Rough Passages

A trip to the traveling carnival with two toddlers and a mobility-challenged parent isn't most people's definition of fun, but it's closer than Valerie Wade usually gets. A few hours kicking sawdust and revisiting favorite childhood memories, that's all she asks.

Colonel Marcia Galloway's job is a challenge on the best of days. She leads Mercury Battalion, a military unit that offers sanctuary to society's deadliest members. When a slip in concentration can level buildings or kill thousands, survival depends on self-control. On the worst of days, when discipline breaks and chaos erupts, Marcia is the one who picks up the pieces and punishes the guilty.