Croft Anarchy

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5439-3973-6
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 372 Seiten

Reihe: Anarchy

Special Agent Isabella Parker (DHS) and her federal law enforcement siblings, Sophia and Cameron Parker, find their lives endangered in a high-stakes scramble for survival. Their fated trip to Ravens Nest had them stumble into becoming full-fledged task force members of Operation Anarchy. Their covert project to root out corruption at the upper echelons of government and within the various alphabet soup agencies firmly marks them for death. The trio finds themselves hunted by ruthless and wealthy assassins, spied on by clandestine agents, and preyed upon by top-level supervisors. The ensuing confrontation forces them to face their inner demons and insecurities-or perish. The fight could not get more personal when everyone they love and care about becomes a lightning rod for peril. For the first time in their lives, they are 'damsels in distress,' obliged to seek help, even if distractingly mistimed and embodied in forms of handsome temptation. Freelance Security Consultant James Foxcroft arrives in Ravens Nest to visit his mother, Patricia. Their overdue reunion is overshadowed when he gets more than he had bargained for with feisty Sophia Parker as his mother's guest. Roped into the danger that threatens to destroy her family, he is set on a race against time to endure a collision course with powerful enemies. Anarchy is the fourth book in the Ravens Nest series, portraying how visiting a small, idyllic coastal town can alter lives forevermore.

Alex Croft has lived and worked as a healthcare professional in four countries, whilst travelling to many more. Drawing on life experience and exposure to different cultures, the author weaves aspects of medical treatment modalities, humanity, the power of conviction and intrigue into the story lines. Anarchy is the fourth book in the series set in part in Ravens Nest. A fan of different genres of fiction, the author incorporates elements of suspense, humor, romance and fantasy into contemporary writing to enhance the reading experience.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Croft, Alex

Leseproben

Chapter 1

Agent Isabella Parker clenched her jaw and clasped at the blood slowly seeping from her searing right-side upper thigh. Lightning and thunder lit the night sky. She fumbled with her lock pick kit and concentrated on banishing the pain from her mind. Rain battered down on the veranda. Running eight blocks with a gunshot wound through a thunderstorm in the pouring rain was not quite how she had envisioned tonight. She grimaced: adrenaline only brings you so far. She felt a welcoming click and stumbled through the backdoor, heading for the kitchen sink to wash blood from her gloves while grabbing a dry dishcloth to compress the wound. She used her other hand to wipe smudged camouflage paint from her face and removed her muddy shoes.

Going on this solo mission had been a colossal mistake, but at least she did not leave empty handed. She eyed her backpack with its prized loot. She had managed to bag what she was hunting for, which was not exactly legal, nor had she planned on the bullet now lodged in her thigh. Operation Anarchy had come at its first health-related cost, if having to skulk around for two months to avoid clandestine government surveillance did not count. She was so close to getting out of there undetected, if not for that fateful lightning strike and armed guard... If that bullet had not first clipped her burner phone in her back pocket as she scrambled over the high wall, it would have been far worse—guaranteed.

She evaded further detection and by cover of the woodland behind the property, traversed her perfectly planned escape route before the police could cordon off a perimeter. It was, after all, not every day that someone was brazen enough to break into the holiday home of the Acting Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

It was a necessary risk, as she needed that hard drive locked away in that safe. This was the only weekend they were certain where that drive was while Tom Brent was attending a concert at city hall. So far, Deputy Sheriff Lisa Montgomery had been unable to link him with any of their other suspects through searching various government databases and the trove of intelligence left behind by the notorious Bickewicz crime family. Lisa did manage to crack the software Director Brent had used to log all his passwords and therefore the combination to his home safes. It was almost as easy as taking candy from a baby.

Isabella winced as she dabbed at her wound. And here she was, adding yet another breaking and entering event to her list of dubious crimes in an effort to uncover the extent of corruption in various government agencies. And it was not as if she could walk into any hospital now...

She wiped rain from her face and gingerly sat down on a kitchen chair, grimacing as she pushed down firmly on her upper thigh. The house was pitch-black dark. Thank God. She was grateful for the lack of a state-of-the-art home security system, in this quiet, affluent neighborhood, conveniently eight blocks away from where she fled her primary crime scene. She removed her gloves, black jacket, beanie, and backpack and hid them at the bottom of the pantry, behind the bottled water. Isabella looked at her watch and prayed she did not have to wait too much longer... before she passed out or the police came knocking door to door.

She listened to the hum of the garage door opening and peered around the kitchen corner as a car pulled in. She strained her ears and froze upon hearing two voices heading her way. Shit.

“I’m glad to have you here for the Thanksgiving holidays. Have a shower and unpack. I’ll start with dinner.” A female voice drifted in as light flooded the living room.

“That is certainly quite a dramatic change and refreshing from our usual take-outs or my cooking. You should tell me more about this new mystery man in your life; this special man who has done the seemingly impossible and has enticed you into spending time in the kitchen.” The male voice was just around the corner. Double shit.

The woman laughed warmly; “You’ll meet him soon enough.”

“Do you still have my belongings here from last time?”

“Your clothes and everything else are right where you left it. I don’t have time for that many visitors anymore.”

The voices were coming closer.

“That’s new too... Is someone else here?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

There was a pause. Fuck. The man regrettably had awesome spidey-senses. Isabella froze as she heard movement heading her way. She put on her best smile and switched on the kitchen lights.

“Surprise!”

She looked up into the barrel of a SIG Sauer P229. Totally unexpected.

“Isabella?” Samantha Wallace’s eyes widened as she appeared behind a man dressed in chinos and a navy button down shirt. “Are you wearing camouflage face paint?”

“You know her, Sam?” The astonished voice asked.

Isabella took her focus off the gun. Her stomach clenched as she stared into familiar dark eyes, and she addressed the man in front of her; “Wally?”

“You know her, Duncan? What is all this mud and blood on my floor? Are you injured, Isabella? Shit. Push harder with that dishcloth. You are soaked, white as a sheet, and shaking. Sit down, Bella. Duncan, go grab my medical bag from my car—the front trunk. What the hell happened to you?”

“I got shot, again. Sorry, I had nowhere else to go. And you are the only medical specialist I know, and luckily, you are skilled in emergency medicine.”

“I guess I should not be surprised you know where I live or how to break in here. I am so investing in a home security system. I should have known the trouble from Ravens Nest would follow me back home to the city... Let’s get you sorted. Duncan, get going, and for god’s sake, put that gun away. Agent Parker here works for the DHS.”

“I know. We met a few months ago.” Duncan Wallace lowered his weapon.

Samantha Wallace stared between the man standing next to her and Isabella Parker.

“You’re not exactly moving, Duncan... Tell you what, you help her onto the leather lounge sofa, put pressure on that wound, and I will get my medical bag.”

Sam rushed out the door as Duncan reached for Isabella’s arm; “You look pale. Let me help you.”

“Duncan, is it?”

“Wally is short for Wallace... It’s not as if you asked me my name.”

Did she detect irritation in his voice?

Isabella pressed down on her thigh and hobbled after him; “It wasn’t exactly a night I wanted to remember. It was gut-wrenching and quite possibly the most humiliating evening of my entire life.”

“I remember it differently: I recall an agent who had just saved thousands of lives by making the right call and who was fortunate enough to have walked away from almost making the biggest mistake of her life.”

“You said that you knew what I was going through, that you were once betrayed... that you were divorced.”

“I’m surprised you remember that much.”

Isabella cringed, suppressing flashes of memories of a night she would rather forget. Duncan helped her onto the sofa and took over applying pressure to the wound on her upper thigh.

“Let me know if I press too hard.”

“It’s fine; I’d rather not bleed totally out.”

Sam hurried over, her medical kit in hand; “I’ve got my gear. Where were you shot?”

“Upper thigh; buttock area. The bullet hit my smartphone and was fortunately slowed and redirected outward. I’m pretty sure it is still in there. Ironically, I’m quite glad about that, as it means no one can find my DNA on a bullet fragment out there.”

Sam opened her medical bag. “I get the impression this was not an officially sanctioned mission, and that I should avoid asking any questions. Including why you did not just ring 911 or why you broke into my house; waiting here for me in the dark.”

“You’re right. It’s better not to ask me anything.” Isabella turned on her stomach.

“At least you are not bleeding profusely. I need to pull your black-as-night, ninja pants down. Where’s the rest of your prowler outfit?”

“Stashed in the kitchen.” Isabella unbuttoned and pulled down her pants.

“I’ll go get towels and start cleaning up,” Duncan offered, his eyes fixed on her naked thigh.

“Lie slightly on your side. I’m pulling your underwear down. There is a large bruise here. I can see the entry wound. Looks like a low velocity entry wound from a handgun. Lucky you. Let me have a feel...”

Isabella sucked in a breath and her body went rigid as she grabbed onto the sofa.

“Sorry, I know that hurts. It’s fortunately not too deep. I’ll be able to get it out without too much trouble and need to open the wound tract a bit. I’ll be honest:...