First Strike recap

Recovering from the Ohio portal crisis, Kazimir Wolfe discovers that the breach was never fully sealed and that the order is attempting another opening near Cedarville. He cuts the remaining link to the Nether, defeats Apophis's attempt to seize him, and remotely destroys the Cedarville device. Seeking to cripple the order's American support, his team coerces an imprisoned Grasso associate into surrendering evidence, frames Tommy O'Connor as the informant, and triggers the criminal network's collapse. Kazimir then destroys a departing shipment of magical artifacts, but surviving order agents trace the team and ambush him near home. Blinded and injured by his own magic, he returns with Duke, Boots, and Azib in a stolen tow truck, destroys the jamming team, and helps the others escape. The household abandons North America and flies toward Nice to meet Annie's hidden organization, study surviving magical texts, and pursue the order in Europe.

Previously: Kazimir Wolfe learned that he is a wizard and gathered an unusual household of allies, including the speaking dog Duke, the Nether feline Boots, the jinn Azib, and the time-displaced warriors Gisele and Macarius. Mike and Isabel became his operational partners while withholding parts of their organization's history. In Ohio, Kazimir confronted a portal connected to the Nether and the dangerous being Apophis. He captured a dragon alive and returned it through the breach, but the struggle left him wounded by the assassin Eadric. Duke's part in the dragon fight established him as more than a companion, while the group survived by combining modern fieldcraft with its members' unusual abilities. The portal crisis also drew the attention of the order, a secretive organization seeking access to Nether power. As the new book begins, Kazimir's group is fleeing the aftermath, and the ancient wizard spirit Marduk remains present but silent within Duke.

Kazimir's household heads north after Duke and Boots attract public attention in Pennsylvania. Kazimir is still recovering from Eadric's dagger wound, and using magic produces visible cold and frost. Meanwhile, weak rifts appear around electrical sites in southeastern Ohio. Azib unexpectedly draws on a pulse of Nether energy to summon a young demon into a vacuum cleaner. The demon cannot be returned, but remains with the group under an uncertain promise not to harm them. At a forest where Kazimir investigates the disturbance, order operatives Darius and Andre locate him with a magical astrolabe and seize Isabel. Duke creates an opening by attacking Andre, and the appliance demon kills both operatives before removing their remains. Isabel recovers the astrolabe and alerts Mike. With their house potentially exposed, the entire group abandons it for an Ohio safe house. The order destroys its operatives' vehicle remotely, confirming that it has both magical detection tools and a disciplined security system.

At the Ohio safe house, Mike reveals that Kazimir was adopted from Romania and that the order found him through his murdered birth mother, but he refuses to explain Sarah's part in that history. Federal agent Michelle Singer reports unexplained attacks on a sawmill and electrical substations, forcing Kazimir to consider whether Apophis still has influence on Earth. Mike also discloses that his organization previously dealt with a wizard known as Anakin, whose apparent corruption explains Annie's caution around Kazimir. Azib teaches that some practices corrupt their users and admits that an unknown wizard placed a concealment spell on him. Boots attempts a Nether ward against the appliance demon, but Earth provides no power for it. Kazimir promises to help Boots's people if he can. Returning to the old portal site, Kazimir and Azib discover that the breach was never completely sealed. A twisted connection remains and is seeking an Earth-side anchor. They leave it untouched because a failed intervention could reopen the portal.

Eadric's medieval body enters Singer's investigation, increasing the risk that official authorities will uncover the supernatural conflict. A second substation explodes, and Mike uses the recovered astrolabe under a disguise to confirm magical residue at both sites. Scans also connect the earlier sawmill damage to the same area. Kazimir concludes that the incomplete portal is drawing on concentrated electrical power. His allies prepare to restrain or kill him if Apophis takes control during an attempt to close it. As Kazimir works on the unstable connection, an armored Nether creature breaks through and pins him for Apophis. Boots allows himself to be swallowed, attacks from inside, and fatally wounds it. The creature's death releases enough energy for Kazimir to drive Apophis out of his mind. He then unravels the Earth-side anchor despite resistance from the Nether. The portal collapses, the remaining tendril withdraws, and the severance produces lightning and a localized downpour. With the connection gone, the demon also disappears from the vacuum cleaner. The Ohio breach and its immediate attacks are ended, while Apophis remains alive in the Nether.

Kazimir assures Isabel that he will listen if vengeance or Nether influence begins to distort his judgment. The astrolabe soon detects fresh magical pulses, which the team triangulates to Cedarville. Kazimir practices finding charged objects at range and uses that ability to observe the order's ritual remotely. He discovers that its intended portal endpoint has migrated away from the site. From a concealed position, he shatters the portal device and overloads three stores of magical energy, causing an explosion that kills four people and stops the attempt. Cameras planted by Gisele connect suspicious traffic to the Grasso family, a criminal network that has supported the order in America for decades. Kazimir decides to weaken that relationship indirectly. Mike and Isabel acknowledge that their own organization has been penetrated before and establish independent funds and identities for Kazimir's use if communications fail. They identify an imprisoned Grasso associate as a possible source. His estranged wife receives a payment, prompting him to request a private meeting with Singer, whose aunt Marsha Thomas was murdered after witnessing a Grasso hit-and-run.

Kazimir and Singer offer the imprisoned Grasso associate money for Marsha Thomas's killer, then use Azib's concealed access and Kazimir's remote magic to simulate repeated heart attacks until he negotiates. The prisoner names Tommy O'Connor and trades an accountant's hidden laptop and passwords for protection and payment. Kazimir's team kidnaps O'Connor, recovers the evidence, and plants it in O'Connor's truck while creating a false trail that identifies him as the informant. Grasso associates take O'Connor from a motel, and he is not seen again. The FBI obtains the laptop, the prisoner enters witness protection, and raids and internal violence cripple the Grasso network. When Annie reports that the order is withdrawing from North America, the team watches an Allentown safe house. Kazimir detects magical artifacts being moved to a helicopter and detonates their energy stores, killing or injuring order personnel and ruining the shipment. The order destroys its own building, but travel records confirm a European withdrawal. Mike calls the operation a first strike. Soon afterward, a surviving order team traces Kazimir near his home and ambushes him at a false roadblock. He drives back the attackers with magic, but the resulting jolt sets off the Jeep's airbag and obscures what has happened to him.

Kazimir's response to the roadblock kills both attackers, overturns his Jeep, and leaves him blind and badly injured. Duke, Boots, and Azib survive. Annie admits that the order traced her monitoring channel to the area and warns that the house is trapped under communications jamming, but Kazimir refuses to abandon Mike, Isabel, Gisele, and Macarius. Randy encounters the injured group, and Boots helps seize his tow truck. With Boots steering, Duke working the pedals, and Azib scouting, they reach the house and ram the order's surveillance van. Azib and Boots defeat the outside gunman, the jamming ends, and Kazimir warns the others to escape. Isabel and Mike collect the group after everyone withdraws safely. They abandon the Finger Lakes house, travel through New Hampshire, cross into Canada on false passports, and reach Montreal. Annie confirms that her organization holds fragments of magical texts and says unexplained residual magic is concentrated in Europe. Kazimir agrees to meet her and attack the order there. Isabel charters a flight to Nice, and the surviving household leaves North America together. Annie's real identity, Sarah's history, Kazimir's origins, the missed convergence, and Europe's magical concentration remain unresolved.

Kazimir survives the order's road ambush, but the force of his response leaves him temporarily blind and severely weakened. Duke, Boots, and Azib get him to the threatened house in a stolen tow truck. Their attack destroys the order's surveillance and jamming van, restores communications, and allows Mike, Isabel, Gisele, and Macarius to withdraw. The reunited team abandons the Finger Lakes base, crosses into Canada with false documents, and departs for Nice. Annie offers Kazimir access to surviving fragments of magical texts and directs the next campaign toward Europe, where residual magic is unusually concentrated and the order retains active operations. The Ohio connection and Cedarville attempt are closed, while the order's American support and artifact shipment have suffered major losses. Apophis remains in the Nether. Marduk is still silent, Kazimir still owes aid to Boots's people, and the identities and histories surrounding Sarah, Annie, Kazimir's parents, and the earlier wizard Anakin remain unresolved. Mike and Isabel continue with Kazimir despite his growing dispute with Annie's authority and concern over how he uses lethal magic.