Total pages in book: 4
Estimated words: 3816 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 19(@200wpm)___ 15(@250wpm)___ 13(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 3816 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 19(@200wpm)___ 15(@250wpm)___ 13(@300wpm)
Take a man and strip him of his ability to feel compassion, empathy, remorse...love, any of the emotions that make him human, but leave the ones that ignite rage and aggression and you have the perfect killing machine—now imagine two of them.
Code names Ex and Meridian are synonymous for ‘guaranteed death. Two men recruited into an unsanctioned government program and trained to operate most efficiently—lethally—together. Without the risk of lust or love getting in the way.
Until something within them changed.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Meridian
Ex
Meridian
Pınarhisar, Kırklareli, Türkiye
170mi from Istanbul
Meridian pulled his black hood lower on his forehead. He couldn’t see where his partner, Ex, was on the compound, but he could feel him. Meridian felt him in his mind, in his soul, and in his heart.
They were supposed to rendezvous at the south entrance of the gutted warehouse, but he had a surprise for his partner.
Ex knew Meridian’s every move, sometimes before he made it, so he’d been forced to request the assistance of the Brown Ravens.
Grace and Mirage had arrived in their colors, keeping their identities concealed behind their chestnut hoods and leather clothing.
Meridian’s instructions had been followed to the letter, and the three had made quick work of the remaining Grey Jade crime family.
He’d called on the Browns, and without hesitation, they’d answered. Because he was who he was. He was the Meridian. The original. The only Raven who wore black colors.
Fitting for his dark soul.
It’d been the first time Meridian had seen them in action, and he hadn’t been disappointed.
Six ravens existed in the world—the deadliest, unfeeling, genetically engineered men—eliminating threats even the SEALS and SAS forces couldn’t reach.
Grace, the taller of the Brown Ravens, came around the side of the building, moving with the silent stealth of a pit viper. His partner, Mirage, was a few inches shorter and stayed concealed in Grace’s shadow. He’d revealed himself long enough to kill, then vanished just as fast.
Meridian remained still, silent, waiting.
“A debt is owed,” Grace rumbled in a fractured voice that sounded as if it was rarely used.
Meridian’s temple throbbed before he gave a stiff nod. He hoped this debt didn’t come back to bite him in the ass.
Grace spun into a turn that resulted in his partner tucked in front of him. Meridian never got a chance to see Mirage, but he did see his arms and the glimmering steel of his twenty-inch fighting knives.
Meridian’s heart sped up. Not because of the deadly men behind him, but because of the one approaching.
He turned and looked toward the sky in time to see Ex rappelling down the five-story structure with the ease of a spider, landing inches from Meridian’s side.
He didn’t have to check behind him to know Grace and Mirage were gone.
“Intel is solid. North side clear.” Ex’s hood was too low for Meridian to see his partner’s eyes, so he kept his gaze on his soft lips.
“South entrance clear,” Meridian answered, shifting closer.
“We breach on your—” Ex paused and tilted his head, listening for a second before he eased his suppressed-fire .22 from behind his back.
“Ex—”
“Shhh. Someone’s here.” His partner pointed the business end of his weapon over Meridian’s right shoulder. “I can smell him…no…them.”
Fuck.
Meridian wrapped his hand around Ex’s wrist and lowered his arm, dragging the tip of his silencer down the center of his chest.
Ex’s head was bowed, and Meridian could feel his partner’s fiery gaze following the movement from beneath his cover.
“Mere…what are you…?” Ex released an impatient exhale.
Meridian leaned into Ex’s ear and whispered against the soft cotton of his hood. “On my mark.”
Ex’s voice was hushed and controlled. “Goddamn you.”
Heat sizzled between them and adrenaline spiked in Meridian’s blood at their forbidden love. They were on a mission, for fuck’s sake, but Meridian’s soul screamed for his partner’s touch.
He was the most ruthless killer in the world. Stripped of all morals, conscience, and any ability to love.
All the things that made a person human.
Except…Meridian’s heart had resurrected. And it beat only for Ex. So there he was…doing everything within his infinite power to please him.
“Meridian.” Ex narrowed his eyes.
Shit, he’s catching on.
He was far too disciplined to be this carefree in the field, and Ex knew he’d never distract him with this kind of energy.
“I need you focused. Do not shift my attention, not now,” Ex snarled. “I’ve hunted this son of a bitch for months. He dies by my hand tonight.”
A low growl rumbled from Meridian’s chest before he pulled his .44 Magnum and fired three rapid shots into the door’s hinges.
Meridian moved so fast he didn’t give Ex a chance to react.
In the same breath, Meridian slammed his boot into the center of the steel door, sending it crashing to the concrete with an ear-deafening boom.
“The fucking flash-bang, Mere…goddammit,” Ex growled, then rushed inside the warehouse, darting to the left.
Meridian would’ve disappeared to the right, but their battle dance wasn’t needed. He pulled down the garage hangar door and encased them in darkness.
Meridian watched his partner slow his steps in confusion. His weapon was still raised, but there were no hostiles.
Meridian had already seen to that.
The Grey Jade Somalian crime family was a massive-scale human-trafficking organization that had evaded authorities for years before he and Ex had come to make it right.
His partner took these particular cases harder than the others. Ex had a ferocious appetite for justice—in the form of brutal deaths—and a soft spot for the weak and innocent.