Following a disastrous ambush carried out by CCZ slavers, Pete Childress and his squad have been pulled from combat and are on the brink of being booted out of the Chainbreakers. Pete's been given one last mission to carry out for his unit, a courier run to personally deliver a box of intel back to the United States in the Rockies. While he's there he's also been ordered to provide his superiors in the US the benefit of his expertise on the Locust Swarm, the coordinated raids from slavers that have been sweeping their way south through Canada and look as if they'll soon swing west to the Rockies.It seems like a simple task, but there have been rumors of trouble down in Mexico, which they'll have to pass through to reach the US. And more personally for Pete, going back to the US means a chance to return home to Aspen Hill after running away under bitter circumstances years ago. He's never returned or even sent word back that he's still alive, and while he wants to see his old town again, hopes for a chance to make things right, he's not sure he has the courage to face his friends again after the way he left.He's not the same angry kid he was back then. Older, wearier, carrying deep wounds of the soul that have yet to heal, he longs for some reminder of what he's fighting for. He's not sure he's ready to come home, but he wants to at least see what it looks like after so long. To see for himself that the friends he left behind are okay.
