When I did, Charity stood in front of me, looking radiant in the same wedding dress Anna had worn the day she and Horatio married.

  I walked over to her. “You take my breath away.”

  “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  I took her hands in mine. “I’m listening.”

  “As much as it means to know my mother’s family, there’s something else that means more—the one you and I are creating together.”

  “You’re not alone anymore, Charity, and you never will be again.”

  “I haven’t been since the day you threatened to throw me over your shoulder and carry me out of the safe house in Berlin.”

  I shook my head. “You’re wrong.”

  Her brow furrowed. “I am?”

  “When you opened the door in Budva and we met for the first time, I knew you were meant to be mine and I was meant to be yours.”

  “Should I pronounce you man and wife here and now, or shall we do it with an audience?” Henry winked from where he stood in the doorway.

  I looked into my soon-to-be wife’s eyes and knew. “Here and now,” I responded.

  “Here and now,” she agreed.

  “All that’s left is for you to kiss your bride,” said Henry, who hadn’t moved from beyond where he stood. “Then we’ll go join the others, and you can do it all again.”

  We kissed like we had in Berlin. With the same passion and promise we’d share every time our lips met. Every day, for the rest of our lives.

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  Keep reading for a sneak peek at

  the first book in Heather Slade’s

  Minerva Protocol

  Phoenix Ascent: Blackjack’s Story

  He’s there to strengthen their operational security.

  She’s there to preserve her family’s vision.

  Neither expected to find their future in each other.

  BLACKJACK

  Three weeks ago, a woman with ice-blue eyes saved my life in a Swiss warehouse. With three rounds center mass, perfect precision, and a split-second timing that kept me breathing when a Russian operative had me dead to rights. Now, I’m supposed to integrate into Minerva Protocol as their Phoenix—the guy who makes sure the organization can survive anything. What I didn’t expect was that Katarina Stepanova, code name Beacon, would turn out to be more dangerous to my peace of mind than any enemy I’ve ever faced.

  BEACON

  My family founded Minerva Protocol. My grandfather and great-uncle died protecting its secrets. Everything I do honors that legacy and keeps the organization strong. In that warehouse, I made a split-second decision to save Bishop Black’s life—a tactical necessity, nothing more. But now, he’s here, joining our council, and I can’t shake the feeling that saving him changed something fundamental in my life. He’s supposed to help secure our future, but all I can think about is how right it felt when we moved like partners in that firefight and how some connections form in gunfire and blood. Others, you spend a lifetime searching for.

  PHOENIX ASCENT: BLACKJACK’S STORY

  BLACKJACK

  The wedding was perfect. My brother, Kingston, married the love of his life in a Swiss villa, surrounded by the family she’d never known existed. Amaryllis—Charity—had found her place within the Hyde legacy, and Kingston had found his purpose alongside her in Minerva Protocol.

  There was so much to celebrate, except I kept flashing back to that warehouse in Lausanne three weeks earlier, to the split second when I’d thought I was a dead man. I couldn’t get one image out of my head: a woman with ice-blue eyes putting three rounds center mass into a Russian operative who’d had his weapon trained on me.

  Her name was Katarina Stepanova. Code name Beacon. Charity’s cousin. One of the best shots I’d ever seen, and I’d worked with some of the deadliest people on the planet. In that warehouse, with bullets flying and flash-bangs going off, she’d moved like liquid death—calm, precise, lethal.

  She’d saved my life without hesitation, and I’d returned the favor when Vasiliev’s men tried to flank her position. Two strangers in a firefight, covering each other like we’d been partners for years. It shouldn’t have felt natural. It shouldn’t have felt right.

  But it had.

  Now, Charity and Kingston were officially joining Minerva Protocol’s council of twelve, taking on the mission to finish what Horatio “Minerva” Hyde had started decades ago. The corruption they’d uncovered was bigger than any of us had imagined, and stopping it would require everything the Protocol could muster.

  Which apparently included me.

  I’d resigned from K19 Security Solutions after returning to the States from Switzerland. Thus, my contracting days with the UN Coalition Against Human Trafficking were over. I should have been heading back to California, maybe finding some private security work that didn’t involve century-old conspiracies and international criminal networks.

  Instead, I was standing in Minerva Protocol’s Swiss headquarters, staring at an organizational chart that had my name next to something called the “Phoenix Ascent.”

  “In charge of all operations designed to survive exposure and recover from setbacks,” Lyra Carrington explained before offering me the job. “Contingency plans include resurrection under new covers when compromised. Enhanced resilience planning must account for leadership compromise scenarios.”

  In other words, they wanted me to be the guy who made sure the Protocol could rise from its own ashes if everything went sideways.

  The smart play was to say no. I barely knew these people. The Hyde family legacy wasn’t mine to carry. I had my own life to think about.

  But every time I pictured walking away, I thought about those ice-blue eyes. About the way Beacon had moved in that warehouse. About the split second when our gazes had met across a concrete floor covered in blood and cordite, and something had clicked into place that I couldn’t name and sure as hell couldn’t ignore.

  My brother had found his destiny in Charity’s arms. Me? I was starting to think mine involved a Minerva operative with a dead-eye shot and secrets that ran deeper than the Swiss bank accounts funding this whole operation.

  I doubted Beacon knew I existed outside of someone she’d worked alongside of in a firefight. Hell, I barely knew her beyond the fact that she could put a bullet through a playing card at fifty yards and had reflexes that kept us both breathing when the world had exploded around us.

  But my instincts screamed at me that this woman—this dangerous, brilliant, completely unexpected woman—was somehow my future.

  And that terrified me more than any mission I’d ever accepted.

  Grab your copy!

  Phoenix Ascent: Blackjack’s Ascent

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for your reading!

  I am a USA Today best-selling author of shamelessly sexy, edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense.

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  Heather

  ALSO BY HEATHER SLADE

  BUTLER RANCH

  Brodie’s Promise

  Maddox’s Truce

  Naughton’s Secret

  Mercer’s Vow

  Kade’s Return

  Butler Ranch Christmas

  WICKED WINEMAKERS FIRST LABEL

  Brix’s Bid

  Ridge’s Release

  Press’ Passion

  Zin’s Sin

  Tryst’s Temptation

  WICKED WINEMAKERS SECOND LABEL

  Beau’s Beloved

  Cru’s Crush

  Bit’s Bliss

  Snapper’s Seduction

  Kick’s Kiss

  ROARING FORK RANCH

  Roaring Fork Wrangler

  Roaring Fork Roughstock

  Roaring Fork Rockstar

  Roaring Fork Rooker

  Roaring Fork Bridger

  K19 GENESIS COALITION TEAM ONE

  Code Name: Sundance

  Code Name: Rawhide

  Code Name: Dallas

  Code Name: Wraith

  Code Name: Preacher

  K19 SECURITY SOLUTIONS TEAM ONE

  Razor’s Edge

  Gunner’s Redemption

  Mistletoe’s Magic

  Mantis’ Desire

  Dutch’s Salvation

  K19 SECURITY SOLUTIONS TEAM TWO

  Striker’s Choice

  Monk’s Fire

  Halo’s Oath

  Tackle’s Honor

  Onyx’s Awakening

  K19 SHADOW OPERATIONS TEAM ONE

  Code Name: Ranger

  Code Name: Diesel

  Code Name: Wasp

  Code Name: Cowboy

  Code Name: Mayhem

  K19 ALLIED INTELLIGENCE TEAM ONE

  Code Name: Ares

  Code Name: Cayman

  Code Name: Poseidon

  Code Name: Zeppelin

  Code Name: Magnet

  K19 ALLIED INTELLIGENCE TEAM TWO

  Code Name: Puck

  Code Name: Michelangelo

  Code Name: Typhon

  Code Name: Hornet

  Code Name: Reaper

  K19 SENTINEL CYBER TEAM ONE

  Code Name: Admiral

  Code Name: Dante

  Code Name: Grit

  Code Name: Tank

  Code Name: Atticus

  K19 SENTINEL CYBER TEAM TWO

  Code Name: Kodiak

  Code Name: Vex

  Code Name: Steel

  Code Name: Jagger

  Code Name: Rocket

  MINERVA PROTOCOL

  Phoenix Ascent: Blackjack’s Story

  Shield Stratagem: Dagger’s Story

  Ghost Matrix: Specter’s Story

  Compass Initiative: Nomad’s Story

  Decree Directive: Sovereign’s Story

  PROTECTORS UNDERCOVER TEAM ONE

  Undercover Agent

  Undercover Emissary

  Undercover Savior

  Undercover Infidel

  Undercover Shadow

  PROTECTORS UNDERCOVER TEAM TWO

  Undercover Renegade

  Undercover Archon

  Undercover Rogue

  Undercover Vanguard

  Undercover Paragon

  THE ROYAL AGENTS OF MI6

  Make Me Shiver

  Drive Me Wilder

  Feel My Pinch

  Chase My Shadow

  Find My Angel

  THE INVINCIBLES TEAM ONE

  Code Name: Deck

  Code Name: Edge

  Code Name: Grinder

  Code Name: Rile

  Code Name: Smoke

  THE INVINCIBLES TEAM TWO

  Code Name: Buck

  Code Name: Irish

  Code Name: Saint

  Code Name: Hammer

  Code Name: Rip

  THE UNSTOPPABLES TEAM ONE

  Code Name: Fury

  Code Name: Merried

  COWBOYS OF CRESTED BUTTE

  A Cowboy Falls

  A Cowboy’s Dance

  A Cowboy’s Kiss

  A Cowboy Stays

  A Cowboy Wins

 

 

  Heather Slade, Code Name: Reaper (K19 Allied Intelligence Team Two Book 5)

 

 

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