The All-Seeing Security Guard

"Ma'am, you can't hand out cards like that in here!"

Cade Merrick stood at the entrance of the gated community and stepped in front of a young woman trying to slip in behind another resident. His voice was flat, leaving no room for argument.

A few residents slowed down to look. The moment they caught the words "cards like that," several of the men glanced at her tight dress and curvy figure and smirked.

The woman spun around and glared at Cade, her voice sharp with indignation.

"What cards? Those are my company's business cards!"

"I'm just going home. Who do you think you are, some rent-a-cop stopping me?"

She tried to push past him toward the community gate, and the motion set her chest bouncing, drawing every eye nearby. The other guards and a few bystanders stared, caught off guard.

Cade let out a short, dry laugh. In his first few days on the job, he'd seen plenty of people talk their way inside with fake excuses. This routine wasn't going to work on him, not with an advantage none of them knew about.

The floating readout appeared above the woman's head, and only he could see it.

[Name: Nadine Boyle]

[Threat level: 25]

[Intent: Carrying over a thousand obscene escort cards in her purse, attempting to lure residents into illegal solicitation.]

This was the Guardian's Eye, the power he'd gained the day he took the job. Whenever someone meant harm to a person he was sworn to protect, the readout showed him exactly what they were planning and how dangerous they were. No act was convincing enough, and no trail was too well covered. To him, they were an open book.

Cade raised his hand and blocked her path, his tone even.

"You're not authorized to enter. Please show your room key card."

A flicker of panic crossed the woman's face before she caught herself.

"Oh, um, I forgot it at home!"

Cade's mouth curled into a thin smile. "Then step over here. We'll run facial recognition."

Her expression twisted instantly. She couldn't believe her bad luck, running into a stiff-necked rookie today of all days, and she had no idea how he'd known what was in her purse. Furious by then, she swung her purse straight at his head.

"Screw you! Think you're hot stuff in that uniform? Don't mess with me, or I'll beat you senseless!"

Cade sidestepped the swing without effort. Thrown off balance, the woman stumbled and crashed into the railing. The impact knocked her purse open, and a shower of escort cards scattered across the pavement.

A few bolder male residents pulled out their phones to snap photos. Several women nearby went red the second they saw what was printed on them.

A little boy pried his mother's fingers apart and asked, "Mommy, why is that lady in the picture wearing so little?"

His mother yanked him back toward home so fast she nearly tripped.

That was when Rourke, the security team leader, came jogging over, barking into his radio.

"Heads up! We've got someone handing out cards at Gate Three! Get the local police station on the line, now!"

The woman on the ground didn't even check her scraped knee. She scrambled up and bolted toward a van at the curb, disappearing before anyone could stop her.

Right then, a chime sounded from the system.

[Congratulations, user, on successfully preventing the spread of illicit material. Reward: 45 protection points.]

[Current balance: 1,025 points.]

The other guards, noticing Cade standing there with a distant look, couldn't resist teasing him.

"What's wrong, Cade? Having second thoughts about chasing her off?"

"Should've been gentler with her. A looker like that probably goes for guys like you."

Rourke shot the group a look and cut in before Cade had to respond.

"The rest of you could learn something from him. Cade's barely been here a week and he's already stopped more trouble than all of you combined."

One of the older guards grinned and added, "Well, Cade was a top student at Marlowe University of Law. None of us can really compare to that."

Another guard chimed in, half joking. "Cade, my daughter's no law student like you, but she did go to college. Might want to think about it."

The others burst out laughing.

"Come on, Pete, with a face like yours, how pretty is your daughter going to be? Don't drag Cade into this."

"Cade's got a real future ahead of him. The kind of guy who'll rise above the rest of us someday."

Cade just shook his head, a bitter taste rising in his throat.

A bright future, standing above everyone else. A month ago, he might have believed that about himself too.

A year earlier, as the top student at the law university, he'd interned with the Eastside Precinct and helped crack several major cases. Precinct chiefs and the Major Crimes Bureau had been fighting over who'd get to recruit him.

On his last assignment, he'd walked in on Julian Ashford, the mayor's son, and a group of his friends at Julian's mansion in Crownwater Gardens. They had gang-raped a teenage girl, no older than sixteen or seventeen, and filmed it without a shred of shame.

The girl jumped from a building the very next day.

Cade moved quickly to gather evidence against Julian and secure his arrest. But just before the arrest could be carried out, he was suspended over a fabricated charge. While he was sidelined, the case was closed almost overnight. An innocent young man was made to take the fall for everything, while the girl's parents signed a statement of forgiveness and agreed not to pursue the matter any further.

What burned the worst was the moment Cade saw Julian in the courtroom gallery, watching the whole farce unfold with a smug, mocking grin, like none of it had cost him anything.

When Cade pushed back, going over his supervisor's head, he was told flatly that he was being transferred out of Rivermont, reassigned to a county legal office on the edge of some struggling rural county.

Only then did Cade understand what Commissioner Quinn must have felt, choking down the same helpless anger.

So this was what power looked like when it decided to throw its weight around. Just because it could.

The one thing that had kept him from drowning in it was the Guardian's Eye. It was the only advantage he had left, and it gave him the nerve to say no to things that weren't right.

A new chime rang out in his head.

[Congratulations, user: your first ability draw is now available.]

[Activate now?]

Cade's hand clenched at his side, his knuckles pale. After days of waiting, his first real chance had finally come.

Activate, he thought, putting everything he had behind it.

[Draw in progress. Please wait.]

The readout flickered for a few seconds before settling.

[Congratulations, user: you have obtained the ability, Knockout.]

[Usable twice per day, upgradeable. Effect: by making contact with your right hand, you can send a jolt of sedating current into a target, rendering them unconscious for 3 seconds.]

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Cade's mouth.

Knockout was, for someone with his background in field work, close to a dream skill. Three seconds and two uses a day were enough to take down almost anyone who came at him.

All those sleepless nights hadn't been wasted after all.

Before he could savor it, Rourke's voice snapped through the air.

"Everyone, positions! Keep the crowd in order!"

Cade looked toward the entrance and saw a crowd gathered on both sides, a wall of die-hard fans holding up LED signs and chanting.

"The Little Lights never dim! Lila Sinclair fears nothing!"

Rourke clapped a hand on Cade's shoulder. "Cade, come with me, we're covering the right side."

Cade nodded and glanced toward the right side of the road. The moment his eyes landed there, something cold twisted in his chest.

[Name: Faye Dolan]

[Threat level: 753, EXTREME DANGER]

[Intent: Carrying a full quart of concentrated sulfuric acid in her backpack, intending to disfigure the A-list star Lila.]

Rourke, a few steps ahead, noticed Cade had frozen again and barked, "Cade, what's wrong with you? Move, let's go!"

Cade snapped out of it and hurried after him, grabbing Rourke's jacket to pull him back. Rourke, a former soldier with instincts that never fully switched off, felt the tension immediately and kept his expression neutral, walking forward like nothing had happened.

Cade fell into step beside him, voice dropped so only Rourke could hear.

"Rourke, eleven o'clock. The girl in the pink hoodie and black baseball cap."

Rourke's eyes flicked that way on instinct. Cade hissed under his breath, "Don't look at her."

Rourke caught himself and nodded, matching Cade's low tone. "What is it?"

Cade kept his smile easy, his eyes sweeping the crowd like he hadn't a care in the world.

"She's got sulfuric acid in that bag."