Harry and Asher are living peacefully on the North Coast of NSW. Life is quiet, boring, and utterly perfect. Though coming from a life of danger and excitement, Harry worries that Asher will grow bored of the “normal” life. He misses the adrenaline, the action, and most of all, he misses his “baby.” So Harry goes against his own better judgement and organises a special Christmas gift for Asher. Life has been picture-perfect in the sleepy little town of Tallowwood. Since the horrors of the murder trial ended, Jake and August couldn’t be happier. Tallowwood was unassuming and uneventful—just how they liked it. Even the town’s newest residents are decidedly normal. On paper, that is. In person, August isn’t so sure. He’d done background checks on them when they’d first arrived and found nothing, but something about them was off. But when the Coffs Coast Gun Club sends an application for a Christmas gala day and a familiar name catches his eye, August is determined to meet the newcomers in an official capacity. He wants to see if his hunch is correct. What was a surprise Christmas gift for Asher, might just unbox a whole can of worms. An 11,000-word short story.

When three men turn up in their sleepy little town of Tallowwood, Harry and Asher know something’s wrong. Not because someone could find them, but the fact that Asher’s informant and oldest friend, Yunho, failed to alert them. Messages and phone calls unanswered; Harry and Asher go to Thailand to find Yunho is missing. Harry and Asher find themselves thrown back into the game of shadows and murder, in a race across the globe to find him and find who’s behind the kidnapping. The list of their enemies is long, their web of entanglement even longer, and Harry and Asher are about to find out once and for all who is predator and who is prey.

Rhett Ouston loves his job as the captain of the Milvus team. He was born for the world of covert ops, secret missions, and tactical training. And the best part? He gets to do it all with the love of his life by his side—Milvus team medic Jay Lin. But then two new men are added to his team, along with doubts and secrets, and everything goes sideways. Thrown into the deep end in a country they shouldn’t be in, with no help from HQ, Rhett doesn’t know who to trust. And when the mission they’re on to stop a global terrorism deal goes to hell, tensions and trust within his team implode. “Trust your instincts,” Jay tells him. “They’ve never failed you yet.” So Rhett digs in, determined to do the one thing he knows how. He’s going to make this team work even if it kills him. And it very well might.