises. But not this time.