J.W. Clay

Zero Day

The Jen Yates Series Prelude

Venezuela is in tatters. A despotic government is strangling the country, and it’s on the verge of collapse.

One man is pulling the strings from the shadows. Comisario Hector Ruiz, the senior officer in charge of the National Police Action Force, Venezuela’s secret police. Without regard for the law, basic human rights, or international norms, Ruiz has arrested, tortured, and murdered thousands of Venezuelan citizens. It’s made him a target.

Jen Yates has recently retired from the National Security Agency, ready to escape into the fringes of the U.S. government. The murky world of contracting, where she’ll ply her new specialty: Cyber Kinetic Eliminations—assassinations carried out remotely, via computer.

There’s a problem: The federal government won’t acknowledge the capability, nor will they grant her a contracting license.

That’s when two worlds collide. Jen has gotten word of Comisario Ruiz, and a CIA effort to remove him from Venezuela’s political calculous. She jumps at the chance to assassinate him, and travels to Venezuela without protection. It’s a mistake.

Comisario Ruiz is insulated by a sophisticated team of Russian Spetsnaz soldiers. They’re bent on keeping Ruiz alive, and Venezuela broken, if only to reap oil-soaked profits. Outmatched and vulnerable, Jen Yates must take up the fight of her life to jumpstart her career. Then she’ll have proven herself.