Title: Inconclusive Evidence
Series: The McAllister Justice Series #3
Author: Reily Garrett
Genre: Romantic Suspense/Thriller
Braiding nanotechnology and medicine equals magic to the psychopathic mind.
Megan Chauner has achieved her dream of opening a veterinary practice when she receives a mysterious package with a dire warning from a college roommate turned investigative reporter. Entering a world of advanced surgical techniques, polymer microchips, and nanotechnology, she discovers twisted minds merging the latest science with progressive surgical procedures in a bid for power and wealth.
Lucas McAllister faces the biggest upheaval of his life. From chick magnet to wounded cop wasn’t a fall he’d foreseen. Now facing a forced retirement, he returns home to find a gun-toting enigma with multiple IDs deciphering reams of technical, medical jargon and embroiled in a plot destined to alter mankind’s path.
Stalkers and assassins draft reality checks that test Luc’s skill and endurance in keeping Megan and her furball alive while the McAllister brothers unite to thwart a bi-coastal conspiracy.
Prologue
Death in degrees
Jackie Milburn didn’t do fear.
The late-night walk to her car had never provoked an accelerated heartrate. Tonight, however, a bone-deep foreboding arose from vestiges of instinctual awareness, all merging to question her mission’s strategy. If she failed, millions would suffer and life as anyone knew it, would change.
Indistinct shadows granted a cozy ambiance where she often lurked, but dingy light filtering through overhead branches mocked her bravado. Shadow limbs shook with laughter as Fate’s sense of humor colluded with nature to saturate creation’s mindset with malice.
Regardless of Destiny’s intentions, she squared her shoulders while scanning the deserted parking lot, alert to any threat. A sense of relief had washed through her after depositing the damning evidence in the USPS blue box. Always have a backup plan.
This was the biggest scoop of her career, and would spotlight one of Delaware’s billion-dollar companies as hi-tech, sociopathic thugs. The evil shits would never expect an investigative reporter to mail the sophisticated mechanisms. Precautions taken with the dispatch ensured no one could trace the recipient.
It wouldn’t take CSV Pharmaceuticals long to discover crucial evidence missing and then ferret out their traitor. As corporations went, they were as paranoid as any. She prayed Dr. Sorenson made it out of the country alive, and not as shark chum. Paranoia had compelled her to refuse him the number to her newest burner phone. Intuition saw the last one tossed in the Willamette River after tapping out a quick message. She’d always survived by instincts and prayed they served her well—one more time.
Making the last stop to pick up her go-bag would supply the necessary items to disappear until her story broke. Various colored and styled wigs, plain lens glasses, makeup, and diverse fashion ensembles would allow her to blend with any crowd.
Trembling fingers failed to punch the unlock button on her key fob. Instead, her headlights cut a swath through the misty ground cover, a beacon to any waiting goon. Shit. The subsequent knocking of heart against ribs rivaled the best hammer drill while sweat coated her palms and face despite her warmed exhalations sending puffed smoke signals in the frosty air.
A slow, deep breath reclaimed her sense of calm and allowed the subtle scent from emerging camellia blossoms drifting on the night’s currents to settle her spirit. There. This is who I am. For visual affirmation of her feelings, she glanced at her reflection in the driver’s side window.
The sudden thrust of a phantom arm emerged from the dark to pin her against a hard chest.
“Oomph.” After the collision forced air from her lungs, shock produced a gasp which inhaled a sickly sweet odor from the cloth covering her mouth and nose.
The steely limb angled and applied pressure to tilt her head back as if she were a rag doll.
“Wanna play?” Malice drew out each syllable in a parody of innocent sport.
Momentary panic barred all reason. Instinctive reaction initiated clawing at the vicelike grip while subsequent kicking and twisting of her body yielded no compromise in her position.
In her periphery, she caught sight of a malevolent smile and glinting dark eyes under a black fedora. The boogeyman did exist.
Lethargy and disorientation. Another breath or pass out from hypoxia. No more pain. All her muscles relaxed, against her will. The invading blackness closed in from the margins.
NO! An enraged cry died in her throat.
Reily is a West Coast girl transplanted to the opposite shore. When she’s not working with her dogs, you can find her curled up with a book or writing her next story. Past employment as an ICU nurse, private investigator, and work in the military police has given her countless experiences in a host of different environments to add a real world feel to her fiction.
Over time, and several careers, many incidents have flavored the plots of her stories. Man’s cruelty and ingenuity for torment and torture is boundless, not contained by an infinite imagination. Witnessing the after-effects of a teenager mugged at knifepoint for a pair of tennis shoes, or an elderly woman stabbed repeatedly with a screwdriver for no apparent reason, left an indelible impression that will forever haunt her subconscious. In counterpoint, she has observed a woman stop her vehicle in severe, snowy weather to offer her own winter coat to a stranger, a teenager wearing a threadbare hoodie. Life’s diversities are endless.
Though her kids are her life, writing is Reily’s life after. The one enjoyed after the kids are in bed or after they’re in school and the house is quiet. This is the time she kicks back with laptop and lapdog to give her imagination free rein.
In reading, take pleasure in a mental pause as you root for your favorite hero/heroine and bask in their accomplishments, then share your opinions of them over a coffee with your best friend (even if he’s four-legged). Life is short. Cherish your time.
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