The Edge of Trust: Team Edge

From USA TODAY
-- “If you're looking for a darkly thrilling read as unpredictable as it is emotionally wrenching, look no further. With
The EDGE of TRUST
, KT Bryan deftly delivers all that and more. Both the plot and the characters are gritty and layered, the story's intensity rising with every turn of the page.

Adventure, betrayal, revenge and redemption — trust me, you'll find it all in
The Edge of Trust
. And after reading this story you'll be as eager as I am to dive into the next book in Bryan's Team EDGE series,
The EDGE of HONOR
.”

“KT Bryan doesn't just kick off her Team EDGE series with this powerhouse of a story, she fills it with rocket fuel and launches it straight into the stratosphere. Powerful writing, a hell of a plot, and two flawed characters thrust into one incredibly perilous situation after another are the backbone of this awesome debut. As in all things, the devil is in the detail, and Bryan proved herself adept and snagging that devil by the throat, slamming it down on the page, and introducing her characters to hell. Gut-churning emotion, sweat-soaking suspense, and so much action I felt like I needed a nap after,
The EDGE Of TRUST
snatched me up and commanded my attention through every single white-knuckled page.
Grief, confusion, betrayal, guilt, blame, shame, and worse...including ugly emotions that danced dangerously close to hatred, Bryan gleefully dipped her brush into them all and splattered them into the gaping, bloody wounds of her characters' lives. The result was a story-long evolution of a relationship, one that provided an unflinching and brilliant portrayal of two characters who used to love each other very much, then lost it all...or gave it away, and now have to deal with the aftermath of every painful choice and uncertain decision if they are going to have any hope of peace. Never mind absolution.
It was messy and harsh as hell, and made for some gripping, frustrating, and agonizing reading. I loved every second of it.
This definitely isn't a book for the faint of heart. Not only was the emotional gamut fairly harsh and unrelenting, but Bryan doesn't shy away from scenes of physical brutality either. While the majority of the book was fairly average for the genre in that regard, there were at least three scenes I can think of right off the top of my head that pushed the envelope. One was graphic enough and included subject matter that hit me hard, and I'm not a particularly sensitive reader.
I am a reader who appreciates Bryan's ability to create the sort of story she's written here. Well-written and complex, taut and emotional, action-packed and exhausting, this series debut is the whole package. It's one of the best romantic suspense novels of this type that I've read and one of my favorite reads of the year. In short, wow. Awesome read.” 

              ~ Tracy from “One Good Book Deserves Another

“Suzanne Brockmann fans will love KT Bryan.”

~ Joyce Lamb, Bestselling Author of
TRUE SHOT

“KT Bryan is my new go-to author for romantic suspense!”

~ TL Schaefer, Author of
Behind Blue Eyes

“KT Bryan thrusts you into the story on the first page. I was THERE in the middle of it! The action and fast pace makes for a great page-turner. Bryan brings us characters with just as much command. We love them. We hate them. What else can we want? MORE of this series.

~ Lala Corriere, Author of
Widow’s Row

LIVE LIFE WITH AN EDGE

The Men.  The Team.  The Experience.

“To Protect And Save With Valiance, Vigilance, and VALOR”

The stakes are incredible.  Failure is unimaginable.  The malice unthinkable.

Living a nightmare…

When EDGE operative Dillon Caldwell follows a direct order to bring down the Sanchez Brothers drug cartel, he never imagines that his wife, Sara, would be next on the cartel’s hit list.

Dillon thought nothing could match the pain of losing his wife, but when Sara mysteriously turns up twelve months later, beaten yet
alive
, he realizes he was wrong.  She has secrets she’s unwilling to share, secrets that could cost them their lives.

Hunted by a relentless killer...

Rafael Sanchez has turned a vendetta into a war with no rules. He has taken retribution to an extreme and wants to shatter more than just Dillon’s life.  He wants to destroy every reason Dillon has left for living. 

One way in, and no way out...

Trapped in a hostile jungle, Dillon and Sara have nowhere to turn, nowhere to hide, and they find themselves shifting from the shadows of vengeance into the sunlight of justice. In order to survive, they can trust no one, will betray anyone, and are determined to win at whatever the cost.

Even if it means going over the edge.

THE EDGE OF TRUST

BY

KT BRYAN

Copyright 2012 by Katherine Bryan

Cover art and design by Ginger Edwards and Randa Lee

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s  imagination  or  have  been  used  fictitiously  and  are  not  to  be  construed  as real.  Any resemblance  to  persons,  living  or  dead,  actual   events,  locale  or  organizations  is  entirely coincidental.

THE EDGE OF TRUST

Copyright © 2012 by Katherine A. Bryan

All  rights reserved.  No  part  of  this  book  may  be  used  or  reproduced  in  any  manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. As permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher.

Please visit my website at www.KTBryan.net

First eBook Edition: March 2012

ISBN 10: 1475160038

ISBN 13: 9781475160031

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my dad and hero, Donald A. Lucas. May you rest in peace and know that I love you now and always. You told me I could, and so I have.  I miss you beyond measure.

I would also like to include my loving thanks to my husband David, and to my two amazing children, Tara and Evan. You three rock my world and add endless joy to my life. Because of you, I am, and will always be, incredibly blessed.

To my sister, Ginger, and my brother-in-law, Phil, you have not only my heart but my gratitude.  Randa, Ronni, Rae Ann, and Merlina – thank you for being such a special part of my life.

Last but not least, I’m going to include my German shepherd, Harley, who has made me laugh more times than I can count. 

I love you all.

Acknowledgments

Grace Morgan, agent extraordinaire, thank you for your kindness and your brilliant suggestions.

To my very own amazing TEAM and critique partners: Margery Scott, PG Forte, Jodi Lynn Copeland, Lala Corriere, TL Schaefer, and Larry Batts -- huge thanks!

To Billy and Camille Clausen, who are not only good friends, but wonderful people. Thank you both for everything.

To my beta reader team: Nancy O'Berry, Shelly Browne, Don Kent, Donna Harris, Denise Pattison, Diane Pearson, Wendy Strain, and John Earle—woohoo, what a ride!

Thanks to all the Inkslingers for giving it to me straight.

I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the brave men and women of the Armed Forces, at home and abroad, for your unwavering courage, service and sacrifice.  I salute you all.

THE EDGE OF TRUST

By

KT Bryan

A knight is sworn to valor

His heart knows only virtue

His blade defends the helpless

His might upholds the weak

His word speaks only truth

His wrath undoes the wicked

--A Knight’s Creed

CHAPTER ONE

January…

As two o’clock in the morning approached, night settled in under a round, buxom moon.  Former Navy SEAL Commander Dillon Caldwell wouldn’t have picked a night this bright on a bet, but since Sanchez was moving the money tomorrow he didn’t have much choice.

Lucky for him, slipping in and out of shadows was easy.  However, slipping unnoticed into a Mexican drug lord’s villa might prove to be a little tricky. 

While negotiating past guards, dogs, and high-tech security might be dicey, one thing in Dillon’s favor was the long-ass tunnel sweetly positioned smack in the middle of two hundred acres on Raphael Sanchez’s property, which sprawled just outside the teeming city of Tijuana.  Dillon had intel on the place, and he’d bet a month’s salary that the tunnel, because it was so far out, wouldn’t be given more than minimal thought.  It was the one weak link in Sanchez’s otherwise stellar security. 

The fact that Sanchez ran a shorter crew after midnight helped.  A little.  He hoped.

Crouched in darkness, just outside a small, private hangar, Dillon released a ready breath as two uniformed security guards, chatting in Spanish, climbed into a golf cart and set off down a dirt airstrip.  “Show time.  We’ve got one hour before those overpaid goons swing back our way.  Thirty minutes to the outer perimeter, thirty minutes back.”  He set the timer on his watch.  “Let’s get inside.”

“Tell me again why we’re doing this?”  Lieutenant Jake Kincaid, Dillon’s second-in-command, plugged some kind of electronic gizmo into the office door’s keypad.  Once the device found the correct numeric sequence, the digital display beeped and Jake opened the door.

Both men hitched up their packs, entered the building, and switched on flashlights.

“So you can impress me with all your super-secret spy stuff.”  Dillon moved quietly through the office and into the main hangar.  The beam of his flashlight cut across a Cessna four-seater prop hunkered down at the far end. 

“I’m pretty sure I had to save up a lot of box-tops to get you in here with said super-secret spy stuff.”  Jake moved ahead and to the left.  “Storage room and tunnel are over here.” 

Jake was an MIT refugee who should have been in prison for hacking, but he’d lucked out and gotten a life sentence in the U.S. Navy instead.  Thanks to his CIA father, Jake had also been given the added benefit of working with Dillon at EDGE.  Something Dillon absolutely never took for granted.

Jake was the light to Dillon’s dark.  Both were California natives, but Jake had the All-American surfer dude theme working—sun-streaked hair, cheek stubble, constantly stoked, cool above all, he was boglius, boss, and totally chill.  Except when he wasn’t. When he wasn’t, Jake was scary as hell, even to Dillon. 

Genius hacker, SEAL, and beach bum.  Dillon liked to think Jake had multiple personality disorder.  Maybe some sort of ADD mixed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism and a whole lot of Rainman savant.  Not that he had any kind of real mental disorder, probably, but it was sure easier to compartmentalize a guy whose IQ made Steven Hawking look like a halfwit. 

Jake picked the lock on the storage room door and both men entered.  Metal shelves lined one wall.  Oil.  Rags.  Tools.  Typical mechanic’s stuff.  Cleaning supplies huddled in a corner.  Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the large circle of gray covering the floor in the far side of the small room.