by Dale Mayer
“What did he want?” Ryland asked. “He’s a strange one.”
“He is, but when he speaks, I listen.”
“Sure, I do too. But who understands what he says?”
Bullard burst out laughing. “True. It often sounds like he’s speaking in riddles. This time, however, he was very clear. An old enemy stalks me.”
“That’s nothing new. We have tons of those.”
“Very true. But he was dead serious this time.”
And that set the tone for the next many hours. They landed in Hawaii, and, while they fueled up, everybody got off to stretch their legs, walking around outside a bit. This was a small private airstrip, not exactly full of hangars and tourists. Then they hopped back on board again for takeoff.
“I can fly,” Ryland offered, as they took off.
“We’ll switch in a bit,” Bullard said. “Surprisingly I’m doing okay yet, but I’ll let you take her down.”
“Yeah, it’s still a long flight,” Ryland said, studying the islands below. “What a stunning view of the area.”
“I love the islands here. Sometimes I just wonder about the benefit of, you know, crashing into the sea, coming up on a deserted island, and finding the simple life again,” Bullard said with a laugh.
“I hear you,” Ryland said. “Every once in a while, I wonder the same.”
Several hours later Ryland looked up and said abruptly, “We’ve made good time, considering we’ve already passed Fiji.”
Bullard yawned.
“Let’s switch.”
Bullard smiled, nodded, and said, “Fine. I’ll hand it to you.” Bullard stood.
Just then a funny noise came from the engine on the right side. Followed by dead silence.
They looked at each other, and Ryland said, “Uh-oh. That’s not good.”
Boom!
And the plane exploded.
Find Book 1 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Damon’s Deal: Terkel’s Team (Book #1)
Welcome to a brand-new connected series of intrigue, betrayal, and … murder, from the USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. A series with all the elements you’ve come to love, plus so much more… including psychics!
A betrayal from within has Terkel frantic to protect those he can, as his team falls one by one, from a murderous killer he helped create.
Ice poured herself a coffee and sat down at the compound’s massive dining room table with the others. When her phone rang, she smiled at the number displayed. “Hey, Terk. How’re you doing?” She put the call on Speakerphone.
“I’m okay,” Terkel said, his voice distracted and tight.
“Terk?” Merk called from across the table. He got up and walked closer and sat across from Levi. “You don’t sound too good, brother. What’s up?”
“I’m fine,” Terk said. “Or I will be. Right now, things are blown to shit.”
“As in literally?” Merk asked.
“The entire group,” Terk said, “they’re all gone. I had a solid team of eight, and they’re all gone.”
“Dead?”
Several others stood to join them, gathered around Ice’s phone. Levi stepped forward, his hand on Ice’s shoulder. “Terk? Are they all dead?”
“No.” Terk took a deep breath. “I’m not making sense. I’m sorry.”
“Take it easy,” Ice said, her voice calm and reassuring. “What do you mean, they’re all gone?”
“All their abilities are gone,” he said. “Something’s happened to them. Somebody has deliberately removed whatever super senses they could utilize—or what we have been utilizing for the last ten years for the government.” His tone was bitter. “When the US gov recently closed us down, they promised that our black ops department would never rise again, but I didn’t expect them to attack us personally.”
“What are you talking about?” Merk said in alarm, standing up now to stare at Ice’s phone. “Are you in danger?”
“Maybe? I don’t know,” Terk said. “I need to find out exactly what the hell’s going on.”
“What can we do to help?” Ice asked.
Terk gave a broken laugh. “That’s not why I’m calling. Well, it is, but it isn’t.”
Ice looked at Merk, who frowned, as he shook his head. Ice knew he and the others had heard Terk’s stressed out tone and the completely confusing bits and pieces coming from his mouth. Ice said, “Terk, you’re not making sense again. Take a breath and explain. Please. You’re scaring me.”
Terk took a long slow deep breath. “Tell Stone to open the gate,” he said. “She’s out there.”
“Who’s out there?” Levi asked, hopped up, looked outside, and shrugged.
“She’s coming up the road now. You have to let her in.”
“Who? Why?”
“Because,” he said, “she’s also harnessed with C-4.”
“Jesus,” Levi said, bolting to display the camera feeds to the big screen in the room. “Is it live?”
“It is, and she’s been sent to you.”
“Well, that’s an interesting move,” Ice said, her voice sharp, activating her comm to connect to Stone in the control room. “Who’s after us?”
“I think it’s rebels within the Iranian government. But it could be our own government. I don’t know anymore,” Terk snapped. “I also don’t know how they got her so close to you. Or how they pinned your connection to me,” he said. “I’ve been very careful.”
“We can look after ourselves,” Ice said immediately. “But who is this woman to you?”
“She’s pregnant,” he said, “so that adds to the intensity here.”
“Understood. So who is the father? Is he connected somehow?”
There was silence on the other end.
Merk said, “Terk, talk to us.”
“She’s carrying my baby,” Terk replied, his voice heavy.
Merk, his expression grim, looked at Ice, her face mirroring his shock. He asked, “How do you know her, Terk?”
“Brother, you don’t understand,” Terk said. “I’ve never met this woman before in my life.” And, with that, the phone went dead.
Find Book 1 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Bonaparte’s Belle: Heroes for Hire, Book 24! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
I love to hear from readers, and you can contact me at my website: www.dalemayer.com or at my Facebook author page. To be informed of new releases and special offers, sign up for my newsletter or follow me on BookBub. And if you are interested in joining Dale Mayer’s Reader Group, here is the Facebook sign up page.
Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).
Dale honors the stories that come to her—and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields, with books available on résumé writing, companion gardening, and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials series. All her books are available in print a
nd ebook format.
Connect with Dale Mayer Online
Dale’s Website – www.dalemayer.com
Twitter – @DaleMayer
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BookBub – bookbub.com/authors/dale-mayer
BONAPARTE’S BELLE: HEROES FOR HIRE, BOOK 24
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2021
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773364-10-0
Kindle Edition
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