Code Name: PHOENIX

Code Name: Phoenix by Luna Kayne Copyright © 2023 by Luna Kayne All rights reserved. This book or any portion of this publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written and signed permission of the copyright owner. This includes but is not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be copied in any manner for resale. This title was originally published as Kill Code by Sheri Landry. All rights remain with Sheri Landry and Luna Kayne (pen name). This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental. Cover design: The Pretty Little Design Co. Editor: Caroline Knecht Photographer: Wander Aguiar Cover model: Vinicious ISBN 978-1-989366-44-8 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-989366-43-1 (Ebook) CONTENTS Content Warning Prologue: Jack 1. Jack Present Day 2. Jessa 3. Jack 4. Jessa 5. Jack 6. Jessa 7. Jack 8. Jessa 9. Jack 10. Jessa 11. Jack 12. Jessa 13. Jack 14. Jessa 15. Jack 16. Jack 17. Jessa 18. Jack 19. Jessa 20. Jack 21. Jessa 22. Jack 23. Jessa 24. Jack 25. Jessa 26. Jack 27. Jessa 28. Logan 29. Jack 30. Jessa 31. Jack 32. Jessa 33. Jack 34. Jessa 35. Jack 36. Jessa 37. Jack 38. Jessa 39. Jack (almost one year later) Cypher will continue… Looking for a new series ? Acknowledgments About Luna For my dad. CONTENT WARNING Code Name: Phoenix contains a recollection of sexual assault of the female main character. It does NOT involve the main love interest and is NOT romanticized. It is written as a past trauma in support of the storyline. The details of the trauma are contained to the first section of chapter 22 up until the section break. So you can still read, skip that section and just understand that she was caught, tortured and sexually assaulted. It is not the author’s intention to push personal boundaries. If such content is harmful for you, please skip the chapter, or do not read. PROLOGUE: JACK TEN YEARS AGO “Wake up, Jack. We’re moving out. Your assignment is done.” My commanding officer barks his orders, jolting me awake. I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes as the dawn barely lights the cold room around me. On any other day, I would rise and gather my things, but today is different. “What do you mean, done? Last night we were waiting on the search warrants. We had the whole family. It’s going down”—I glance at my wristwatch to confirm the early time—“today.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed, and my feet touch the frigid floor as dread sets in at the expression on my leader’s face. The events of the last few days replay in my head. His words don’t make sense. I’ve been on the ground with my unit for months, working special ops undercover with federal law enforcement. Our orders were simple: collect whatever evidence we could find and round up witnesses who were willing to come forward against one of the largest criminal organizations on the West Coast. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that easy. Matteo Sparr and his organization have been hard to pin down. To innocent eyes, Mr. Sparr and his family are upstanding citizens, hosting charity events for the community and investing in local business. Only those unlucky enough to cross Matteo ever get the chance to see what is under his mask—and once you catch a glimpse, it’s already too late for you. We have a weak case against him for drug trafficking. Then there’s the prostitution and some more minor offenses, which is where our current operation comes in. Word on the street is that these charges are only the tip of their illegal iceberg, that it goes deeper into weapons dealings and more, but after a certain point, everything is locked down. There are no snitches higher up the ladder who are willing to talk about what they are really up to, so all we have to go on are misdemeanors. No one has ever been able to nail him on the charges that matter, on the ones that carry serious jail time. Or worse. We were called in to work with a group of government agencies. Just say the alphabet—they’re all in there somewhere. With Port Thomas being a smaller city near the Oregon Coast, law enforcement is underfunded. So they called in the feds, who called us. They were thankful for the additional manpower, as long as we didn’t step on too many toes. The red tape has been ridiculous. First the sheriff phoned in a request for help, but trusting anyone else on the ground was a nightmare. Determining who was and wasn’t in the Sparr pocket was the toughest task of all. Things changed when an officer was found shot, execution style, in a ditch just outside of town. Everyone on the force knew who was behind it. It was an unnecessary hit, meant only to send a message and keep everyone else on the force in line, but it backfired. The officer was one of the good guys, just out doing his job. He was highly respected by his peers and only a year away from retirement, leaving a wife and son behind. No one said a thing publicly. The conversations behind closed doors were an entirely different beast. One by one, officers filed into the sheriff’s office with what they knew, what they’d heard, and what they saw. It was only a lucky break that the sheriff wasn’t in Matteo’s pocket. Once we knew the situation better, working our way into the key players became much easier. Then everything finally snowballed three days ago. First, one key witness, who works at Sparr Industries, got nervous and came forward with allegations of money laundering. Then