“I’ll sn@p your arm,” my brother-in-law sneered, throwing a pair of MMA gloves at my feet and threatening to send me to the hospital in front of my terrified little girl. He thought he was facing a helpless mother with no way to defend herself. What he didn’t know was that I was a combat veteran. And he had just awakened a Special Operations major.

Jax arranged a covert military transport plane through his dark web mercenary contacts.

I flew across the Atlantic sitting in the freezing cargo bay, endlessly checking my weapons and gear.

Lily was safely relocated to a hidden bunker monitored by Jax himself, entirely completely off the grid.

We touched down on a private, snow-covered airstrip tucked deep inside the Swiss Alps at midnight.

The freezing wind instantly bit into my face as I stepped off the massive cargo ramp.

I was dressed entirely in snow-camouflage tactical gear, carrying a customized, suppressed sniper rifle.

The syndicate's fortress was an ultra-modern architectural marvel built directly into the side of a jagged mountain.

It was completely inaccessible by standard roads and protected by massive steel gates and armed patrols.

I hiked for five brutal hours through deep, treacherous snow to reach a high-altitude observation ridge.

I set up my sniper bipod and peered through the advanced thermal scope to study their defenses.

There were twenty heavily armed guards patrolling the outer perimeter with trained attack dogs.

The compound was surrounded by an electrified fence and state-of-the-art motion sensors.

A direct, loud frontal assault would be completely suicidal against that level of security.

I needed to get inside without setting off a single alarm before I found the main auction room.

I waited patiently until a massive, heavily armored supply truck approached the lower access gate.

I packed my rifle, attached a thick grappling hook to a motorized winch, and slid down the icy mountain face.

I timed my descent perfectly, dropping onto the icy roof of the moving truck just as it slowed down.

I lay completely flat against the cold metal, gripping the edges tightly as the vehicle passed through the gate.

The armed guards checked the driver's manifest but completely failed to inspect the frozen roof.

The truck rolled slowly into the massive underground loading bay of the fortress.

I rolled off the roof and dropped silently behind a stack of wooden shipping crates before the driver exited.

I checked my wrist computer; I had exactly twenty minutes before the high-stakes auction officially began.

I moved like a phantom through the sleek, dimly lit concrete corridors of the underground facility.

I bypassed two electronic security doors by splicing the wiring and using a decryptor pad Jax had built.

I heard the soft hum of classical music echoing from a massive set of double doors at the end of the hall.

I slipped into an adjacent air ventilation shaft and crawled slowly toward the source of the elegant music.

I peered through the metal grating and looked down directly into the main syndicate gathering.

Ten incredibly wealthy, powerful individuals sat around a glowing, high-tech holographic table.

When my newborn 'passed away,' my mother-in-law leaned in and said

My Husband Left Me Alone in My Car While I Was in Labor

“You’re Dead When We Get Home,” He Snapped

In the center of the table was a massive, rotating digital projection of Lily's stolen genetic barcode.

I gripped my rifle tightly, preparing to turn this elegant auction into an absolute slaughterhouse.

Chapter 15 - High Altitude Infiltration