THOMAS COLE'S POV
My conversation with Nate at the overlook had left me physically sick. Hearing the raw, agonizing truth of his surrender, the sensation of his obsession with Adrian Blackwood was more disturbing than any military casualty report I had ever processed. Nate was not just compromised; he was psychologically dependent, running on the fuel of his own shame and the promise of Adrian's next command.
I drove away from the overlook with one absolute conviction: Nate was incapable of severing the connection himself. If the CSI would not kill the deal, I had to find a way to make Adrian Blackwood end it. And since I could not walk into a supermax facility and threaten a mob heir, I needed to find his external handler, the lawyer, the one man who had direct access to him outside the prison walls.
