Darkest Day (StrikeForce #3) (29 page)

It didn’t feel as weird as I’d thought it would. He’d been a friend once upon a time, and if there was one thing I knew, it was that, other than very few of us, there was no such thing as pure villain and pure hero. Life was made up of shades of gray, and, apparently, we were all just one shot, just one act, from crossing that line from hero to villain. I was walking it now, and I just had to hope that if I was pushed too hard, I wouldn’t cause more damage to StrikeForce than we’d already taken.

I would be a hero. But I also knew that I might have to play dirty a few more times to get there.

Epilogue

Three days later…

I was dressed in my official StrikeForce uniform, one that had me been modified so I was tied in to Ryan’s monitoring devices back at Command. They’d all been fighting me on this, insisting that one of them could do it. But I knew better.

It had to be me.

In the end, I’d made Ryan understand that. There had been shouting, and then kissing, and then a little more arguing, but I’d made him see reason, and with both of us on board, the rest of my team followed suit.

I was careful. I kept an eye out for any of the Tribunal’s squads who were in the area hunting me. They would have to get lucky, and I wasn’t going to give them that chance. I had too much to do, and it all needed to be done now.

I landed behind the house in Indian Village. It hadn’t been hard to get the address once we had a name. The house was dark, and I took a moment to jam the security system. Once it was done, I quickly busted the deadbolt lock on the back door and made my way inside.

I crept silently. I knew I wasn’t alone. There were two things I had to do.

For the first thing, I slipped down into the basement, and, true to what Jenson and David had suspected, I found the first thing I needed. Lots of equipment, a soundproof room. On the desk, reports that he only could have gotten from someone who knew the day-to-day life of living among StrikeForce. A white ski mask sat on a shelf nearby, and I picked it up.

“It’s hot when you’re right,” Ryan said over my comm, and I blushed.

I didn’t answer, making my way back upstairs and creeping up to the second floor. The door at the end of the hall was closed. I stepped carefully, ensuring that the old floorboards didn’t make a sound beneath my feet. When I got to the paneled oak door, I turned the knob slowly and pushed the door open.

Justin lay in the king sized bed, dressed in dark pajama pants, his hand resting on his stomach as he snored quietly.

I cleared my throat, and he jerked awake. Hie eyes widened when he saw me, and he scrambled up.

“Oh, Christ. Jesus Christ. What are you doing here?” he asked. He opened his mouth.

“Do not shout,” I said, and he clamped his mouth shut. I tossed the ski mask down onto the bed, the same one he wore during his Detroit UnPowered livestreams. He audibly gulped.

“You’ve had a lot to say about me lately,” I said, using the lower tone of voice I usually did when I was in uniform. “A lot. You seem to know things nobody else does.”

“Research.”

“Research,” I said, nodding. “Maybe. That, and the Detroit Mafia ties, you know, those super helpful donors who buy your equipment and feed you information. Which they get from a mole within StrikeForce.”

He started trembling. “Oh, shit.”

“I think you’ve talked to our mole a time or two as well,” I said, crossing my arms. “Is this what you call unbiased journalism? Reciting the bullshit given to you by those giving you your funding?”

“I don’t say a single thing I don’t believe,” he said, regaining some of his spine now that he seemed to sense that I wasn’t there to kill him. “I mean it. I think you’re a menace.”

I nodded. “I am. And I am somebody you definitely don’t want to piss off.”

He seemed to shrink down again. “How did you find me?” he asked meekly.

“You gave yourself away,” I said. “I recognized something you said during one of your shows.”

He looked at me blankly.

I reached for my mask and pulled it off, and I heard him gasp in surprise when he saw who was under the mask.

“I’m Daystar. My name is Jolene Faraday, as you very well know, Justin. You’ve been helping my enemies destroy my life. And now, you’re going to help make it right.”

THE END

Jolene will return in
Light of Day: StrikeForce Book Four
coming in May 2016.

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For backstory material, news, and upcoming events be sure to check out
http://www.colleenvanderlinden.com

Cast of Characters

Letter from the Author

Here we are again! Thank you for taking this little trip with me, and I hope you loved reading this part of Jolene’s journey as much as I loved writing it.

If you’re wondering about those books Jolene was reading to Ryan, they’re real and they’re amazing. Check out Tessa Dare’s “Castles Ever After” series if you want to read about dukes and rogues and their… frustrations. Dare’s books are amazing, and for some reason, those two books were the ones that came to mind when I knew Jolene would be reading to Ryan.

Many thanks to my amazing family for your love, support, and sense of humor even when I’m doing that weird, glazed-over, book brain thing I do sometimes. I love you more than life itself.

Thank you to my lovely beta babes. Hugs to Danielle Calleja, Susan Cambra, Jo Dawson, Krys Hopkins, Sarah Leenart, Jayna Longstreet, Sam McMullen-Hamilton, Rachel Scott, and Samantha Wheeler. Your feedback and support is invaluable and I hope you know how much I appreciate you.

Thank you to Karen Mahoney and Corrinna Lawson for their lovely comments regarding the StrikeForce series, and to everyone who has taken the time to review, email, or tweet at me. You all make this a lot of fun for me. Thank you.

A bit of a serious note: If you’ve read this far into the series, you’re likely recognizing that in addition to being a villainous jerk, Killjoy is showing classic abusive behaviors toward Jolene, including trying to isolate, blame, and generally control her. If you or someone you love is dealing with something like this, please get help. You are not alone, and you don’t deserve any of it. The National Domestic Abuse Hotline is a very useful resource (
http://www.thehotline.org
) as is RAINN (
http://www.rainn.org
). You matter, and you deserve so much better.

Thank you for reading, from the bottom of my heart.

Colleen Vanderlinden
Detroit, Michigan
March 3, 2016

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Colleen’s Newsletter
.
http://bit.ly/colleensnewsletter

For backstory material, news, and upcoming events be sure to check out
http://www.colleenvanderlinden.com

About the Author

Colleen Vanderlinden is the author of the
Hidden
and
Soulhunter
urban fantasy series, as well as the
Copper Falls
paranormal romance series and the StrikeForce Sci-Fi/Romance series. The third
Hidden
novel,
Home
, was a finalist for
RT Book Reviews’ Editors Choice Awards
for best self-published urban fantasy novel of 2014. Her books have consistently received positive reviews, and RT Book Reviews has called her storytelling “electrifying.” She lives in the Detroit area with her husband, kids, demonic Basset hound, and two lazy cats. You can find out more about Colleen’s books at
colleenvanderlinden.com
, or follow her on Twitter, where she’s
@C_Vanderlinden
and
Facebook
.