The Unknown Identities saga continues with another high-octane romantic suspense adventure set in the dynamic world of Elle James’ Brotherhood Protectors!
Now available in ebook and paperback at Amazon
He thrived as a Navy SEAL… Can he survive as a spy?
Danny Connolly fell off the radar, presumed killed in action during a mission with his SEAL team. No one he trusts knows he was rescued by Unknown Identities, a covert agency that literally remade him to fit their specific agenda.
Special Agent Chloe Spencer has been tasked with unraveling an intel leak within a company working on cutting edge technology with civilian and military applications. Unfortunately, every minor lead is a dead end.
Danny’s new skills empowered him to compromise the company undetected, but Chloe’s persistence has made her a target. Unable to accept his orders to kill her, he chooses to save her instead, putting them both on the wrong end of a lethal equation.
Available exclusively at Amazon
For all of the titles in this series visit the Unknown Identities page.
~~~Reviews~~~
5 STARS “While faithful readers will catch up with previous characters, newcomers will not be lost for one second…the pace is steady, there are hair-raising action sequences, and the characters are spectacularly well fleshed out…I can hardly wait for the next installments!” -Monique, goodreads review
~~~Enjoy an Excerpt~~~
Chapter 1
“This isn’t a neighborly tea and cookies kind of meeting,” John Noble teased his wife, Amelia. Since they’d settled here on a remote ranch in Eagle Rock, Montana, each day was a new discovery of this more domestic side of her. And each day she grew more beautiful as her pregnancy advanced and they planned for the arrival of their first child.
At her last ultrasound, they’d learned the baby was a boy. John still couldn’t fathom what kind of father he might become. His current solace was Amelia’s confidence in him. More than that, he trusted she wouldn’t let him screw up fatherhood. He supposed love did that, even to a man with his background.
Amelia glared at him as she stirred a pitcher of lemonade. “Blame it on nesting,” she said, her lips fighting a losing battle against a grin. Nothing seemed to dim her happy, healthy glow. He counted it as one more bonus of sinking down roots. “And take this tray of cookies into the office.”
“Yes, dear.” He kissed her cheek as he reached around her for the tray. His hands landed instead on the swell of her burgeoning belly and circled gently. “You two feeling all right?”
“We’re perfect,” she assured him, covering his hands with hers. “All three of us.”
His heart swelled. “Would you say life is perfect?”
“Pretty much.” She dropped her head to his shoulder, relaxing into him. “As soon as the nursery is finished I’ll feel ready and perfect.”
There was the industrious core of the woman he loved. He nuzzled her neck, inhaling the soft scent that seemed to bloom from just under her rich, red hair. He could stand here, just like this all day. Drawing her closer still, he hugged her and the baby she carried. The miracle of Amelia had been overwhelming enough, to have a child with her surpassed his wildest dreams of a normal life he’d long believed were out of his reach.
“You’re always perfect and ready for anything,” he said. “Babies included.”
He remembered the way her smile had lit up the dingy motel room when they’d found out she was pregnant. Beyond the shock of the news, the sheer joy on her face had tipped his world right off its axis. They had to make changes, put an end to their on-the-run life. Unfortunately the covert agency on their tail, Unknown Identities, hadn’t been so willing to let them peacefully ride off into the sunset.
Through a series of lucky and less-than lucky events, they’d wound up here, on a rugged, beautiful, and remote piece of land nestled against the Crazy Mountains. Here they could see any attacks from UI coming and with new, trustworthy friends in town and on neighboring properties, John felt as though they could safely raise a child without undue stress or worry.
Nearing the end of her second trimester, Amelia had arranged for their closest friends to come over and help them set up the nursery today, right after their meeting with Hank Patterson.
A retired Navy SEAL, Hank had returned to his home of Eagle Rock, Montana and opened the Brotherhood Protectors, a professional bodyguard and protection service that employed many of the men and women he’d served with through his career. They offered protective details and support for local clients, which John and Amelia appreciated, as well as clients in other areas.
Restless, she turned within the circle of his arms, linking her hands behind his neck. “You’re in a mood.”
He shook his head. “I love you,” he said, laying his lips on hers. He felt her lips curve into a smile as she slowly kissed him back, her fingers playing in his hair.
“I know,” she said, leaning back to catch her breath. Her expression turned dreamy, her eyes sparkled. Taking his hand, she pressed it to her side. The baby moved beneath his palm.
“Did you feel him?” she asked in breathless awe.
John nodded. The miracles kept piling up. A few years ago, John wouldn’t have believed it. With Amelia, he was starting to trust that anything really was possible.
A knock at the front door had Amelia shifting right back into fussy hostess mode. With a chuckle John stepped aside while she smoothed her fiery hair back from her face.
“You look fabulous,” he murmured, trailing her to the door. A soft glow on her skin was the only sign that they’d been making out in the kitchen rather than stirring lemonade or plating cookies.
Of course it was Hank, and they opened the door wide. He clasped John’s hand, then turned to Amelia, managing to give her a light, friendly hug without bumping her belly. A father and honorary uncle himself, the man clearly had plenty of practice with the maneuver.
“Just you?” John asked. Hank had mentioned discussing this situation with others within his company, specifically those who had served with Daniel ‘Danny Boy’ Connolly, a SEAL they’d believed killed in action four years prior.
The official records showed Connolly had been shot and subsequently drowned on a mission off the coast of Africa. Recently, Hank had come to John and Amelia with suspicions that the man had survived and was living in Europe.
Amelia had taken all the intel and background Hank provided and jumped on the search. Both she and John were eager to do anything to help the man who had been instrumental in seeing them safely settled in Eagle Rock.
Once the three of them were seated in the office and lemonade poured, she passed a folder to Hank. “I’ve documented everything I’ve been able to pin down,” she began. “Most of the photos are grainy enough to leave room for doubt, but odds are good this is the man you lost.”
“How sure are you?” Hank asked.
John slipped an arm around her shoulders, encouraging her.
“Ninety to ninety-five percent,” she said. “Fingerprints or DNA would be a stronger confirmation, though I doubt we’d get a match at this point.”
“Why not?” Hank asked, studying the documentation.
“You came to us because you suspected your friend got caught in the Unknown Identities trap,” John said.
“That’s right.”
“If UI did pick him up,” Amelia continued, “The first step is altering the records in the military databases so he could operate freely as they needed.”
“I should’ve tried harder,” Hank said. “That operation…” His voice trailed off.
“Pear-shaped from the start?” John queried.
“Pretty much,” Hank muttered, his jaw set.
“A man with his skills would be a coveted acquisition for UI,” Amelia said, quietly. “John and I have discussed the possibility that his death wasn’t simply bad luck but that he was targeted from the beginning.”
“That happens?”
“Yes,” John said, wishing he didn’t have to share the grim news. “It seems to be a frequent approach.” He tipped his head in the direction of the neighboring ranch. “Scott was framed along with two other soldiers, just to get more bodies into the program during the latest attempt to rebuild.”
“John’s case was similar to Connolly’s,” Amelia continued. “He did everything by the book to no avail. Messenger twisted things around on him, manipulating facts and options.”
“A codename, but he’s the ringleader publicly and privately as far as we can tell,” John explained. “He showed up at my lowest point with an offer I couldn’t refuse. The recruitment speech varies in the details, but the end result is the same, the man or woman, usually military, is led to believe that UI is the only viable option.”
“Why would they target Danny?”
“His skill set.” Amelia tapped her fingers lightly on the edge of the table. “Highly trained and accustomed to a chain of command. Plus, he didn’t have any family,” she said. “That kind of thing is the equivalent of an engraved invitation to Messenger. No one was around to fuss or complain about recovering a body for closure.”
“I haven’t had any closure in this situation,” Hank grumbled. “He’d been shot, sure, but it shouldn’t have been life-threatening. We’d all had worse.” He rubbed his forehead. “I’ve never stopped seeing him slide under the surf.”
John gave Hank a moment to collect himself before he said more. “Four years with UI is a long time, Hank. I feel confident we can find him… but when we do, what happens?”
“Bring him here. His brothers are here.”
Amelia shifted in her seat. “What John’s saying is he might not, ah, be the man you remember.”
“Then we’ll remind him who he is and who is on his side.”
“And if you can’t?” John asked baldly.
Hank stood up and ran a hand through his hair. “He’s solid,” Hank said. “You don’t find that kind of integrity in everyone.”
“You have a business with an excellent reputation and a community that counts on you,” Amelia said quietly. “You have a family that would be in jeopardy if we find him, bring him here, and he’s beyond redemption.”
“You recovered.” Hank aimed a hard look at John. “Scott’s fine. Danny deserves better than to live as a puppet in some black-ops freak show.”
“Didn’t Duke tell you what happened when they went looking for Owen, the operative who crossed paths with the photographer on the Crow Reservation?” John asked.
“I debriefed him myself,” Hank replied. “Your men were exceptional during that incident from what I heard.”
“Thanks.” John pinched the bridge of his nose. Hank was deliberately missing the point. Not that he could blame him. It had never been easy for him to leave a man behind, on a military-sanctioned mission or on UI orders. “You might have noticed Owen isn’t here. He chose not to join our less-structured team.”
“Danny is a SEAL. It’s different.”