Orphan X Gets Personal

As a broke foster kid who never knew his parents, as a boy trained to be an expendable weapon, Evan is aware of what it feels like to be on the wrong end of a power dynamic. He knows it in his bones. And while he’s built himself into a person who has means, resources, and skills, there is one thing he still hates: those who use their power to damage others. Bullies. Tyrants. Abusers.

People who are suffering at the hands of others can call him on his encrypted phone line. And he will wade into any situation—no matter how entrenched, no matter how complicated, no matter how impossible—in order to address the problem.

But what happens when he’s the one who’s being targeted? When he’s the one getting dragged into a situation so dangerous and traumatic and personal that it threatens to overwhelm him?

That’s the story I wanted to pursue in Prodigal Son. When a woman claiming to be Evan’s mother calls him up on his RoamZone, he finds himself yanked into a mission that will drag him back to the most intimate memories of his past and propel him forward into a threat that reaches the highest levels of power.

Thank you, X-ers, for joining me for Evan’s first missions. And thank you for covering his flank while he embarks on his latest adventure. This may very well be the one that ends him.

Read an excerpt from Prodigal Son now!