She took a shallow breath and moved her head slightly to the left. It came into contact with something on the wall. She moved her eyes as far as she could to the left, but couldn’t see what the object was. She turned her head slowly and saw the dagger in its jeweled scabbard attached to the wall.
Can I get that without divulging my location? I have to try! It’s certainly better than no weapon at all!
She raised her left arm, sucking in her chest as much as she could, and got a hold on the handle of the dagger and pulled outward. It popped off the wall, making a snapping sound. She took in a deep breath and held it. Roberto stopped in his tracks and listened, looking down the dim hall. He didn’t see anything except the ghostly forms of the armored knights of yore.
“Who’s there?” he yelled in Italian.
As his voice echoed down the hall, Syd slid the dagger from its scabbard, hoping it was not a movie prop. It had a seven inch blade, sharp on both sides. It was not a fake! She pushed the scabbard under her belt and took another shallow breath as Roberto started down the hall again. Sweat had formed on her brow and under her arms, and she was trembling. Her wet, black shirt was sticking to her body.
I must do something fast or I’m dead! Can I make a dash for the secret door at the south end of the hall without getting shot? I could dodge in and out of the suits of armor, using them for cover. Then I could get into the secret passage. There are some handguns in the cabinet at the top of the tower. Otherwise, I have to face this guy with just this knife! Even Anna Klein always had a gun as backup!
She heard the man yell something in Italian again. He sounded closer. She heard a door close. He was searching the rooms as he came down toward her. She moved slowly to the left toward the next suit of armor. The shield on the wall scraped her back and she felt a sharp pain as she tried desperately to remain unseen as long as she could. She glanced back to her right in the direction of the approaching stalker and did not see him yet. The hallway lights were on, but they were, fortunately, very dim.
Think of something, Syd!
This excerpt is here for the Romance Junkies Contest.
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A breathtaking thriller glued together by an unforgettable love story.
At the height of the Cold War, Bob Hatcher was the CIA’s top assassin. A master of disguises, and fluent in several languages, he lived in the world of the Company’s deepest Black Operations. In 1983, while in West Berlin, he spots a beautiful East German intelligence agent and for fun pursues her in an attempt to bed her. Instead, he falls in love and makes arrangements for her to defect to the U.S. Fearing that his best agent will quit if this defection goes as planned, the Director of Black Ops, James Gramble, betrays Hatcher by letting the East Germans know about it. Discovering the betrayal, Hatcher reacts violently against everyone involved — East German Stasi agents, KGB agents, and CIA agents. He kills all of those involved except Gramble himself. He extorts CIA money from Gramble which he uses to start a new company (International Intelligence, Inc., or Triple Eye) and starts taking over the intelligence business in the U.S. Hatcher, under his real name, Van “Hatch” Lincoln, runs Triple Eye, and secretly becomes an international vigilante against the world’s terrorists. Then in 2001 he meets Sydney Steppe . . .
A MOSSAD assassin who has lost her cover, Sydney is hiding in Florida. Syd thinks it’s her lucky day when a handsome stranger at the next table helps her dispatch two Iranian terrorists that attack her at a restaurant. She is pleased to find out that Hatch Lincoln is a very rich and powerful man — CEO of a dozen companies, including the enigmatic Intelligence International, Inc. (Triple Eye). Fearing Syd is still in trouble, Hatch takes her to his Florida mansion. Syd soon finds herself engulfed in Hatch’s secret world of intrigue, one of high-tech equipment and weapons used to search out and neutralize terrorists worldwide.
When a Triple Eye employee is killed while buying a mysterious letter from an archeological dig outside Rome, Syd finds herself swept into a dangerous, whirlwind adventure. She accompanies Hatch to Rome to investigate, and while in Hatch’s medieval castle, she finds herself fighting alongside Hatch against a vicious Italian crime family, the Sicilian Mafia, and a CIA boss who wants Hatch dead. When an assassin’s bullet leaves Hatch in a coma, Syd must use all her training, experience, and the high-tech tools of Hatch’s empire to find the assassin before he strikes again.
"Syd and Hatch have been through dangerous intrigues on their own over the years. They both wonder if their love will be a second chance for them both or throw them further into harm's way."
Roberta Austin, Professional Reviewer, Romance Junkies et al
See her full review on the Review page.