Hard to Kill
A Hard Targets Novel
Wendy Byrne
Gemma Halliday Publishing
Romantic Suspense ,@72k words
Trained as children to become an assassins by the infamous Goren Petrovich, Sabrina Shaw and her two brothers have had a less-than-normal upbringing. After escaping his clutches, Sabrina and her brothers have tried to make a normal life for themselves.
Now Sabrina works for an organization called The Alliance, specializing in the kind of jobs that no one else can or wants to do. Her current assignment: find the daughter of a prominent politician who has disappeared, categorized as a runaway by the authorities.
It seems simple enough, until Sabrina uncovers the girl may have been the victim of a kidnapping that goes far
beyond ransom requests. Now Sabrina must put her training to the test as she infiltrates a sex trafficking ring operating in Europe in order to find the girl...all while dodging a mysterious FBI agent and the demons from her own past.
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Excerpt:
“Get the hell out of there. Now.” Jenning’s voice crackled to life in Sabrina’s earpiece.
She ignored his command even while her skin itched, foretelling her sixth sense was kicking in. Yep, she was close.
“Now, Shaw. His friends are heading your way. You—"
She clicked off the receiver to stop the tirade that no doubt would follow. A few minutes. That’s all she needed.
Tip-toeing up the metal staircase in her black combat-style boots, she inched her way to apartment 203. Eddie Ramer might be able to fool the cops
but not her. The bottom feeder had been enticing Caitlyn for weeks with his promise of high paying modeling gigs. And then she’d disappeared.
Coincidence? Yeah, right.
A heavy smell of weed permeated the air, despite the open balconies outside the apartment doors. The metal railing and no-tell-motel-appearance of the building didn’t shock her. In fact it worked in her favor. The thin walls made her privy to the conversations along the journey to her prize.
201. 202. Finally, 203.
Peeking inside was made impossible by the closed drapes. Instead, she crawled under the window, then slid along the wall stopping outside the apartment door. A cacophony of motorcycle engines in the distance signaled Eddie’s friends were getting closer.
Her heart beat heavily while her fingers tingled. Everything inside her longed to grab the gun strapped to her thigh, but she resisted the urge. Only if necessary. She held her breath, keying into the conversation on the other side of the door.
“Let me see what you’ve got, baby.” The voice came from inside.
Sabrina closed her eyes, dispelling the vile thoughts racing around her head. Focus remained the key to her success.
“I thought—" The girl’s shaky voice signaled her fear.
“You have a smokin’ bod, but I gotta know you can sell the goods. That’s the way this works. Only then can I open doors for you.”
Enough.
With one strategically placed kick, her boot separated the lock from the flimsy door. Seconds later, she charged inside, tackling Eddie to the ground. He tried to reverse her dominant position, but she was one step ahead of him, bringing the tip of her blade to his throat, a mere flick away from his carotid artery.
She slid off his chest and eased them both to a standing position, never wavering on the location of the blade. “Now Caitlyn and I are going to leave without any trouble from you or your ragtag group of merry men. Got that?”
His eyebrows furrowed while his lips curled into a smirk. “Caitlyn? She’s ancient history.”
A sinking sensation settled in her gut as Sabrina turned toward the girl. Hovering close to the bed, a young Hispanic girl with striking looks and long dark hair stood, her blouse partially unbuttoned. Definitely not Caitlyn Collins.
Not good.
That half second of non-focus on her part was all Eddie needed to grab her forearm, dislodging the knife and sending it flying across the room into the wall. Despite his bulk, the alcohol reeking from his pores slowed his reflexes. She easily ducked the clumsy punch he sent her way. When he grasped her bicep and pulled up, that left him open for her counter strike to the round part of his shoulder, followed by a punch to his liver through the intercostal nerve, robbing him of breath, then a chop to the side of his neck, hitting his vagus nerve with enough force to stun.
Sabrina grabbed the girl and ran. Dread chilled her bones as she bounded down the steps, yanking the frightened girl along with her. For the first time in her life she’d failed her mission. She’d given the Collins family hope when she’d promised to rescue their daughter. Now she was coming back empty handed. There had to be another way.
Day in the Life Interview
My name is Sabrina Shaw and I used to be an assassin for a man named Goren Petrovich. But when my brother Max was nearly killed, we realized we were all marked for death. My brothers and I fled Europe the next day and now work for an agency called The Alliance. I do contract work for them where I mostly do hostage retrieval in dicey situations. It’s a challenging job, but I’m up for it. Besides, I can’t think of another occupation where I can utilize my skills. The only difference is now I only kill people who are about to kill me.
Which brings me to my most recent assignment. Truth be told, it’s not really an assignment. I choose to do this on my own. How could I refuse when I was the family’s only hope for getting their daughter back?
I didn’t expect to be drugged and brought halfway around the world, then chained naked to a wall. Not one of my better days. But being in tough spots is what I do best. All I need is a little opening and I can make this thing happen. I already found out that Caitlyn had been held at this place only a couple of days ago. That means I’m close. Besides, I’d already decided I would get this done, or die trying. And I’m not about to die.
But there’s this guy named Evan who works for the guy in charge. I don’t know quite what to make of him. Not that I should trust him. But maybe he can be bribed. Money is a powerful motivator for a whole lot of people.
Besides, I’m not exactly what you would call a rule-following kind of gal. I should be able to get myself out of this mess without too much trouble. I’ve been in much worse spots before. Besides, I know at least ten different ways to make a grown man beg for mercy—and not in a good way.
Excerpt from my story below:
Finally, she spotted Kane doing the fast version of the old-man shuffle. He must have gone to their agreed upon spot and found her missing. But if she got too close to him he’d be made as well. She needed to keep her distance until the men left.
She ducked into the shadow of a doorway and held her breath as the car rolled past. The rapid beat of her pulse began to pound in her ears as adrenaline combined with increased blood flow wound its way through her. When they rolled past Kane she unzipped her bag and fingered the trigger on the gun.
Even though he feigned obliviousness, she knew him better than to be fooled by his casual stance. When he shifted the pack from his shoulder to his hand, she knew he was readying to shoot his way out of the mess if need be. Still, she couldn’t help but admire his acting chops. If she didn’t know better--
The plastic bag went over head noiselessly while men surrounded her on both sides grabbing her arms and wrapping them behind her back in what felt like industrial strength bungee cords. Her feet were lethal but not without leverage, and not without the ability to breathe. While she struggled to suck in air, a voice whispered in her ear as he pulled her along, “We’ve heard about you and aren’t taking any chances.” The sinister laugh that followed caused her mind to freefall.
Suck it up.
Wheeze. Instead of air, plastic hit her gaping mouth. Dizziness set in as spots vibrated before her eyes. It wouldn’t be long before it was over.
Author bio: Wendy has a Masters in Social Work and worked in the child welfare field for twelve years before she decided to pursue her dream of writing. Her first two books, Fractured and Mama Said were published in 2011 and 2012.Mama Said was a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence Contest. She self-published The Christmas Curse in 2012. Between teaching college classes, trying to get her morbidly obese cat to slim down, and tempering the will of her five-year-old granddaughter, who's determined to become a witch when she turns six so she can fly on her broom to see the Eiffel Tower and put hexes on people—not necessarily in that order—somehow Wendy still manages to fit in writing. She spends the remainder of her days inflicting mayhem on her hero and heroine until they beg for mercy.
contact link: http://www.wendybyrne.net/contact/ or FB: https://www.facebook.com/WendyByrneAuthor
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