Phoenix's Ascent
by Winter Austin
GENRE: Romantic Suspense/Thriller
BLURB:
A maniac developing a fantastical drug wants one more thing to finalize the project—a test subject who fits all the parameters. But that test subject is as elusive as her namesake.
Ex-SAS operative Mitch Edwards has been on the run since the moment he was framed for treason by someone in the British government. But he’s never forgotten the flamboyant and seductive CIA operative with the tongue of a thousand languages. In a bar in Cancun, Mexico, Mitch comes face to face with her once more, and with her comes the full force of her enemies.
Reinstated Hera Force linguist and assassin, Nadia Roth, code named Phoenix, has no memory of Mitch Edwards, or of their affair before her team’s disastrous mission. Her traumatic brain injury is tricky that way. But something about this man sets her on fire and tickles the back of her mind. Her Hera teammates remember him, so why can’t she?
Mitch partners up with Hera, with the sole intent of locating those hell-bent on killing him and all who are associated with him. Yet more is at stake than their lives. A traitor hides among their ranks, one who has been revealing all their secrets to an enemy determined to procure this special drug and Nadia for his scheme.
Hera goes into operation mode, doing what they were created to do, but someone is watching, and the team finds themselves trapped behind enemy lines with no way out.
Will Nadia ever remember the man she once loved, or will they perish with the secret between them?
Purchase Phoenix's Ascent on Tirgearr Publishing
Excerpt:
Someone was watching her.
Nadia felt the stare boring into her, someone trying to see past the facade to her soul. Picking her apart until they found the things that made her tick. Yet, she was not threatened. Danger was not present in this stare.
A fingertip brushed against her cheek, then pressed. She battled the urge to smile. The finger moved from her cheek and then her eyelid was pried open. Just past the small hand, a pair of obsidian eyes gazed at her, the round face a mask of curious wonder.
Nadia blinked hard and looked at the child. The boy had to be no older than five or six, his dark hair stuck out at all angles, but his eyes, they held her in their depths. Movement to his left snagged Nadia’s attention.
With a thumb wedged between her lips, a yellow blanket snaked around her arm and trailing behind her purple pajamaed body, the little girl cocked her head to the side, making her tiny curls dance. Unlike the older boy, her eyes were a beautiful shade of gold. Nadia could see the familial similarities in the two.
“Buenos días,” Nadia whispered.
A gapped tooth smile appeared. The sister giggled around her thumb and bumped against her brother.
“Buenos días. Me llamo Diego y esta mi hermana Ana Sofía. ¿Cómo se llama?”
“Nadia.”
Ana Sofia plucked her thumb from her mouth, scooted closer to the couch and leaned on the edge to study Nadia.
“Did you sleep well?” Nadia continued softly in Spanish.
“Si,” the boy answered.
“Many wonderful dreams?”
“I dreamed I was a doctor, like my papa.”
“A doctor, you say? That’s a most noble profession.”
“Why are you sleeping on our sofa?”
Nadia propped herself up on an elbow and gave the room a scan. Sprawled out on the recliner behind Diego was a familiar male form. Nadia’s body warmed at the sight of him splayed out, all vulnerable and luscious. Her gaze fell on the children. “Because your papa did not want to wake you. Easier for me to sleep here.”
“Your hair is purple.”
She smiled, reaching up to finger the locks hanging over her shoulder. “¡Si! I love it like this. Don’t you?”
Diego’s gapped tooth smile returned.
The clank of metal jolted the children. Their heads whipped to the right. Nadia peered over her shoulder. A large archway connected the living room to another brightly lit room, from which came the clicks and clatters. Diego and Ana Sofia backed from the sofa and scurried toward the portal into the unknown.
By the force of the noises, Nadia took a wild guess the lady of the house was none too happy. Nadia flung the blanket aside, slid her legs over the edge, and sat up, wincing at the stabbing pain behind her eyes.
That must have been one exhilarating party for this level of headache.
A soft snore prefaced Mitch shifting in the chair.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Winter Austin perpetually answers the question: “were you born in the winter?” with a
flat “nope,” but believe her, there is a story behind her name.
A lifelong Mid-West gal with strong ties to the agriculture world, Winter grew up
listening to the captivating stories told by relatives around a table or a campfire. As a
published author, she learned her glass half-empty personality makes for a perfect
suspense/thriller writer. Taking her ability to verbally spin a vivid and detailed story,
Winter translated that into writing deadly romantic suspense, mysteries, and thrillers.
When she’s not slaving away at the computer, you can find Winter supporting her
daughter in cattle shows, seeing her three sons off into the wide-wide world, loving
on her fur babies, prodding her teacher husband, and nagging at her flock of hens to
stay in the coop or the dogs will get them.
She is the author of ten novels, with more on the way.
Find Winter on:
Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ Goodreads ~ Tirgearr Publishing
5 comments:
Awesome cover and excerpt.
Thanks for hosting!
Sounds like there is a lot going on in this book and I love that.
heather
hgtempaddy
The book sounds very intriguing. Beautiful cover.
Thank you for hosting!
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