Helldiver: The Alex Morgan Interpol Spy Thriller Series (Intrepid 4)
Page 22
“Of course, throughout all this, we were still building our evidence against you. You’ve been very clever and have managed to cover your tracks very effectively over many decades, which we now know you have done with considerable help from your masters in Moscow. And this rushed and very clumsy attempt of yours to deliver me into the hands of the Renegade chairman himself, Zolnerowich, while you’re overseas – did you really think I was naive enough to believe it was a genuine invitation? I was prepared for a showdown of some sort, Violet. And I will admit to thinking that you would have been there. Of course, you weren’t and, well, Zolnerowich and I had a lot to catch up on. I was made aware of just how far back your treachery began. You’ll just have to live with the shame of it when it all comes out, and it will. You have betrayed the trust of a great many people, Violet, not the least of whom are your own children and others who have had regard for you these many years.”
Davenport got up and Masterson walked over to join him. Before leaving, Davenport turned to face her one last time.
“You may not be aware yet that Hedeon Zolner was shot a few days ago by the SVR in Moscow and his father fell from a plane two nights ago over Surrey. The body was recovered yesterday morning, not too far from Cobham.”
“And what has any of that to do with me?” she asked.
“You should consider yourself lucky,” replied Davenport.
CHAPTER 38
Alex Morgan wandered out of the shower, heading back to his room to get dressed, and stopped dead in his tracks. Elizabeth Reigns was on his bed wearing nothing but her underwear. She was lying on her front, her feet up behind her, reading a magazine. Morgan couldn’t help but stop and admire her. She was svelte and lightly tanned and possessed the classic beauty of her Asian-American heritage. Her long black hair fell down one side of her face and when she looked up at him and smiled, her soft features were framed perfectly by it.
“If that’s Guns and Ammo you’re reading, I may just propose,” he said.
“What if I said it was Jane’s Defence Weekly?”
“Let’s fly to Vegas right now. How many kids do you wanna have?”
“You are such an idiot,” she said and went back to reading.
“So, seriously, Reigns,” he said from the door. “What are you reading?”
She lifted it just enough for him to see the cover.
“HELLO magazine! Jesus. Are you kidding?” Morgan laughed. So did she and then she hurled the magazine at him and sat up. Morgan dodged it just in time.
“I may be able to kick your ass, Morgan,” she said. “But I’m still a girl, you know. Or hadn’t you noticed?” She rolled her body out slowly, laid her head back among the pillows and stretched until her toes curled over the edge of the bed, using a pair of endlessly long legs and a thong to captivate Morgan’s attention. There was something primal in the pull she had over him and her almost nakedness presented so wantonly before him reduced Morgan to his most carnal. She carried her beauty unashamedly and Morgan realized in that moment that they had become much more to each other than just buddies with benefits, as they’d started out. Through all the confusion of Arena’s sudden and unexpected reappearance in his life, coming back to Reigns somehow made everything feel exactly as it should.
He walked over to the bed and Reigns pulled the towel from his body. Morgan lay down beside her and began kissing along her neck, slowly working his way over her breasts and down to her thong. Reigns body arched under his touch and she groaned a deep lascivious purr from the back of her throat. She reached down and ran her fingers through Morgan’s thick brown hair, her nails scratching at his scalp. Morgan looked back at her and smiled as his teeth teased the fine lace edging of her thong.
“You can do whatever you want,” she breathed, looking into his eyes. “But only if you promise not to be gentle.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to offer my most sincere thanks to the following people, without whom etc. …
My beautiful wife the adorable Sarah Allen, and our boys Morgan and Rhett. I adore them all and always will.
Joel Naoum, Shelly Cameron, Ashley Thomson and Patrick Lenton at Momentum/Pan Macmillan Australia. Thanks again so much.
My agent Tara Wynne at Curtis Brown.
Special mention must also go to: Lieutenant Colonel Richard Scott and Captain Phil Dove, The Parachute Regiment; Commander David Bachi, Australian Federal Police; Brigadier Andrew Dudgeon, AM; Andrew Vintner; ex-paratrooper and architect extraordinaire, Roberto Fattoretto; David Standring; Kate “Lois Lane” Matheson; Alex “Skuey” Hermescec; Valerie Gutenev Hale; Lucy Parker; Chris Graham; Melanie and Jeff Verheggen; Liam Saville; Declan Allen; Margaret Anderson.
ABOUT CHRIS ALLEN
Chris Allen writes escapist action thrillers for realists, having seen and done it all.
A former paratrooper, Chris served in three Commonwealth armies across two decades and four continents. He left the military due to injuries, retiring at the rank of Major. In addition to his military career, Chris has served with three law enforcement agencies in Australia, led security operations for an international aid agency in East Timor during the emergency in 1999, and was headhunted to take over the protection of Sydney’s most iconic landmark, the Sydney Opera House. In 2008 Chris was appointed Sheriff of New South Wales, one of Australia’s most historic law enforcement appointments. Today, he continues his career as a writer and government senior executive. Chris and his wife, Sarah, live in Sydney. They have two small boys, Morgan and Rhett.
In his Intrepid series, Chris puts the reader deep within the action. His protagonist, Alex Morgan, represents the embodiment of Chris’s own military and law enforcement insider experience. Intrepid is the Intelligence, Recovery, Protection and Infiltration Division of Interpol, a top secret black ops taskforce operating in the shadows to protect the world’s most vulnerable people from the worst among us.
ALSO BY CHRIS ALLEN
Defender
Hunter
Avenger
First published by Momentum in 2015
This edition published in 2015 by Momentum
Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000
Copyright © Chris Allen 2015
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
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A CIP record for this book is available at the National Library of Australia
Helldiver: The Alex Morgan Interpol Spy Thriller Series (Intrepid 4)
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