The Pact - Episode 2 E-Book

Christian Marshall

• Herausgeber: Bastei Lübbe
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 115

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

EPISODE 2 OF 8: Shaken by the death of their fellow agent, the five remaining NBS recruits must work together to stop The Syndicate from stealing smallpox samples from TriMark, a medical lab in upstate New York. Their assignment goes according to plan until Agent Felicity Wilson is knocked unconscious after extracting the samples. With Felicity left empty-handed, and NBS agents believing The Syndicate is responsible for stealing the samples out from under them, the recruits return to their homes, unaware of the deception surrounding their bungled first assignment. For each of the agents, life will never be the same as they learn of their proximity to The Syndicate. This is especially true for Agent Felicity Wilson, who will uncover a startling revelation about her past ... -- ABOUT THE SERIES: NBS agents are trained for one purpose: bringing down The Syndicate, an international crime organization aimed at profiteering by keeping countries at war with one another. When an NBS agent is murdered shortly before her first assignment, five new recruits quickly realize the agency they're working for may not be as trustworthy as it seems, forcing them to make a pact in order to survive. Can the new agents stay alive long enough to uncover the truth behind their fellow recruit's death? Or is finding answers hidden deep within both organizations tempting enough to make one of them break the pact? -- For fans of Robert Ludlum, THE BOURNE IDENTITY, John le Carré, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, Daniel Silva, THE UNLIKELY SPY and HOMELAND. -- Christian Liberty Marshall is an Austrian-based writer, and musician with degrees from Vanderbilt University, and University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. When not performing as a violist, he can be found teaching at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg, writing educational material for children, or translating German literature. His first serial novel, The Pact, is available in summer 2015.

Leseprobe

Contents

Title page

The Pact — About the Series

About the Book

List of Main Characters

About the Author

Title

Copyright

Episode 2: Uncover

Next Episode

The Pact — About the Series

NBS agents are trained for one purpose: bringing down The Syndicate, an international crime organization aimed at profiteering by keeping countries at war with one another.

When an NBS agent is murdered shortly before her first assignment, five new recruits quickly realize the agency they’re working for may not be as trustworthy as it seems, forcing them to make a pact in order to survive.

Can the new agents stay alive long enough to uncover the truth behind their fellow recruit’s death? Or is finding answers hidden deep within both organizations tempting enough to make one of them break the pact?

About the Book

Episode 2 of 8 — Uncover

Shaken by the death of their fellow agent, the five remaining NBS recruits must work together to stop The Syndicate from stealing smallpox samples from TriMark, a medical lab in upstate New York. Their assignment goes according to plan until Agent Felicity Wilson is knocked unconscious after extracting the samples. With Felicity left empty-handed, and NBS agents believing The Syndicate is responsible for stealing the samples out from under them, the recruits return to their homes, unaware of the deception surrounding their bungled first assignment.

For each of the agents, life will never be the same as they learn of their proximity to The Syndicate. This is especially true for Agent Felicity Wilson, who will uncover a startling revelation about her past.

List of Main Characters

Paul Leclerc loves life aboard a ship. But he also loves Scotch. That’s why he chose to leave his life at sea and open up a bar in his hometown, Marseilles. Yet he’s rarely in one place for long, always travelling the globe looking for new spirits to bring back to the port city. But is there another reason this Frenchman pulls his disappearing acts?

Jian Zhang doesn’t remember much about life in China’s Guangzhou. That’s why he decided to stay in New York City, to run his family’s dumpling dynasty after his parents returned home. There’s also his wife, Agnieszka, and their hopes of starting a family. Will their love for the arts—and each other—be Jian’s moral compass? Or will shocking discoveries force him to act against his nature?

An introverted coder, Swedish-born Dr. Leah Carlsson hates getting close to anyone — be it as a member of a team or on the receiving end of a handshake. Her years of hard work have earned her a full professorship at the University of Stockholm. Upon learning her work has been compromised, she must decide if she’s willing to risk her reputation to step out from behind the walls she’s built—both around herself and in her field.

Originally from New York City, Nicholas Clark is a detective now in Cape Town, South Africa. After his fiancé’s tragic death, Nick loses himself in his police work. But ousting crooked cops and putting criminals behind bars can only numb the pain for so long. Will the opportunity to play a part in a secret agency give him the new purpose he’s been looking for?

Felicity Wilson may call Los Angeles home, but her roots are solidly in the Midwest. Fresh out of graduate school, she’s convinced all her friends and family into believing she’s ambitiously pursuing a career in politics. But what she’s secretly looking for is the answer to a question haunting her since childhood. The startling revelations she’s about to uncover will lead her to risk her life for the truth.

Eliska Novak worked as a high-class escort in Manhattan, affording her pleasures she’d only dreamt of as a child on the streets of Prague. On her first assignment as an NBS agent she met with an untimely death.

About the Author

Christian Liberty Marshall is an Austrian-based writer, and musician with degrees from Vanderbilt University, and University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. When not performing as a violist, he can be found teaching at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg, writing educational material for children, or translating German literature. His first serial novel, The Pact, is available in summer 2015.

Christian Liberty Marshall

Episode 2: Uncover

BASTEI ENTERTAINMENT

Digital original edition

Bastei Entertainment is an imprint of Bastei Lübbe AG

Copyright © 2015 by Bastei Lübbe AG, Schanzenstraße 6-20, 51063 Cologne, Germany

Written by Christian Liberty Marshall

Edited by Gail Werner

Project management: Lori Herber, Julia Hubschmid, Kathrin Kummer

Cover illustration and design: Travis Harvey

E-book production: Urban SatzKonzept, Düsseldorf

ISBN 978-3-7325-0837-2

www.bastei-entertainment.com

Episode 2: Uncover

Agent Sullivan knew his new recruits had not yet completed their training in London, but he’d been confident enough in their skills to bring them along with him on their first assignment in New York City. But things weren’t going according to his original plan. Now, stepping into a hotel room turned crime scene, he was staring at the lifeless body of one of them: Eliska Novak.

He knew the man lying dead next to her had worked for Mr. Lennox, member of The Syndicate and Eliska’s previous employer as a high-class pimp for very special escort services, and had been sent to retrieve information from Eliska before killing her. Agent Sullivan didn’t know how The Syndicate could have caught on to NBS’s plan so quickly, but he was glad an undercover agent had found out about it. Now he could only hope both this thug and Eliska had been killed before anything she might have told him about NBS or her fellow recruits could have gotten back to The Syndicate.

As Agent Sullivan waited for the forensics team to finish its investigation, one of its members, forensic science technician Moira Windham, approached him. She was holding a small, see-through plastic bag containing two bullets.

“We found two bullets of the same make,” Moira began. “We’ll put them through analyses, but I’d bet money they were fired from the same gun.”

“Okay,” Agent Sullivan said. “How long before you’re able to give me a time of death?” They both knew the answers to these questions, but asking was standard protocol. Agent Sullivan’s eyes shifted to where Eliska’s body lay on the floor. She was still wearing her boots and dress from the night before. The reddish-brown blood stains he could see from where he was standing had lost some of their gloss.

“Two, three days max. We’ll take the bodies to our lab and start autopsies immediately,” she explained. “I’ll deliver the report to you once it’s complete.”

“Thank you, Moira. I’m glad I called you in to help,” Agent Sullivan said, giving the technician an affirming nod.

He worked hard to build up relationships with NBS agents at stations across the world. He’d loved being out in the field during his first years as an agent, having never opted out of a single mission assigned to him. That fearlessness had earned him respect, which he’d used to gain his fellow agents’ trust. Trust having been key to his becoming a conduit for new information the agency received.

Now, as one of the NBS’s top agents, Agent Sullivan was rarely out of the loop. He preferred it that way. His top priority was always to maintain effective oversight of NBS assignments. He’d seen too many agents suffer due to their own tunnel vision.

Eliska would have been useful in helping him find out who Mr. Lennox was looking for. He regretted not having placed a wire on her. The thug from The Syndicate might have revealed something useful.

Agent Sullivan made his way downstairs to gather the other recruits before heading to NBS’s New York station. There they would finish their last round of preparation before going to TriMark to retrieve the smallpox samples. Informing TriMark about the potential threat facing the facility would have required revealing too much information about what NBS already knew. As long as the smallpox samples were at TriMark, The Syndicate would go after them.

Eliska’s death had forced Agent Sullivan to work out a new plan. Though the recruits’ training had been cut short by the attempted break-in at Abacus, they were capable of carrying out this assignment — Sullivan was sure of it. What he needed now was to make sure they kept their focus and adapted to the new plan.

As Agent Sullivan reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw his newest recruits — soon to be agents on their first assignment — entering the hotel lobby from the bar. He was ready with answers if they asked questions, but judging by their somber faces, he had the feeling that wasn’t going to be the case. Drawing in a confident breath, Agent Sullivan took wide steps across the marble floor to the corner of the lobby where they were now gathered, intent on reassuring them everything remained under control.

“Today we’ll be going to the NBS station here in New York,” Agent Sullivan explained. “We need to make some slight changes to the plan. We can use their facilities to prepare.” He hated changing plans on agents like this. It always left a sense of uncertainty, traces of old ideas and old instincts. But this time, it was unavoidable.

“What are we going to change about my plan? TriMark already knows I’m coming,” Leah said, narrowing her eyes and shooting Agent Sullivan an ungrateful look. He’d recruited Dr. Leah Carlsson to join the NBS in part because she’d designed the security system at Abacus — the one The Syndicate had managed not just to crack, but to duplicate. He knew she wanted to have nothing to do with NBS. She’d told him years of hard work would be lost if her reputation as a coder was ruined, but he ignored her disapproval and attributed her irritability to exhaustion.

“Right, but we need four agents on location at the facility …” Agent Sullivan paused, looking at Paul whose hands were thrust deep in his leather jacket’s pockets. “Paul is going to replace Eliska and will join Nick as a guard,” he continued. “I’ll join Jian in the van and work on surveillance.”

“That means … what exactly?” Felicity asked, raising her eyebrows. Judging by her tone, Agent Sullivan knew what he was about to tell her would further displease her.

“That means,” he said, “that you’ll be going after the smallpox samples yourself. You’ll have an in-ear monitor and Jian and I will be directing you off-site. Paul and Nick will be on the grounds in case anything should fail to go as planned.”

“How will we set everything up?” Jian asked. Agent Sullivan knew Jian was surprised by his assignment. Jian’s file had revealed that, while he was no expert, he’d grown up around technology and was comfortable with it — comfortable enough to operate surveillance equipment. He supposed Jian had hoped his business skills would have proven more useful. That he wanted to be on the inside with Paul and Nick, not stuck in a van in a nearby parking lot with him.

Agent Sullivan ignored his question. “Everything is waiting for us. We should leave now.” He made his way to the door, cutting off all further questions.

***

After arriving at New York’s NBS facilities, the agents were ushered into a conference room similar to the one that had greeted them at NBS’s London headquarters. The screens on the walls displayed the floor plans from TriMark along with the locations of all their security cameras.

The agents took their seats around the table and Agent Sullivan began.

“TriMark has been made aware of the attempted break-in at Abacus. They’ve ordered an extra set of guards on-site. Paul, you’ll need to head to the profiling wing later today. We’ve made arrangements for you to be there at the facility as well. TriMark’s main storage room is in the central building, but we can’t be certain they are holding the sample there until we’re inside. It’s up to Leah and Felicity to find out.”

“Last time I was at TriMark they took me straight to their IT room,” Leah said. She didn’t like how Agent Sullivan’s new plan for them was shaping up. “I don’t know what’s inside each of those labs.”

“You don’t need to,” Agent Sullivan said bluntly. “Your job is to relay the location of the samples and make sure Felicity is able to access them. Jian and I will guide her while keeping an eye out on the facility. Each of you will have an earpiece so we can communicate with you once you’re inside.”

Leah nodded her head before looking over at Felicity, who was trying her best to hold her emotions in check. Join the club, Leah thought. Though none of them had seen Eliska’s body, the recruits were all aware it was being examined somewhere in the building at that very moment. Now Felicity would have to steal the samples alone.

“You are both capable of this,” Agent Sullivan continued, glancing between her and Felicity. “We were confident you could perform such tasks or else we wouldn’t have recruited you. Yes, your training was cut short, but you are all still capable.” He cut his eyes to Jian, Nick, and Paul before letting them rest again on Leah.

“Agent Hall will show each of you where you can prepare for tomorrow.” As he said this, Agent Sullivan turned, motioning to the man standing in the doorway. He continued, “We’ll meet here again later this afternoon to go through the plan one final time.”