by Karen Guyler
“There is one thing you should know though, before you decide,” Luke said. “Your husband was right when he said I’m The Society.”
Eva nearly dropped her glass.
“They came onto the scene about five years ago completing a number of high-profile assassinations, causing havoc with no agenda.” Gordon gestured at Luke, “You tell her, it was your idea.”
“After they killed my partner, I caught one of their assassins in a sting operation and we got what we could from him to take them down. The group had a die or disappear policy so we mopped it up, but their name was known, their reputation feared. We agreed it was something we could use, so we took it over, not really convinced it would work but we’ve managed to save a lot of people who would have been killed otherwise and make sure those ordering the assassinations got the justice they deserved.”
“That’s what this unit is.” Gordon said. “We’re an extension to MI6 to anyone who doesn’t know the truth, licence to operate globally. And, of course, there’s cross-pollination and co-operation between us. The Society is what we’re asking you to join, Eva.”
Eva closed her mouth. “It might have saved me a few sleepless nights, few heart palpitations if you’d told me earlier.”
“Need to know, hence the strict security here, our closed door policy—anyone not part of our unit in the building and we lock it down further. We achieve a lot of good if that secret is kept.”
With Every Drop under investigation its reputation, and Eva’s, was shot and it would have to be wound up. If the charity couldn’t be her father’s legacy, maybe this could. It would be nice to be back amongst people she liked and respected, doing something that still made a difference.
But putting herself in needless danger wasn’t the way to parent Lily, especially as Eva was a single mum again.
“What?” She looked from Luke to Gordon, having their own conversation. “Trainee what?”
“First lesson.” Luke said. “Every field agent, spy as you so lovingly call them, starts as a trainee. How about it, trainee Agent Janssen, has a ring to it, don’t you think?”
62
“Lily!” Eva waved as she saw her coming out of the school gates in a huddle of girls.
Lily looked as though Eva had turned up naked. She said something to her friends, and they hugged each other as though they wouldn’t be seeing each other ever again. Certainly not as though they hadn’t spent all day together, would be tomorrow, and would probably be online to each other all evening.
Eva gave them their space.
“Mum, what’re you doing here? It’s not cool, meeting me from school. I’m nearly twelve, I can get home by myself.”
Eva laughed. “When you’re thirty-five, you’ll still be my baby.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “What’s up?”
“Thought we might go for dinner.”
“Why?”
“Well, we have to eat. Where d’you fancy going, anywhere you like.”
“Anywhere?”
“Apart from a champagne and caviar bar, obviously, not until you at least look eighteen.” Lily rolled her eyes again. “What about a Mad Hatter tea party?”
Lily grinned in a very unlike-an-eleven-year-old way. “That sounds great.”
The lemonade came in little bottles with ‘drink me’ labels tied around the necks. The Battenberg cake had a skewer through the middle on which a tiny flag demanded ’eat me’.
“We should toast.” Eva picked up one of the bottles. “You go first.”
“To being twelve, skol.”
Eva laughed and toasted her daughter. “Skol, to being twelve, that’s a special birthday.”
“Your turn.” Lily held up her bottle ready.
“I had an offer today, to go back to my old job.”
“Are you taking it? You do need one.”
Eva smiled at Lily telling her how it was. “I do. The thing is though, it will probably mean I have to go away from time to time. What would you think about that?”
“I can stay with Anya, her mum won’t mind. Anya’s stayed with us lots of times.” Lily looked excited at the thought.
Single mums helping each other out, that could maybe work.
Lily waggled her lemonade bottle and Eva gasped.
“Mum, you all right?”
“Yes, of course, everything’s good.” She’d never noticed it before in Lily but it had been right there in her expression, a glimpse of Eva’s father in his granddaughter’s smile, as though he approved.
Working in intelligence would be a more fitting legacy for him, for Eva to truly follow in his footsteps, doing what she could to keep her loved one safe, to shine a light on the truth he paid such a heavy price to find. Proof every day, if she needed it, that she hadn’t chosen to stay small.
“So are we toasting it, or what?” Lily asked.
Eva clinked her bottle to Lily’s. “To running towards the bullets.”
THE END
To Jasmine Walt
With heartfelt thanks that, when you reached backwards to help those behind you, you took my hand
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Acknowledgments
Writing is mostly a solitary thing but the bringing together of a book takes a team and I’m very blessed to have the best people around me. You know who you are! But, in case, you need reminding, my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you:
To my wonderful husband, Dave Guyler, for making my beautiful office a reality, I’m grateful every day for such a lovely workspace (and you probably are too when I’m pacing around plotting and reading the book out loud….) To my fabulous daughter, Makenna, thank you for your invaluable input and encouragement, for fitting reading and rereading The Society into your crazy busy schedule, and for making so many coffees, merci mille fois. To my lovely son, Connor, you visual techy wizard you, for creating this gorgeous cover, you know you have that job going forward, right? To my other lovely boy, Kade, thanks for all the interruptions of videos I just had to see right then and for now understanding that the best way to come up to my office is bearing a cup of tea. To my ‘gained’ children, Adam Wilson, for being patient every time I say, ‘Adam, why has this tech done that?’ and Natalie Wickenden for spreading the word.
To my street team – you are all awesome! Thanks for your input, for helping me shape this story into the best it can be and for being the best cheerleaders and telling everyone about it: Beverley Bishop, Nick Cook, Katie Cooper, Deb Day, Makenna Guyler, Helen Hanna, Jon Mayhew and Mark Robertson, thank you.
To the Collective, you crazy, funny, wise lot. Thanks for the wisdom, the advice, the laughs, the camaraderie and the encouragement – my mad plan for this year is all your fault.
To Mariëlle Smith, wordsmith extraordinaire, (https://mswordsmith.nl) for helping me find the hidden nuggets in the blurb and for that ‘bitch-slap from the universe’ card back in
Edinburgh. Here it is, as instructed, ‘my own fucking magic’.
To 20BooksEdinburgh, where I found my tribe, you all rock, and can’t we dance?! With special thanks to Jasmine Walt and Craig Martelle for your generosity in helping me to be part of it.
To Redouan Sadak for clarifying the things in Marrakech that I didn’t notice when I was there. And, thanks, too, for the honey!
To everyone else making their way up the mountain, we’ve got this.
Also by karen guyler
Have you read them all?
In the ‘The Society’ Series
Dare You, book 0
When he approached The Society to take care of his embezzling, cheating business partner, Trevor Young thought they were just a gun for hire. But he broke the one important rule that he thought didn’t matter. Never break the contract. Now, The Society are in control. And Trevor’s life is the one on the line. How can he turn things around?
Free to download
The Society, book 1
When a former colleague of Eva Janssen’s is poisoned instead of her, her usually quiet world spins out of control. Who is targeting her? And why? Separated from her husband and daughter while on the run, Eva realises they’ve become pawns in a deadly power game. But she has no idea who the players are, and how can she fight back when danger’s coming at her from where she least expects it?
Buy it here
The Lynx Assassin, book 2
Eva Janssen’s trial mission should be easy but she hasn’t learnt that a plan never survives contact with the enemy, even if you know who you’re fighting. And she hasn’t understood what it means to be part of The Society. When she finds herself on the wrong end of the Lynx Assassin, a weapon smarter and more deadly than the best human, first she has to survive.
Buy it here
In the ‘Dateline Zero’ series
The Only, book 1
The Government stepped up after a devastating flu pandemic to save what remained of the British people. And what does it matter if they’re told where to live, what to eat, what job to do? The Government are keeping them safe. Maya Flint wouldn’t dream of breaking the rules, until her brother’s life is on the line and then she discovers everything she thought she knew was a lie.
Buy it here
The Disappeareds, book 2
Moved to London to work at Science Academy just like she bargained, Maya Flint has everything she wanted. Except her best friend, except her family, except her safety. And now something big is coming, something that has a dictator running scared. And a man scared is capable of anything. Stop him, Maya must, but what if the price is her soul and what if he gets to her first?
Buy it here
The Reckoning, book 3
Set adrift in a stranger’s life, remembering nothing before this summer, can Maya Flint find her way back to those she cares about? Will she learn that some things, some people, are not to be trusted before it’s too late? And what happens if she does?
Buy it here
Standalone
Celebrations, but not as we know them
Ten teeny tiny stories of things we celebrate, only sideways.
Buy it here
About the Author
Always being the new girl at nine schools on two continents was no fun at all so books became the only constant in Karen Guyler’s life, even if they didn’t help her get out of sports days. Now settled in Milton Keynes, England, Britain’s best kept secret, she juggles reading with writing, her children, husband and dog - a much nicer mix! On mostly sunny days she’ll be trying to cajole her gorgeous dog out for a walk though has had to abandon the idea of dictating while walking because all the ‘sit’, ‘stay’, ‘don’t do that’, ‘leave’, ‘come back’ played havoc with the characters’ lives.
She also teaches creative writing for Adult Education with lots of laughter in amongst the word wrangling and discovery.
An Unexpected Books ebook
First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Unexpected Books Limited
Copyright © Unexpected Books ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The moral right of Karen Guyler to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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