A key turned in a lock, and Lizzy surfaced from her demented dreams. She lay on a filthy pile of hay in the corner of a caged cellar—still a hostage.The other two prisoners huddled in their respective corners. She needed to check on them but could barely roll over. And she needed to pee. The makeshift latrine in the corner was a rusty cistern that sat low to the ground. She’d been avoiding the foul vessel and decided to lie back and avoid it a while longer.Her ill health drowned out most of the gut-swilling fear. Two monsters stalked her; one was a fiery hooded villain, and the other, a fiery fever running through her body. Both craved her demise. Lizzy ignored those rabid beasts chewing at her weak defenses, instead her mind flitted back to a sacred moment shared with John, the night before her life had literally gone down the toilet.Returning from the orphanage after she’d treated the sick family, they’d stripped down for a quick sho

Huge fists clutched handfuls of sand as Johnny howled. Hearing her sudden screams, which followed him down the path as they’d carried him away, had Johnny fighting every one of the assholes. He’d tried to punch, kick and bite his way back to her. Now he lay curled on the ground. The pain was suffocating in its intensity as his brothers-in-arms sheltered him in a wary circle. Johnny’s heart felt like a flayed—yet still beating—pulp in his aching chest. Slater’s blurry boots registered in his peripheral vision. A sentinel standing guard over his broken teammate. Fuck broken; pulverized was the word. Johnny couldn’t imagine physically getting to his feet, never mind finding the strength to call her family. To tell them she was gone. His Lizbug was gone. He’d failed her. Johnny rocked against the white-hot pain. Hands squeezed his shoulder. His numb brain focused instead on the night, groping for sanity. The wind whispered through crisp leaves. A hyena barked in

MIT fucking one. Hidden in Lizzy’s message to the team. Aside from selecting Ivan’s song, Johnny picked up on her constant emphasis and subtle play on the word one in her goodbye speech. Lizzy changed up the words to send her message and Donnie was the one to fit the pieces together. “Listen to what Lizzy’s saying—‘I’m the one. I choose me…. And tell Jay Jay, he’s always been the ones. This song is for him. The one I’ve chosen for him.’ The word one is emphasized everywhere in her speech.” Donnie leaned forward. “Johnny, remember, we spoke about the teams with her, at dinner that night. We called them the ‘Ones,’ and mentioned that MIT1 works out of Lagos. Lizzy has visited Nigeria. She knows where she is.” Slater played devil’s advocate. “What if Lizzy was just really out of it and confused her words? She seemed pretty far gone.” Johnny reran the footage, slowing every time Lizzy said “one,” which

“The SOB is alive.” Max took a photo with his phone, looking as grim as Johnny felt.“It says ‘Kris,’ right?” Johnny confirmed.“That’s the only word that makes sense.” Max studied the markings.Slater crossed his arms. “If Kris Muller is alive and Lizzy tagged him, how does he play into this?”“This is the location of the message; I’m guessing he was in the room, and he sure as hell ain’t here now,” Johnny said.“Stands to reason then that Kris killed Ivan,” Max agreed.“Are we then looking for two crazy jerk-offs? Is he the Scythian’s sidekick?”Johnny answered Slater’s question with a shake of his head. “Negative. It’s too much of a coincidence.”“Now that we have a possible suspect, I’ll use Muller’s height and build; we can compare voice prints.” Donnie stoo

Delta checked in, two of theirs were unaccounted for, three including Slater. Men ran towards them with Mason Clark strapped to a stretcher.“What the hell happened?” Max yelled.“The second prisoner ambushed us, a planted target. I think he used a grenade. The wall collapsed when we were already out in the hall.”“I’ll stay behind to help,” Donnie said.“No,” Max said over the chaos. “We have enough men on the ground. I’ve got this; I need you to help with both the injured assets, get them to the safe house.”Donnie hesitated.“Go!” Max ordered. “I’ll pull Slater out. I have two additional medics and seven men at my back. I’ll get our boy.”With one last look at Max racing down the passage, Johnny and Oscar hustled Lizzy out into the open, as Donnie covered their run to the MH6 assault bird.***Max scrambled to c