Price of Honor
Page 1
Table of Contents
Synopsis
Applause for L.L. Raand’s Midnight Hunters Series
Acclaim for Radclyffe’s Fiction
By Radclyffe
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Epilogue
About the Author
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
Synopsis
Honor and duty are not always black and white—and when self-styled patriots take up arms against the government, the price of honor may be a life.
Blair Powell and Jane Graves have much in common and even more that sets them apart in an invisible battle raging on home soil. Blair’s father is the president of the United States, while Jane’s is a domestic terrorist bent on bringing about a new world order at the expense of the present one. When Blair takes to the campaign trial to support her father’s re-election, Cameron Roberts and the newest members of Blair’s security detail must protect the president and his daughter from foes bent on revenge. Jane and her secret ally within the president’s inner circle vow to destroy them all, at any cost.
Applause for L.L. Raand’s Midnight Hunters Series
The Midnight Hunt
RWA 2012 VCRW Laurel Wreath winner Blood Hunt
Night Hunt
The Lone Hunt
“Raand has built a complex world inhabited by werewolves, vampires, and other paranormal beings…Raand has given her readers a complex plot filled with wonderful characters as well as insight into the hierarchy of Sylvan’s pack and vampire clans. There are many plot twists and turns, as well as erotic sex scenes in this riveting novel that keep the pages flying until its satisfying conclusion.”—Just About Write
“Once again, I am amazed at the storytelling ability of L.L. Raand aka Radclyffe. In Blood Hunt, she mixes high levels of sheer eroticism that will leave you squirming in your seat with an impeccable multi-character storyline all streaming together to form one great read.”—Queer Magazine Online
“The Midnight Hunt has a gripping story to tell, and while there are also some truly erotic sex scenes, the story always takes precedence. This is a great read which is not easily put down nor easily forgotten.”—Just About Write
“Are you sick of the same old hetero vampire/werewolf story plastered in every bookstore and at every movie theater? Well, I’ve got the cure to your werewolf fever. The Midnight Hunt is first in, what I hope is, a long-running series of fantasy erotica for L.L. Raand (aka Radclyffe).”—Queer Magazine Online
“Any reader familiar with Radclyffe’s writing will recognize the author’s style within The Midnight Hunt, yet at the same time it is most definitely a new direction. The author delivers an excellent story here, one that is engrossing from the very beginning. Raand has pieced together an intricate world, and provided just enough details for the reader to become enmeshed in the new world. The action moves quickly throughout the book and it’s hard to put down.”—Three Dollar Bill Reviews
Acclaim for Radclyffe’s Fiction
2013 RWA/New England Bean Pot award winner for contemporary romance Crossroads “will draw the reader in and make her heart ache, willing the two main characters to find love and a life together. It’s a story that lingers long after coming to ‘the end.’”—Lambda Literary
In 2012 RWA/FTHRW Lories and RWA HODRW Aspen Gold award winner Firestorm “Radclyffe brings another hot lesbian romance for her readers.”—The Lesbrary
Foreword Review Book of the Year finalist and IPPY silver medalist Trauma Alert “is hard to put down and it will sizzle in the reader’s hands. The characters are hot, the sex scenes explicit and explosive, and the book is moved along by an interesting plot with well drawn secondary characters. The real star of this show is the attraction between the two characters, both of whom resist and then fall head over heels.”—Lambda Literary Reviews
Lambda Literary Award Finalist Best Lesbian Romance 2010 features “stories [that] are diverse in tone, style, and subject, making for more variety than in many, similar anthologies…well written, each containing a satisfying, surprising twist. Best Lesbian Romance series editor Radclyffe has assembled a respectable crop of 17 authors for this year’s offering.”—Curve Magazine
2010 Prism award winner and ForeWord Review Book of the Year Award finalist Secrets in the Stone is “so powerfully [written] that the worlds of these three women shimmer between reality and dreams…A strong, must read novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the last page is turned.”—Just About Write
In Benjamin Franklin Award finalist Desire by Starlight “Radclyffe writes romance with such heart and her down-to-earth characters not only come to life but leap off the page until you feel like you know them. What Jenna and Gard feel for each other is not only a spark but an inferno and, as a reader, you will be washed away in this tumultuous romance until you can do nothing but succumb to it.”—Queer Magazine Online
Lambda Literary Award winner Stolen Moments “is a collection of steamy stories about women who just couldn’t wait. It’s sex when desire overrides reason, and it’s incredibly hot!”—On Our Backs
Lambda Literary Award winner Distant Shores, Silent Thunder “weaves an intricate tapestry about passion and commitment between lovers. The story explores the fragile nature of trust and the sanctuary provided by loving relationships.”—Sapphic Reader
Lambda Literary Award Finalist Justice Served delivers a “crisply written, fast-paced story with twists and turns and keeps us guessing until the final explosive ending.”—Independent Gay Writer
Lambda Literary Award finalist Turn Back Time “is filled with wonderful love scenes, which are both tender and hot.”—MegaScene
Against Doctor’s Orders
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Price of Honor
© 2015 By Radclyffe. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-62639-177-2
This Electronic Book is published by
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, New York 12185
First Edition: July 2015
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editors: Ruth Sternglantz and Stacia Seaman
Production Design: Stacia Sea
man
Cover Design By Sheri (graphicartist2020@hotmail.com)
By Radclyffe
Romances
Innocent Hearts
Promising Hearts
Love’s Melody Lost
Love’s Tender Warriors
Tomorrow’s Promise
Love’s Masquerade
shadowland
Passion’s Bright Fury
Fated Love
Turn Back Time
When Dreams Tremble
The Lonely Hearts Club
Night Call
Secrets in the Stone
Desire by Starlight
Crossroads
Homestead
Against Doctor’s Orders
Honor Series
Above All, Honor
Honor Bound
Love & Honor
Honor Guards
Honor Reclaimed
Honor Under Siege
Word of Honor
Code of Honor
Price of Honor
Justice Series
A Matter of Trust (prequel)
Shield of Justice
In Pursuit of Justice
Justice in the Shadows
Justice Served
Justice For All
The Provincetown Tales
Safe Harbor
Beyond the Breakwater
Distant Shores, Silent Thunder
Storms of Change
Winds of Fortune
Returning Tides
Sheltering Dunes
First Responders Novels
Trauma Alert
Firestorm
Oath of Honor
Taking Fire
Short Fiction
Collected Stories by Radclyffe
Erotic Interludes: Change of Pace
Radical Encounters
Edited by Radclyffe
Best Lesbian Romance 2009-2014
Stacia Seaman and Radclyffe, eds.
Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments
Erotic Interludes 3: Lessons in Love
Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions
Erotic Interludes 5: Road Games
Romantic Interludes 1: Discovery
Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets
Breathless: Tales of Celebration
Women of the Dark Streets
Amore and More: Love Everafter
Myth & Magic: Queer Fairy Tales
By L.L. Raand
Midnight Hunters
The Midnight Hunt
Blood Hunt
Night Hunt
The Lone Hunt
The Magic Hunt
Shadow Hunt
Acknowledgments
The Honor series holds a special place in the chronology of my titles. Above All, Honor was one of my early works and marks a place in my journey that would prove to be life-changing. I was halfway through writing Above All, Honor when I got sidetracked and stopped writing it. I have never written two novels at one time, since I have always written every work from start to finish. Stopping in the middle to write something else (with the exception of short stories, and then just briefly) just didn’t happen. But in 1997 I discovered the Internet, and along with it, X-Files fan fiction. Almost immediately, I began to explore writing and posting fan fiction on the X-Files ScullySlash list. Along with that very new adventure came the realization that sharing my work, which I had not done up until that point, added an extra dimension of pleasure and reward to the process of writing. I discovered writing colleagues and a whole new world of challenges.
For a year I wrote nothing except fan fiction on a daily basis, all of which is still available on my website (radfic.com). And during that time, I wasn’t writing any original fiction, although I wrote original characters in my fan fiction. Eventually when the TV series died off, I returned to writing original fiction, and one of the first things I did was finish Above All, Honor. That book was one of the first I formally published in 2001, and eventually was one of the first to be published by Bold Strokes Books in a revised, expanded edition in 2004. My intention was never to write a series, but I was seduced by requests from readers for more of these characters, and somehow, the series has morphed into ten novels and several story arcs. Each time I start a new “chapter” in the lives of Cam and Blair and all the supporting cast, the characters are at once new and familiar to me and their stories a renewed pleasure. I hope you find the same to be true.
Many thanks go to: senior editor Sandy Lowe for her contributions in keeping me and BSB running on track, editor Ruth Sternglantz for knowing where I’m going before I do, editor Stacia Seaman for always reading with care and attention, Sheri Halal for the expert graphic work, and my first readers Paula, Eva, and Connie for encouragement and inspiration.
And as always, thanks to Lee, who joined the train at the very beginning and is still up for the ride. Amo te.
Radclyffe, 2015
To Lee, intrepid traveler and brave explorer
Chapter One
In the foothills of the Bitterroot Mountains, Idaho
Jane had had so many names in her life, she could barely remember the one she was born with. She’d been known as Angela Jones in Eugen Corp, where she’d worked in the Level 4 lab up until the day she’d disappeared with a vial of deadly avian flu virus tucked into a fold of her clothes. In the paramilitary compound deep in the Idaho mountains, she’d been Captain Jane Graves to her fellow militia. She’d liked being known by the name she shared with her father, General Augustus Graves. Now she was neither Jane Graves nor Angela Jones or any of the long-ago names she’d had as a child moving from place to place with members of the freedom movement who’d taught and trained her. The FBI and Homeland Security knew her by those names and were looking for her. And her father was dead and had taken his name, all their names, to the grave with him.
Now she was just Jane.
She smiled as she slid the blades of the drugstore scissors along her neck and closed them on the strands of wet crimson hair scalloped on her skin. She knew her father was dead. She’d seen Cameron Roberts’s face in the starburst light of the muzzle flash when Roberts gunned him down. Graves had gone to the grave. No matter. She knew who she was. A name was only a mask she wore, part of her camouflage. She was a soldier, a freedom fighter, a defender of the Constitution. She’d learned that as soon as she had learned to talk, when she’d had the first name, the one she could barely recall. Her father and those who had stood for him had raised her to be a patriot. God, family, country. These were the things that mattered.
Her country, America’s America, was being perverted, weakened, humiliated in the eyes of the world by politicians who cared only for their own power and greed, by misguided and self-serving bureaucrats who pretended to care about the common man while undermining the strength and fabric of the American middle class. Her father and those like him understood that a strong America began with its leaders, men who believed in the words of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, who’d ensure America was for the Americans, and that the world knew it. His vision. Her vision. God and country, forever strong.
She was the head of the family now, and she had two missions, each part of the larger goal. She must carry out her father’s plan to show the American people, not through empty words but by positive action, the failings of the politicians they had elected to the highest offices in the land. People had grown numb to words but not to the images of their own vulnerability made brutally visible to them on their televisions and computer screens and the front pages of newspapers. Only fear for their own safety would ever change the minds of those who had grown deaf and dumb to the truth. Her father had known this, had taught her this. She and her sister and her brother had been shaped to do their part in the patriotic war. That war had not ended with the destruction of their compound or even her father’s murder. The fight had barely begun, and she would not allow the enemy an easy victory. She would continue the war, and she would free her sister.
&nb
sp; Jennifer had been the first to fall, not killed, but captured. She was somewhere in DC, in a temporary holding facility, and Jane had only a small window of time to free her before she disappeared into the black hole of the justice system. They had all known this could happen—to any of them. She thought she’d been prepared, but the ache of Jenn’s absence was worse somehow than her father’s death. He had always been a symbol, a distant force that guided her life. Jenn was her friend, her confidant, the only one who knew her.
Methodically, she collected the fallen strands and dropped them into a plastic supermarket bag to dispose of when she left the motel where she’d spent the last few days waiting for the influx of local and federal law enforcement agents to diminish. She had no idea how many of the others had escaped, or what if anything of the compound remained. All she’d managed to salvage were her rifle, two handguns, and a gym bag filled with a quarter of a million dollars. She’d had to kill the biker who double-crossed them and tried to steal the money her father had obtained from an anonymous political donor to purchase weapons. She couldn’t risk contacting any of the other militia, not yet. She couldn’t risk returning to the compound, for it might never be a safe place again. She had no home, no refuge. All she had now were her siblings and her father’s words resounding in her mind.
She stared into her own flat blue eyes in the pitted mirror above the stained porcelain sink and decided her appearance was altered enough with the ultra-short cut and red dye she’d used. She still had a weapon more powerful than a bullet. She had Robbie, close to the president’s inner circle. And she had the phone number of the man who’d provided the money.