Croft Eclipse

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5439-5738-9
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 352 Seiten

Reihe: Eclipse

Life for Teresa Atkins, juggling being a single parent of three with a corporate career as Vice President of a multinational construction company-and with a new, mischievous puppy in the home-just became more complicated. Her hectic life tailspins out of control as unbeknownst to her, her unscrupulous ex-husband has his eyes on a big payday: the control of her children and their trust fund, her family's business, and a sizeable life insurance policy. Dr. Jessica Atkins, instructs her close friend, Sophia Parker of SPN Industries, to keep a protective eye on her sister, which results in barely thwarting a dire outcome. Private security contractor and explosives guru Emma Finch is tasked with keeping Teresa Atkins safe, albeit from a distance as her reluctant client refuses help. Her cushy babysitting gig turns to mayhem when Teresa's life is endangered by a duplicitous private investigator, insolent in-laws, and armed gangsters hired to terrorize her. As the situation escalates, the man who has been supporting her from afar for many months, Agent Rook, is drawn away from the safety of his desk to provide field backup hundreds of miles away. Used to being a solo operator, Emma Finch has to begrudgingly contend with relying on another. Complicating matters for Emma, her parents fly in for a conference on human rights and equality, and plan to catch up with their secretive daughter. The visitors are roped into peril as fringe group protesters target William Finch, who is the keynote speaker at the conference. Eclipse is the 5th book in the Ravens Nest series. The characters are drawn into unexpectedly haunting scenarios, encounter human traffickers, and navigate life-threatening situations as menacing third parties close in on them.

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. Eclipse is the fifth 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 2

Emma Finch whipped her short dark hair—partly covering one eye, out of her face and dialed the pre-programmed number on her secure, biometrically activated, work-issued smartphone. It rang. One, two...

“Hi Finch, you’re right on time tonight.”

She sat back in her driver’s seat, sighed, and closed her eyes. “Miracles do happen: I’m not being chased by lunatics or shot at, for a change.” The last few months had been crazy with those events regrettably being her normal.

“What? A low-key Wednesday? You must be bored out of your mind.”

Finch laughed: the sentiment did ring true. “You know me too well, Rook. We all have our cross to bear. Yours is being stuck in the Batcave.”

“My subterranean bunker is quite cozy, and I have drool-worthy, state-of-the-art gadgets. You should come up to D.C. and visit sometime. I’ll gladly show you around. The estate where the SPNI headquarters are situated on is vast with spectacular nature views. You can even partake in ornithology while enjoying a crisp Sauvignon Blanc.”

SPN Industries was a private security firm owned by Freelance Security Consultant James Foxcroft. The company was named after Saint Philip Neri, the Patron Saint of the U.S. Army Special Forces, and occupied a vast property with an underground base outside of Washington D.C. They serviced global contracts, with quite a few teams on missions at any given time. Most of the personnel recruited were ex-military or law enforcement, even Rook, who was their IT go-to guy. Being a computer geek, he was likely handier with the keyboard than a gun, but she would have him watch her back as operational support any day. There were few tech guys she could say that about. And she was not one to tolerate having other field agents breathing down her neck either.

“It would be nice to put a face to the name, Rook, but I’m more of a city and Glenfiddich girl... and birdwatching is not quite my thing.” Finch ran a hand through her short hair. “FYI, I have been the butt end of a barrel of laughs with my bird surname—and my Pommy accent—especially being of mixed Asian-British descent. And I happen to know for a fact that rooks are a type of crow.”

Rook chuckled; “I’m impressed that you know that; few people do. Don’t think I’ve had it easy with my surname... I happen to love your accent. It suits you to a T.”

“I’m at a disadvantage: You know what I look like, and can probably recite my classified personnel file by heart—strengths and glaring weaknesses included.”

“I haven’t come across any weaknesses,” he teased, after a brief pause.

“You’re a very considerate liar. I bet you sweet talk all the ladies like that.”

“Only the exceptional ones... In all seriousness, you should come visit and level the playing field. I’ll buy you that Scotch whisky, reminisce over the past few months’ completed missions, and perhaps even tell you my first name. The possibilities are endless.”

Finch smiled, she enjoyed her conversations with Rook. She was yet to discover his given name, though. They had worked closely together for many months and incrementally started divulging personal information. It started off as a distraction in tense situations; especially with him helping her to clear her mind and getting her to refocus. That warm voice in her ear was her anchor, tethering her to the world of the living, as she tackled certain death.

Finch was the SPNI resident explosives expert and often had to jet-set to disarm sticky situations the various teams working for SPNI encountered. Rook was like her personal guardian-angel and IT over-watch; coordinating sending her equipment and producing authentic-looking identification documents and realistic covers in a timely fashion—if and when required in line with her assignments. On occasion, he had to resort to creating diversions by hacking into various institutions, feeding false information, or mobilizing an extraction team when she was in a pinch. He had never let her down, not once.

The man was a whizz when she needed him to research anything, and the calm voice of reason in her ear, including when she was in a quandary while defusing bombs. No matter what time she phoned—day or night—Rook picked up within two rings and always sounded sincere and surprisingly alert. He was clearly not always at his workstation, and at times she could hear an echo or chatter in the background, or a clanging of metal. He always made a point of assuring her that it was a good time to contact him, once even while nursing a flu. The IT guru had informed her that he had developed an integrated mobile data interface from which he could coordinate missions.

Finch even knew about the magnificent stone-encrusted vintage ring that Rook wore on his left pinky, after he stumbled upon it in D.C. while grabbing a coffee next door to an antique dealer. She had only spoken to him moments before the purchase, not that she could recall if that conversation was exactly work related. The excitement in his voice describing that distinctive item to her was infectious. It was snippets like those that captivated her interest and enriched their comfortable working relationship. Speaking to Rook broke the monotony of being a solo operative; not that she was looking for the hassle of a partner. She simply did not need someone else to put doubts in her head while making life or death decisions. Somehow Rook instinctively knew when to speak and when to keep quiet.

“So, what can you tell me about our stalker?”

She diverted from committing to meet up with him, again. Coward.

She heard his fingers dance across the keyboard on the other side of the line, his voice serious.

“The unsub’s name is Kirk Devlin. He’s a private investigator. It’s a small two-person operation with him listing one assistant, mostly for secretarial work. He used to work for the FBI as a field agent until three years ago; he resigned when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. She died early last year after receiving lengthy chemotherapy. It looks like medical costs almost bankrupted him. He started the part time PI business two years ago and has thrown himself into his work since her passing. There’s nothing suspicious in his background check.”

“Why would Devlin be shadowing Teresa Atkins?”

She had followed Atkins from work, to the hospital, and back home again. Finch had even paced those hospital corridors after Devlin got out, to investigate why his mark had stopped there. He took off while Atkins was holed up inside. Rook had texted her when Devlin’s car was logged entering the hospital parking lot two hours later again. The man had waited inside his vehicle, keeping an eye on Atkins’ SUV, while working on his laptop.

“I went through his financials: He was hired by Paul Van Bommel—her ex-husband. I’ve looked through the divorce proceedings and court records. The man is a serial womanizer and has a gambling addiction.”

Finch frowned. “Why was his name not on our active threat list?”

Not that that list was particularly long with only a dozen or so people identified. Mostly jealous ex-colleagues or ex-boyfriends. It was rather pedestrian, run of the mill, civil servant, social media snippy stuff; even her former pupils sang Atkins praises.

“Van Bommel is a Belgian national and resides in Europe. I’m keeping an eye on all international flights, in case he decides to head this way. I did some digging: The parasite has sucked his current ailing wife dry. Her children have recently appointed a financial custodian as per the terms of their prenuptial agreement; thus Van Bommel can no longer indiscriminately plunder her funds or sell off her assets. I think he has set his dollar sights on his ex-wife now that she has taken her rightful place on the corporate ladder. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to wrangle custody of the children away from her, in order to leverage some sort of child support agreement, even though the louse has been out of the picture for almost five years.”

“And here I thought my babysitting gig was going to be dreadfully boring.”

“This assignment is certainly not like your usual ‘bang and kaboom’ jobs.”

“Yeah, I’m doing the boss’s squeeze a favor... Guarding from a distance as the unsuspecting client goes about her day, oblivious of eyes and ears following her every move.”

Sophia Parker, a former U.S. Marshals agent, now worked for SPNI and had asked her to keep a watchful eye on Teresa Atkins, following fellow VP Abby Willis’ abduction. Sophia had three kick-ass Parker siblings who respectively worked for the DHS, FBI, and ATF. Their parents were high up in the police force and intimidating as hell. Finch had inadvertently terminated a few gangsters and defused a bomb at the Parker residence at year’s end; and before that at Duncan Wallace’s booby-trapped apartment where one of the Parker sisters had stayed. The Parker, Willis, Atkins, and Foxcroft families had grown close. Preliminary analysis indicated that all the Willis & Atkins Construction executives were potential targets due to Abby’s father, Governor Maxwell Willis’ political standing and connections, and the...