**SHE WANTED TO QUIT BEING HER WORLD’S BEST ASSASSIN—** BUT THE ONLY WAY TO QUIT WAS TO DIE! Look into the abyss— For as long as Cally O’Neal could remember, she had lived in danger. While her father was off fighting the invading Posleen she had been raised by her grandfather, practically on the front-lines of a war that had erased five billion humans from the face of the earth. The abyss looks back— In the final stages of the war she had officially died and been recruited into the elite ranks of the Bane Sidhe, a group of underground warriors dedicated to breaking the stranglehold of the elf-like Darhel. A stranglehold the Darhel held on the Galactic Confederation before the war and now were extending to their human allies. And you become the abyss— For forty years she has led a life of unremittent, unrecognized, unhallowed slaughter, wearing a constant stream of disguises, sending humans who support the Darhel off to meet their Maker, with her body, mind and soul twisted and improved to serve the needs of her own allies. Now, on the most important mission of her career, at odds with her superiors, hunting a mole that could destroy her at any moment, and inexorably falling in love with the enemy, for the first time in her life she has to wonder if it’s worth it. If being a dragon is the best way to fight the dragon. And if there will be a morning after for the little girl who liked to play with guns and swim with the dolphins. Cally had been fighting for the future of the human race, but now she is in a war for survival: the survival of her soul. At the publisher’s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). **John Ringo** is author of the *New York Times* best-selling Posleen War series which so far includes *A Hymn Before Battle* , *Gust Front* , *When the Devil Dances* ( *New York Times* best seller), and *Hell’s Faire* ( *New York Times* best seller), and is the hottest new science fiction writer since David Weber. Among his other novels for Baen are *Into the Looking Glass* , the fantasy adventure *Princess of Wands* , the Council Wars series, which began with *There Will Be Dragons* , and the Kildar techno-thriller series, which began with *Ghost*. His collaborative novels include *Von Neumann’s War* with Travis S. Taylor, *Cally’s War* ( *New York Times* best seller) and *Sister Time* with Julie Cochrane, the *New York Times* best selling Prince Roger series with David Weber, which began with *March Upcountry* , and *The Road to Damascus* with Linda Evans. A veteran of the 82nd Airborne, Ringo brings first-hand knowledge of military operations to his fiction. He had visited 23 countries and attended 14 schools by the time he graduated high school.