Fifth And Dent Series

Marion Dent is a high-functioning sociopath, unafflicted by emotions, trained from a young age to become the perfect soldier to combat illegal emotional-tampering technology known as eTech. Relieved of his military duty, he has become a contractor for the highest bidder—his mental handicap making him the perfect weapon in a world where illegally controlling emotions means controlling economic power. Dent's skills are put to the test when he's contracted to steal a package—a young girl dubbed Fifth, who has a very unique talent which has the potential to render current eTech obsolete and usher in a new form of undetectable emotion-tampering. Seemingly betrayed by the person who hired him, Dent flees with Fifth, where they find themselves in a tentative partnership, struggling not only to survive hitmen and assassins but also to understand each other. Dent races to figure out why he was betrayed as he comes to suspect the people behind Fifth's secretive past may have ties to his own. For the first time in his life, Dent's actions are clouded by emotions, and if he can figure out how and why Fifth makes him act irrationally, he may have a chance to save her from the same fate he suffered at a young age—being studied and manipulated into becoming an unwitting pawn as countries and corporations fight for economic dominion, with no remorse for those they harm or kill in order to obtain power. A sociopath may just be the only hope for ensuring the emotional freedom of the world.

Marion Dent has given up his old life of a hired-gun after breaking his contract to kidnap thirteen-year-old Kasumi "Fifth" Takeda, choosing instead to become her guardian. Now, powerful people want Dent killed for his betrayal and Fifth locked up in a laboratory for her special ability to force her emotions on those around her. The two are just beginning to understand each other when a mysterious message warning them of eTech-related murders thrusts them back into the deadly machinations of those from which they have been hiding. They are lead to a Midwest town beset by a string of murders and supposed suicides, where they must find a way to work together to ensure the source of the eTech is shut down. But Dent soon finds that Fifth's talent may be interfering with his ability to be an emotionless killer as she struggles to keep him from slipping too far over the edge. If they can accomplish what they were sent there to do, they may be one step closer to finding a way to give Fifth a chance at a normal life and allow Dent to go back to his old life, one not plagued by emotions.

Dent never had a problem fulfilling his side of contracts—particularly when it required a bullet—until Fifth came under his guardianship. With base emotions somehow breaking through even his stoic resolve, Dent is having trouble coming to terms with his erratic behavior as well as protecting the emotionally-pervasive teenaged girl. For once in his life, Dent may actually have what could be considered friends at his side, spurring his desire to leave them behind even as enemies from his past close in. The mysterious Otto still conceals his part in all this is, but his promises of giving Fifth a normal life drives Dent to doing what he's wished to avoid—taking another contract with the man. A beautiful mechanic, her adopted son, and a church are all Dent and Fifth have to go on as they seek out another possible source of eTech. The only difference in this case is that if there are any murders related to eTech, they have been hidden well by an entire community of citizens that seem overly eager to make everyone around them happy. As Dent and Fifth both become entangled with prime suspects, they will clash on what it means to be happy—and about what right they have to take that happiness away from others.

Marion Dent is recovering from injuries, both physical and mental, leaving Fifth to do her best to keep them both safe until they find where their next target lies. As memories plaque Dent's conscience, Fifth struggles with her own as she reluctantly begins to choose what is necessary for survival over what she knows to be morally right. In Las Vegas, a controversial security system overseen by an ex-military group is being put through its final test. Its creator, an engineer as brilliant as he is reclusive, has an opportunity to change the future—or rectify his past. He is their target, and both Fifth and Dent will sacrifice what they have, and who they have become, to acquire him.