Jigsaw (Black Raven Book 2) Read Free Page A

January 30
     
    Ana slipped her small hand into her father’s. Her soft touch pulled Zeus Hernandez from his conversation with two senior Black Raven agents, reminding him that the purpose of this gathering wasn’t work. He and Ana were on a father-daughter trip to New Orleans, Louisiana, away from their home in Miami, Florida, to attend the wedding of Zeus’s best friend and business partner, Sebastian Connelly to Skye Barrows.
    “Daddy, hurry,” she said, pulling on his hand. “They’re getting ready to cut the cake. Come on .”
    Zeus looked down into velvety-brown eyes shining with the unfiltered excitement of youth. He bent to one knee and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. With his free hand, he straightened the bow on her red hair ribbon. Loose tendrils of silky black hair had escaped from her ponytail and fallen across her face. He pushed the wayward hair back, gently tucking the strands behind her ear. She let go of his hand, draped her arms over his shoulders, and pressed her forehead to his so that their noses touched.
    Inhaling her sugary sweet, girlish scent, he stared into her eyes, as she asked, “Don’t you want to see?”
    “Of course, my sweet angel.”
    He let Ana lead the way through the courtyard of New Orleans’ City Park, towards the Pavilion of Two Sisters. As Zeus opened the door, his eyes scanned the wedding guests before resting on Sebastian, who talked to Skye and her younger sister, Spring.
    Zeus was happy for his friend. Barely eleven months earlier Sebastian had been on the operating table, having life-threatening brain surgery following a week from hell. The Black Raven job that had involved Skye and her father was complete before Sebastian went under the knife. But even while Sebastian was down, the world remained filled with bad guys. In the ensuing months, London, Miami, Bogotá, and Paris had been rocked with large-scale terrorist acts, leading to the inevitable conclusion that the terrorists were winning, and that was before New Year’s Eve was marked with a bombing on the Vegas strip, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocent revelers. Television cameras had been primed for the New Year’s Eve festivities. Instead, the cameras caught a bloody massacre.
    Now, thirty days after the New Year’s Eve bombing, economic markets remained in turmoil. The global fall-out was great for Black Raven’s security business, but not for one other damn thing.
    Sebastian had recovered from his surgery with none of the troubling aftereffects they’d all dreaded. He was back to normal, at the helm of Black Raven with his partners where he belonged. Guests at Sebastian and Skye’s Sunday afternoon wedding celebration were the inner circle of Black Raven agents, partners, and friends. Partygoers gathered at one end of the reception hall, where cakes were on display.
    “Daddy, I can’t see.” Ana tugged at his hand as they stood at the edge of the crowd.
    He lifted her, and settled her on his hip. At six, almost seven, she’d soon be too big to hold like this, and too old to want her father to carry her, but today, her skinny arms wrapped around his neck as she held on. “How’s this?”
    “Wow,” she said. “I’ve never seen so many flowers on a wedding cake. The colors are weird, aren’t they? But it’s beautiful.”
    The father of the bride, computer software genius Richard Barrows, the man whose kidnapping from prison had brought Sebastian and Skye together, had walked his daughter down the aisle. Upon his official release from prison, Barrows had started work with Black Raven at their Denver headquarters. Zeus worked with him, along with Ragno, the head of their data analysis unit. Zeus and Ragno had concluded that Barrows was brilliant when focused. His ordeal had done nothing to diminish his brainpower, and they were damn glad he was now working for Black Raven instead of a competitor.
    Zeus watched Sebastian bend to his bride and give her a lingering kiss. At this