The Pact - Episode 8 E-Book

Christian Marshall

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

Seitenzahl: 113

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

EPISODE 8 OF 8: Evidence mounts against Agent Sullivan as the insider responsible for sabotaging the NBS recruits' first agency assignment. Now Agent Hall must rely on the brittle trust he's built between himself and the new agents to allow them all to work together to rid their organization of a traitor from the inside. New revelations along the way will cause tensions to rise as each agent has something personal to lose at stake. For some, it's freedom. Others, revenge. But for one agent, it's a family secret she may be willing to go rogue for in order to uncover. -- 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, HOMELAND and ALIAS. -- 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

Cover

The Pact — About the Series

About the Book

List of Main Characters

About the Author

Title

Copyright

Episode 8: Reveal

NEW BEGINNINGS

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

Final episode — Reveal

Evidence mounts against Agent Sullivan as the insider responsible for sabotaging the NBS recruits’ first agency assignment. Now Agent Hall must rely on the brittle trust he’s built between himself and the new agents to allow them all to work together to rid their organization of a traitor from the inside. New revelations along the way will cause tensions to rise as each agent has something personal at stake. For some, it’s freedom. Others, revenge. But for one agent, it’s a family secret she may be willing to go rogue for in order to uncover.

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 8: Reveal

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 978-3-7325-0842-6

www.bastei-entertainment.com

Episode 8: Reveal

Felicity Wilson could see Andrew Lennox’s bottom lip graze his upper teeth before flicking towards her. She recognized her name forming on his mouth — a call, a question, a concern — but couldn’t hear it.

Everything was silent as she sat motionless, paralyzed by shock, every sound swallowed by the deafening collision of two worlds. Mr. Lennox had said negotiations needed to be made, and she had entered his office intent on retrieving a list of his corrupt contacts. But now he was proposing something much more important than a job: he was offering her answers to her past.

“Felicity?” Mr. Lennox’s solemn expression melted into one of concern.

She stared at the deep creases running across his forehead, her mind spinning, lacking the words to respond.

“Felicity?” he repeated.

She nodded slowly. Words, Felicity, she thought, come on already and say them.

Mr. Lennox remained silent, his eyes studying her.

Keeping calm wasn’t an option for Felicity. The surprise of his suggestion was just too great. But she was trying to focus on her breathing in a desperate attempt to lower her heartrate, which was now somewhere in the stratosphere.

“H-how did you know?” she sputtered, sucking in several shallow breaths between her shaky words.

“It’s no secret Edwin Wilson isn’t your birth father,” he said, sympathy fading from his voice. “But running a mandatory background check on you raised more questions than it provided answers. It was something I considered worth looking into, and judging by your reaction, I was right.”

As Felicity wondered what to say next, Mr. Lennox stood. Picking up the file, he walked around the desk and held it out to her.

Her eyes widened as she took it from him, poring over the pages of documents, a background check that read like an intimate resume; listing facts about her life, both public and private. Schools she’d attended, organizations she’d been part of, men she’d had relationships with, even the details of a fake I.D. she’d acquired freshman year during college orientation. Only as her eyes reached the bottom of the last page did she see any information about her early years in Kansas: hospital records, a residential address, and the name of an infant daycare facility.

“I take it your mother hasn’t told you much about your birth father,” Mr. Lennox said.

“No.” Felicity looked up at the man towering over her, giving her head a gentle shake. “Nothing at all, actually.”

“I’m not surprised. At first I thought nothing of it,” he said, resuming his place behind his desk. “Not all high school sweethearts have the happiest of marriages. What caught my attention, however, was that your parents’ marriage appears never to have ended. At least, not legally.”

Felicity’s eyebrows pinched together. “Wha—what do you mean?”

“You may have assumed that your father deserted you and your mother,” he continued, “but I’m not so sure that’s the case.”

“I called in a few favors for you, Felicity. Had a few of my contacts dig around, but no information could be found.” He frowned and for a moment, Felicity couldn’t tell if he was acting or if he genuinely felt sorry about whatever he was planning to tell her. “It seems your father simply disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” she echoed, her voice barely a whisper.

“Poof.” Mr. Lennox’s eyes grew wide. “Gone without a trace. There’s absolutely nothing I could find on Mr. Thomas Daniels.”

“But Daniels is my mother’s maiden name,” Felicity said.

“No, it’s not.” Mr. Lennox pointed to the file Felicity was still holding. “Kansas state records show she was June Baker before she married your father. She kept the name Daniels when she picked up and moved cross-country.”

The revelation hit Felicity like a blow to the gut. She knew there was plenty her mother was keeping from her, but in her heart she’d always believed that what she’d already been told had been the truth. What else has my mother lied to me about?

As the shock began to wear off, the desire to probe bringing a string of questions to Felicity’s mind, Mr. Lennox removed a second, thicker file from his desk.

“Do you know why I’m telling you all this, Felicity?”

“No, sir.”

“Because there may be a way to uncover the truth about your past. There may be a way for you to find the answers you’re looking for.”

“How?”

“By joining a group of powerful individuals known as The Syndicate,” he said, opening the file he’d removed from his desk. “And it just so happens your stepfather and I are members.”

***

“Where the hell have you been?” Brick snapped into his cell phone.

His voice was louder than he’d intended, overcompensating for the anticipation he’d felt building inside him over the course of the afternoon. His text message to Agent Sullivan had gone unanswered, giving his subconscious ample time to flood his mind with worst-case scenarios. Now, seeing Agent Sullivan’s number on the screen of his phone had broken the dam.

“I just landed at LaGuardia,” Agent Sullivan said with cool restraint. “I’ll be heading to NBS shortly. Where are you? Do you have the list?”

“No.” Brick’s voice betrayed his surprise. He hadn’t expected Agent Sullivan to arrive in New York so soon. “I said tonight.”

“Where’s Felicity?” Agent Sullivan asked.

A smug smile crossed Brick’s face. “She’s coming by my place after she sees Mr. Lennox. I’m cooking her dinner.” He paused, letting out a short chuckle of amusement at the joke forming in his mind. “I’ll have her eating out of my hand, trust me.”

“Where is she now?” Sullivan asked, irritated.

Brick looked over at the clock hanging above his kitchen sink. She wasn’t due at his apartment for at least another hour.

“She’s probably at his office right now, getting the list. Don’t worry, I’ll get it out of her before she hands it over to that kiss-ass agent Arthur Hall.”

“Right about now that kiss-ass has been far more helpful than you.”

“Yeah?” Brick said with a huff, annoyed Agent Sullivan didn’t share his enmity for Agent Hall. “Well that’s only because he’s willing to do anything to get in her pants.”

Agent Sullivan exhaled loudly into the phone. “It doesn’t matter either way. I’ll take care of it once I’m at NBS. He won’t be giving us any more trouble after I’m through with him.”

“Good,” Brick said, grinning at Agent Sullivan’s comment.

There was no denying the satisfaction Brick felt at the idea Agent Hall would be reprimanded severely for having taken such an active interest in Felicity. Brick would have loved to see his boss dress his fellow agent down, but he had other things to attend to — namely preparing dinner for Felicity.

“Get the list to me as soon as you can. We have to choose our buyer wisely,” Agent Sullivan continued.

“Tonight,” Brick said with confidence.

A small beep signaled the end of the call. Brick placed his cell phone on the countertop, next to the bag of groceries he’d bought for tonight.

***

Felicity checked her cell phone as she stepped out of Mr. Lennox’s office building and onto the noisy sidewalk. A wave of relief flooded her body as she saw it was nearing five-thirty: She was running an hour ahead of schedule. She was also glad she hadn’t called her mother before meeting with Mr. Lennox. She now had several new cards to play, and one to trump them all. But first she needed to call Agent Hall.

Not only had Mr. Lennox provided her with the list of visitors he was expecting in the coming weeks, he’d also made her an open invitation to join The Syndicate. Unfortunately, most everything else he had to tell her about the organization she already knew. He hadn’t mentioned anything about the man he was taking orders from. He certainly hadn’t made The Syndicate out to be the corrupt circle of crooks she knew it as on account of her role as an NBS agent.

No, Mr. Lennox’s description of The Syndicate struck her as familial, like a collective of powerful individuals connected by a strong desire to protect each other’s reputations as they rose to power — no matter the cost.

Had she not had secrets to her name, missing pieces to her family puzzle, or direct orders as an NBS agent, she might not have accepted the offer. But Mr. Lennox’s promise to use every The Syndicate resource available to help her dig into her birth father’s past proved too great an incentive not to say yes. Mr. Lennox had also promised to provide more information on The Syndicate with each of her upcoming negotiations, but her first one wasn’t for three days.

Until then Felicity would have to wait, hoping Agent Hall would be able to use the information she’d received in his plan to catch Agent Sullivan mid-sale. He was working hard to get everything in place, and she knew he wasn’t going to stop until the traitors within NBS had been apprehended.