Code Name: Princess: A Novel (SEAL and Code Name, Band 6) - Softcover

Buch 6 von 9: SEAL and Code Name

Skye, Christina

 
9780440237617: Code Name: Princess: A Novel (SEAL and Code Name, Band 6)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0440237610 ISBN 13: 9780440237617
Verlag: Dell, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

When a beautiful hotel investigator teams up with an irresistible Navy SEAL, going undercover could take them over the top . . . 

 Two FBI agents are dead. A top-secret government lab animal has been stolen. Now Hawk MacKenzie just walked in on a naked woman in his hotel shower. She says she’s royalty and has the attitude to match.  Whether this arousing female is a true blue-blood or not, the combat-trained Navy SEAL isn’t letting her out of his sight.

Actually a hotel investigator in disguise, Jess Mulcahey can’t believe she’s being held against her will by this gorgeous commando who’s about to blow her cover. Lucky for her, she’s good at narrow escapes. But just when she hits the road, dodging bullets and outwitting cold-blooded pursuers, her luck bottoms out . . . and Hawk is her only hope of protection. A few stolen hours in a stalled elevator show Jess a different, more sensual side to the hard-edged SEAL. Now the two are closing in on their missing government secrets and trying hard to ignore their memories. . . . But they’re about to discover that the most dangerous revelations come from an unguarded heart. . . .

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Christina Skye holds a Ph.D. in classical Chinese poetry. She has traveled to China and Asia many times, has been featured on Geraldo!, ABC Weekend News, the Arthur Frommer Show, Travel News Network, Voice of America, and Looking East. She curated one of the most popular exhibitions to date at the National Geographic Society's Explorer Hall in Washington and authored four critically acclaimed books on Chinese art, one of which was called "beautifully and lovingly crafted" by the London Times. She began writing fiction in 1990 and has currently written 16 novels.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Jess Mulcahey's life gets complicated in a hurray when she finds herself babysitting a top-secret koala bear. As Jess's world gets tossed into the whirlwind of Navy SEALS and ransom deadlines, her best hope may be to hang on for the ride. With CODE NAME: PRINCESS, Christina Skye features her signature blend of seduction and adventure that readers have come to love.

Aus dem Klappentext

Jess Mulcahey's life gets complicated in a hurray when she finds herself babysitting a top-secret koala bear. As Jess's world gets tossed into the whirlwind of Navy SEALS and ransom deadlines, her best hope may be to hang on for the ride. With CODE NAME: PRINCESS, Christina Skye features her signature blend of seduction and adventure that readers have come to love.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

chapter 1


Ten hours later
Washington State, near the Canadian border


The wind hit him like an ice pick from hell.

It was a nasty night in a week of nasty nights, but Hawk Mackenzie barely noticed. After twelve years as a Navy SEAL, bad nights were his specialty.

He studied the rugged terrain around him. Layered tracks led across the cliffs and then turned sharply, looping back to the road.

They'd stopped here for a break.

As Hawk maneuvered his powerful off-road motorcycle through ankle-high mud, his encrypted cell phone began to beep.

"Mackenzie here."

"This is Teague. What have you got?"

"Motorcycle tracks. Probably a dozen or so, but only three sets look fresh. Hold on." Hawk smiled grimly. "Someone's been through here recently, Izzy. Thanks to the rain, most of the detail is gone, but I'd say we're talking three dirt bikes." He ran a flashlight over the wet, freshly gouged earth. "The tracks heading back to the road appear to be deeper, too. Before they turned around, they picked up more weight."

Since the man on the other end of the line was one of the government's finest security operatives, Hawk knew every word between them was being recorded. After the call was complete, every detail would be tracked and analyzed.

"You're sure they had more weight when they left?"

"No doubt about it." Hawk pulled out a digital camera and powered up the flash. "I'm running some shots for you now. Maybe you can pull details from the tire tracks. Off the cuff I'd say there are three or four usable footprints here, too, probably from boots."

Ishmael Teague was silent for a long moment. "I need a field assessment, Mackenzie. Where are they headed?"

The Navy SEAL squinted into the icy rain sheeting down the cliff face. "They know the terrain, Izzy. If I hadn't been right on top of these tracks, I never would have found them. The tracks appear to be running north, so the obvious answer would be Canada."

Keys tapped quickly at a computer. "But--?"

"But I don't buy it. I think they'll stay local." Hawk studied the mud, frowning. "They'll go to ground and try to wait us out."

Hawk had been teamed with Izzy Teague before, involved in covert missions that required brains, guts and seat-of-the-pants planning, and Hawk trusted the man without reservation.

And trust was something Hawk didn't give easily.

"So you advise that we scratch our surveillance team in Portland?"

"Roger that." The SEAL hunched his shoulders against the driving rain, reading the terrain for subtle clues he might have missed. "Put a skeleton force in place for insurance. Meanwhile, I'll stay up here. Call it a bad ache in my bones, but I think something's out here."

Izzy bit back a curse. "I don't need to remind you that careers--and a hell of a lot of lives--are riding on this mission."

"No, you don't have to remind me." As he spoke, Hawk left his bike and walked in a careful circle, trying to piece together what had happened here.

Three off-road bikes, traveling fast.

Men with heavy boots, staying close to the granite edge so they'd leave few prints.

As his flashlight swept the ground, Hawk frowned. There were no dropped cigarette butts, no water bottles, no candy wrappers. All he found were three partial footprints and several indistinct tire tracks.

Phone in hand, the SEAL squinted out at the gunmetal water below him. "They're pros, Izzy. This place is clean. If they go to ground and try to wait us out, the weather is on their side. There have to be a thousand coves and inlets where they can hide along the Sound or across the Strait."

"The weather's heading downhill, too. I just pulled up the latest satellite maps, and tonight's winds are expected to top forty miles per hour."

Hawk said a few choice words under his breath. More dark clouds were already shouldering their way toward the coast.

"It's your call." Izzy Teague sounded irritated. "If you think they'll stay local, maintain your search area. Check in every six hours, and record all information precisely. Heads are going to roll if we don't recover this package pronto."

"No need for reminders." Hawk knew exactly what this mission entailed. As a SEAL, he was used to mantras about national security, but warnings about a scientific debacle and grave medical consequences indicated a whole new threat level. "I'll hang around here and see if I can find anything else before the rain scours the cliffs clean."

"Copy that." Izzy cleared his throat. "How are your ribs holding up?"

"What ribs?" Hawk picked his way slowly over the muddy ground. If he allowed himself to think about it, his pain was constant, despite the top-secret meds the Navy was testing on him.

"The ribs you broke two months ago, Mackenzie."

"They're no worse than they were yesterday."

Which wasn't saying a hell of a lot.

But Hawk Mackenzie knew this corner of Washington State better than anyone, and he didn't cave in to pain, so his tone was steady as he walked back to his mud-spattered bike. "Gotta go, Izzy. Wind's picking up."

"Keep your search short, and upload those images as soon as you get back to the hotel. If there's any speck of evidence left, I'll isolate it."

Hawk knew this was no idle boast. The man on the other end of the phone could geek one pixel out of a million until you knew names and dates--who, what and why.

"Roger that, Izzy. Signing off now."

"Keep your powder dry, Navy."

Hawk stared into the sheeting rain. Staying dry tonight was about as likely as getting laid.


Thirty minutes later more rain was hammering down the cliff, and the last hint of tracks was gone.

Cold and disgusted, Hawk packed up his flashlight and waterproof camera and kick-started his dirt bike. The pain at his side was angry and insistent, like a crowbar going in slowly under the bone, and the sooner he got inside, the better.

Izzy had arranged a room at a swank hotel along the coast, where Hawk could power up his laptop and upload his high-resolution digital images, then grab a short nap before he headed out again.

But first Hawk had a treacherous ride ahead of him.

A section of the cliff vanished in a brown slide of mud as he toed his bike into gear, all the while struck by the sense that he was being watched. When he finally made his way down the mountain, he was drenched to the skin and covered with mud, his ribs throbbing.

He tried to hide his exhaustion as he shouldered his backpack and strode through the lobby toward his room. Thanks to his carefully nurtured identity as a nature photographer on assignment for a respected travel magazine, there would be no questions about his odd hours or bedraggled appearance. The bored night manager nodded as he passed, and Hawk noticed that the waitress in the lounge off the lobby shot him a glance that suggested intimate possibilities.

But the SEAL's only concern was the fastest route to his room. All his thoughts were focused on his current assignment, recovering a top-secret donor mammal stolen from a secure location in Portland, leaving two agents dead and two more wounded.

Hawk's boots squished softly as he left the elevator and checked the hall. When he was certain no one was too close or too interested, he inserted his room key and waited impatiently for the green light to flash on the entrance pad.

Nothing happened.

Damned electronics. He swiped his...

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Verlag
Dell
Erscheinungsdatum
2004
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0440237610
ISBN 13 
9780440237617
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
288
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Dell GmbH
6997927350
DE.CustomerSupport@dell.com

Unterschweinstiege 10
Frankfurt am Main
60549
Deutschland

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