by Beth Abbott
Tulli was trying to resist snagging one of the little bundles for a cuddle, but it was getting harder.
Gregor had been watching her, and she knew he’d guessed that she was feeling broody. He’d just smiled, and inside her she felt a warm glow.
Not today, but maybe soon… if she was lucky.
“Have you got a minute?” Tuck smiled down at the couple. “There’s someone I’d like you both to meet.”
Tulli followed Gregor along the hallway of Tuck’s new mansion, amazed that they’d managed to get the place rebuilt, decorated, and furnished in under three months.
Gregor’s new place was almost up, and it did have a roof, but beyond choosing a kitchen, they hadn’t decided much about the interior yet, let alone picked out any furniture.
In the meantime, they were living in a rented place, just around the corner from Tuck.
As they stepped into Tuck’s office, they saw JT and his wife, along with Danny and Hannah talking to a man in his fifties.
Candy smiled at them as they walked in and led them over to meet the newcomer.
“Gregor, Tulli, I’d like you to meet an old friend of ours from London.” JT smiled. “David Roan has recently retired from the police force, where he was most recently the Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police. He’s just been head-hunted to lead a joint agency task force working against organised crime in Europe and Russia with links to the US.”
Gregor shook the man’s hand, and Tulli smiled shyly, noticing how relaxed the man was in the company of the Alpha-Stalwart family.
“Very interesting work you’re getting into.” Gregor nodded. “And sadly, very prolific. Which area were you looking to get into, exactly.”
“We’re setting up a multi-level, multi-country task force, targeting primarily smuggling.” The former policeman explained. “It’s mostly arms or drug smuggling, but the group we’re targeting also dabble in people trafficking. We already have a number of leads to some upcoming shipments moving women and girls out of Russia.”
Tulli watched Gregor’s eyes light up in a mixture of anger and interest.
“It’s good to know people are actually trying to do something to stop this sort of thing.” Gregor nodded.
“That’s the reason I’m here actually.” David looked around him. “I’ve got Whitehall’s backing to recruit a team from outside of normal channels. In other words, not currently serving police or military personnel.”
Gregor looked at Tuck and JT and nodded. It was obvious why David would look to the two men for that sort of role.
“The idea is that we’re going to set up a company to act as a front, to make it easier to move men and supplies in and out of the region.” JT explained. “But obviously, as we’re dealing with Russians, it’s a bit difficult for us to go in without speaking the language.”
Tulli glanced at her husband and saw he was already interested.
“What are you looking for?” Gregor asked.
“We’re looking for a business partner.” JT said simply. “We’ll actually have to put some of our own money into this if it’s to appear legitimate, but more than money, we need to put together a tactical unit to deal with all the tech side, people who have the relevant skills. At the moment, we’ve got Abbey, Ellen, and Hannah. Abbey for her photographic memory, Ellen because she speaks a dozen languages, and Hannah because she’ll whine like a spoiled brat if we don’t let her join in.”
Tulli glanced at Hannah who was grinning, at the same time as she was giving JT a very clear and obvious middle finger salute.
“Depending on the type of smuggling we’re dealing with, we’ve also got Drew on standby. If we’re involved in anything that involves human trafficking, he will be invaluable for his counselling skills.” JT added. “Sara would have been perfect to involve for her medical background, but I definitely think she’s going to have her hands full for a while with the baby, so we might have to think of another alternative. I wouldn’t even dare suggest it to her at the moment, what with Marcus being uber-protective of her right now. He’s still not fully recovered from watching Tuck’s house explode!”
“We also need half a dozen men to put into this as well. Two from each of our companies to be exact.” Tuck continued. “We’ve decided against going with our directors, as they need to be unconnected with Stalwart or Alpha company, plus they’re all married with kids now.”
“We have two men from our UK company who joined us about two years ago.” JT explained. “Logan and Evan came from Charlie and Delta companies, which succeeded Alpha and Bravo companies when they stood down the names. They’re trained to a very high standard in all aspects of military ops, but thankfully they’ve been out long enough to let their hair grow out, so they don’t still look like they’re enlisted.”
“I have two men who were due to join Stalwart in January when they left the Marines, but thanks to the co-operation of General Nichol, they’ve been released early.” Tuck added. “Don Hillwood and Kellen Davis were part of Alex’s team when they went in to rescue Sophia. They’re keen to get involved.”
“Do you need me?” Gregor frowned.
“We’ll need you for the business side, even if it is only a cover.” JT admitted. “We were also hoping you’d let us borrow Kris and Yuri, as they speak Russian and look like they could pass for Russian mafia. Due to the nature of their work for you, they’ve not been named in any of your company websites, nor do either of them currently have a social media presence that could help identify them. They’d be perfect.”
Gregor grinned.
“I’d have to ask them, of course, but I’m sure they’d love to get involved.” Gregor admitted. “And they’d laugh their heads off at the ‘Russian mafia’ tag.”
“So, you’re in?” David asked, obviously wanting to be sure.
Gregor looked at Tulli, and she nodded. How could she say no with her background?
“If we could just stop one gun or drugs shipment, or one shipment of trafficked women, I’d be satisfied.” Gregor nodded. “I’m in.”
“We’re both in.” Tulli corrected him. “I don’t know how I can help, but I’d like to, if at all possible.”
“And if you’d like me to, I’ll speak to Sophia about being your medical back-up until Sara’s ready to be involved.” Gregor suggested. “She’d probably jump at the chance.”
Tuck turned to David and grinned.
“It looks like we have ourselves a team.” He confirmed. “Does this operation have a name yet?”
David rolled his eyes.
“At the moment, it’s loosely been given the name of Operation Guardian Angel.” He admitted. “It’s a bit corny.”
“No, I like it.” Hannah nodded, then grinned. “Not that anyone could ever call any of our guys ‘Angels’!”
“Then I guess we’ll have to call them ‘The Guardians’ then, won’t we?” Candy grinned.
Tuck reached for the bourbon bottle on the tray and poured a shot for everyone in the room.
When everyone held a tumbler, he raised his glass and turned to his friends, his hand raised.
“To the Guardians! Long may they kick ass!”
“The Guardians!”
The End
Don’t go just yet….!
A message from the author.
Hi there,
I’m guessing that if you’ve just finished Breathless, then you’ve read through the whole of the two Alpha-Stalwart series, and if so, then hopefully I did something right when I created my characters and concocted my stories, for you to have stuck with them right the way through. I really hope you enjoyed them all.
I never dreamed when I started writing Invisible that I was writing anything more than a short story for my own pleasure, and to relieve the boredom of a gloomy winter evening with nothing decent on TV.
Almost two and a half years later, and twelve books on, these characters have become my second family, so when it came time to decide what to do next, it was really
tough to make the decision to leave some of them behind.
The reality was that with so many characters, their families and back-stories, it’s just become really difficult to keep track of them all, and made writing the last few books really time consuming, as I keep having to go back and fact-check all the time that I haven’t made what you would call a ‘continuity error’.
I know for sure that the first time I make a boo-boo, you guys will pull me up on it, as you seem to remember more about my men and women than I do!
So, that’s why I’ve come to the decision to move on to another series, with only a few of the Alpha-Stalwart characters, and some new guys (a few you haven’t met yet) that I think you’ll like very much.
The Guardian Series will move away from the ‘family’ feel of the last books a little bit, as we get involved in the gritty business of smuggling, be it drugs, guns, or humans. But as well as my gorgeous men, I have a bunch of feisty new women who will do the Alpha-Stalwart women proud as the new standard-bearers for females we all look up to.
I look forward to starting to introduce you all to them later in 2018.
In the meantime, if you would like to get in touch with me to let me know what you thought, I would love to hear from you. (I really do write back!)
Or if you loved the stories and want to encourage others to read the Alpha-Stalwart books, why don’t you go and leave a review? It’s more important for prospective readers to hear about the books from you than me!
Finally, if you want to be added to my mailing list to know when I have new books being released or even offers (freebies!) on different sites, just e-mail ‘List’ to the address below.
You can find me here;
Website; http://www.bethabbottbooks.com
Friend me here; http://www.facebook.com/bethabbott2016
Or E-mail me here; mailto:[email protected]
Or check out my Author pages on Amazon.
Only people on my mailing list or those who have contacted me directly are invited to check out the latest info on the secret page on my website, where I sometimes post a teaser from an unreleased book.
So, what are you waiting for?
I really hope to hear from you soon.
Take care,
Beth
Xx
Cast of Characters
Male Characters
(All male ages given relate to age when they have their own story, even though we may have met them in an earlier book. Female ages given when we first meet them in their own book.)
Name: JT or Jon Thornton (former Captain Alpha Company and CEO of Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’3” tall, dark brown hair, royal blue eyes (age 36 in own story) Born leader. Close friends with Ryan Tucker having saved his life.
Romantically involved with: Alice Bailey, age 28, 5’5”, black hair, dark brown eyes (mother from Philippines, father Colonel Joseph Bailey - Alpha & Bravo Company Commander)
Appears in: All books – own story - Concealed
Name: Luke Roberts (Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’4” tall, dark brown hair, one blue eye one split eye blue/black (age 32 in own book) (Parents Sally & Carl make regular appearances) Serious and thoughtful following murder of his twin Casey.
Romantically involved with: Ellen Thomas, age 28, 5’6”, blonde hair, blue eyes (expert at languages)
Appears in: All books – own story - Invisible
Name: Danny Simons (Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’5”, brown hair, blue eyes, cheeky grin (age 30 in own book) Crazy, funny, competitive (with Matt)
Romantically involved with: Hannah Jordan, age 23, 5’0” blonde hair, green eyes (daughter of Carolina Jordan – CJ) (expert on anything computer related)
Appears in: All books – own story - Anonymous
Name: Matt Johnson (Sniper, Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’6” tall, dark hair, brown eyes – larger than life in every way (age 30 in own book) Adores his wife and son. Issues with PTSD.
Romantically involved with: Suzy Johnson, age 24, blonde hair, blue eyes (Outspoken extrovert) (Son Charlie 6 months old at start of Book One Invisible)
Appears in: All books – own story - Healing
Name: Drew Dixon (Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’3” tall, dark hair, brown eyes (age 32 in own book) Physiotherapist and counsellor, always willing to help. More serious of the Dixon men. Bisexual.
Romantically involved with: Tony Dixon (see below) and Vicky Morris, age 30, 5’11”, Red hair, lost foot in helicopter crash (former helicopter pilot)
Appears in: Concealed, Healing, Living, Impossible & Relentless – own story - Healing
Name: Tony Dixon (briefly Captain, Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’3” tall, blond, blue eyes, lost foot in Afghanistan (age 32 in own book) Cheerful and light-hearted. Bisexual.
Romantically involved with: Drew Dixon and Vicky Morris (as above)
Appears in: Concealed, Healing, Living, Impossible & Relentless – own story - Healing
Name: Thomas Payne (Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’2” tall, brown hair, hazel eyes (age 40 in own book). Older and wiser and more serious. Regularly referred to by Marcus as ‘the miserable old fart!’.
Romantically involved with: CJ or Carolina Jordan, age 43, 5’2”, blonde hair, blue eyes
Appears in: Anonymous, Concealed, Healing, Living, Impossible & Relentless – own story - Living
Name: Marcus Adams (Alpha Company)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’2”, dark brown hair, golden eyes (age 34 in own book) Close platonic friendship with CJ, flirty, likes winding Thomas up.
Romantically involved with: Dr Sara Winston age 28, 5’6”, dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, (almost deaf – wears hearing aids) (daughter of British Foreign Secretary)
Appears in: Anonymous, Concealed, Healing, Living, Impossible & Relentless – own story - Impossible
Name: Tuck or Ryan Tucker (Former Major in US Marine Corps now owner Stalwart Security Services)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’2” tall, light brown hair, light grey eyes (age 45 in own book) Owner of Stalwart, serious and responsible, close friends with JT.
Romantically involved with: Candeda or Candy Morales, 36, 5’6”, black hair, dark brown eyes, (formerly Naval Intelligence & FBI & Krav Maga Instructor level)
Appears in: Anonymous, Concealed, Healing, Living, Impossible & Relentless – own story - Relentless
Name: Zach Tucker (US Army Ranger)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’7” tall, white blond hair, ice blue eyes, (AKA Gigantor) (age 36 in own book). Suffers with PTSD. Prone to opening mouth and inserting foot!
Romantically involved with: Sacha deMarco, 25, 5’5” tall, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, Italian heritage
Appears in: Impossible & Relentless - own story - Relentless
Name: Brandon Campbell (US Army Ranger)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’4” auburn hair, hazel eyes (age 40 in own book) (widowed father of Hayley) Newly widowed and devoted to his daughter, has close friendship and shares house with Sara and Marcus.
Romantically involved with: Bella Hammond, Age 38, 5’6”, dark brown hair and eyes, Spanish heritage. Widow with two kids.
Appears in: Impossible & Relentless – own story - Deceived
Name: Jordan Kenny (US Army Ranger)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’6, African American twin (think young cross between Denzel & Idris) (age 31 in own book)
Romantically involved with: Abbey Russell, age 26, 5’5”, father African American, mother British, stunning blue eyes, single mom to Baxter.
Appears in: Relentless - own story - Retribution
Name: Sam Kenny (US Army Ranger)
Physical appearance/personality: 6’4”, African
American twin (think young cross between Denzel & Idris) (age 31 in own book)
Romantically involved with: Aisha Raman, age 28, 5’10”, Chicago born Pakistani/Irish supermodel.
Appears in: Relentless - own story – Shattered
Alex Morales – Son of Candy – age 23
Physical appearance/personality: 6’1”, Spanish heritage, black hair and dark brown eyes. Gentle soul, polite and respectful, with a hint of mischief. Adores his mother and Nana, and has joined the Marines to follow in Tuck’s footsteps.
Romantically involved with: Sophia Diminov, age 24 – doctor and daughter of billionaire Gregor Diminov. 5’7. Strawberry-blonde hair with stunning green eyes.
Appears from Impossible onwards – Own book – Allegiance
Name: Gregor Diminov – Russian Billionaire based in Philadelphia
Physical appearance/personality: 6’2, Dark brown hair, blue eyes (age 44 in own book). Father of Sophia and Serge. Philanthropist and businessman (with a soft spot for rabbits!)
Romantically involved with: Tulli Mazur, 5’6”, auburn hair, grey eyes, age 28. Polish by birth, emigrated to US as a teenager with her parents, sisters, and brother.
Appears from Allegiance on. Own book – Breathless.
Other Characters of note from the Alpha Company Women Series –
Claire, JT’s secretary
Colonel Joseph Bailey, Alice’s father, formerly in charge of Alpha and Bravo teams
Joey (Joanna) and Andrew, Alice & JT’s children
Jonathan and Casey, Cara and Louise, Luke and Ellen’s twin boys and twin girls
Lilly, Rose and Adam, Danny and Hannah’s children
Charlie and Taylor, Matt and Suzie’s son and daughter
Cameron, CJ and Thomas’s son
Dylan, Candy and Tuck’s son
Kelly, Tuck’s daughter from his first marriage
Rocco Tucker, Sacha and Zach’s son
Casey Roberts, Luke’s murdered twin brother