Abyss (eBook)

Alex Croft (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
360 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3178-1863-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Former clandestine operative Carmen Foxdale is on the mend after being rescued from a dank subterranean Alcatraz Island hellhole. Weeks of brutal torture while being held captive by Latvian mobsters had taken their toll on both her body and mind. After her rescue, she seeks answers as to why she was subject to a kill order and had been disavowed by the CIA. Left with nothing to lose and at the mercy of an ex-special forces operative-who has been tasked with keeping her alive and out of trouble-Foxdale puts her rage to work and begins plotting her revenge.

Alex Croft has lived and worked in four countries while traveling to many more. Drawing on life experience and exposure to different cultures, Alex Croft weaves aspects of healthcare, humanity, the power of conviction, and intrigue into his stories. As a fan of various genres of fiction, Croft incorporates topical issues and elements of suspense, action, adventure, humor, psychology, and romance into his contemporary writing to enhance the reading experience. 'The Abyss' is the fourth installment in the Sultry Chicago series.

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Former clandestine operative Carmen Foxdale is on the mend after being rescued from a dank subterranean Alcatraz Island hellhole. Weeks of brutal torture while being held captive by Latvian mobsters had taken their toll on both her body and mind. After her rescue, she seeks answers as to why she was subject to a kill order and had been disavowed by the CIA. Left with nothing to lose and at the mercy of an ex-special forces operative-who has been tasked with keeping her alive and out of trouble-Foxdale puts her rage to work and begins plotting her revenge. Desperate for answers as to why she was cast aside by the CIA which she had loyally served until now leads her to uncovering a tangled web of deep state plots and shocking conspiracies that would rattle even the most hardened operative. Vowing to expose the corruption, Foxdale calls upon old connections to infiltrate corrupt agents' operations, determined to bring down the entire house of cards from within. Seeking justice and truth sets Foxdale and her crew on a collision course, with dangerous foes tugging at the fragile strings of power. Devastating consequences challenge their sense of reality and bring them to unexpected new horizons in the fourth installment of the Sultry Chicago romantic suspense series, "e;The Abyss."e;

Textauszug

Chapter 1

Jolting upright, Carmen Foxdale grabbed at her throat and gasped for air. Her heart hammered inside of her chest. A flash of lightning pierced the pitch black and lit up her surroundings. She sucked in ragged breaths as the shadowy forward V-berth around her took form. Waves rocked and lapped the sides of the coastal cruiser. Her stomach clenched into a tight knot as a sheen of cold sweat covered her burning skin. Shaky hands felt all over her face, arms, torso, and legs. Relief flooded her when no painfully broken and cut skin, welts on her arms, or soft tissue swelling singed under her touch. The rancid metallic taste of blood coating her tongue and foul smell of seared flesh slowly dispersed along with the screaming nightmare she was trapped in. Rain mercilessly pelted against the compact portside window while rolling thunder rumbled in the distance. Breathe. You’re okay. Easing back onto her pillow, Foxdale kicked off the duvet cover, closed her eyes, and let the darkness wrap around her.

She gulped and blocked the harrowing images flashing before her mind’s eye. Gone was the suffocating dank cave with its soiled mattresses and pungent stench of vomit, stale urine, and human excrement. Being kept captive in a secret underground tunnel network devoid of any basic amenities traversing Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay nearly killed her. A defunct hidden prison built beneath one of the world’s most infamous penitentiaries: Alcatraz, also known as The Rock.

As godawful as her filthy jail cell had been, the makeshift torture chamber was far worse... with beatings, strangulations to within an inch of her life, electrocutions, waterboarding... and hefty cocktails of potent designer drugs mixed with truth serum that broke open and fractured her mind. Birthing a monstrous abyss of despair buried within vividly deranged horrors come to life. Where terror and reality merge into madness; a place where hope comes to die.

Carmen swallowed the maelstrom of emotions such disturbing memories evoked. Out of necessity, the former CIA operative had locked away a crucial piece of her soul deep within herself—that ineffable spark of life—in order to survive. That inner vortex part of me that knows that no matter what might happen in this lifetime, at my very core, I am untouchable... An adaptation of the way they trained me to fragment myself and to build an impenetrable fortress around each fractal part. Plus, if I was not already defective when I started this job, it would have destroyed me. Being damaged goods has its advantages.

It had taken weeks to physically recover from the multitude of blows to her head and trunk, a whole swathe of track marks, as well as the layered abrasions encircling her neck, ankles, and wrists. Her cracked ribs were still healing.

Steadying her breath, Carmen tugged on the drenched oversized T-shirt she had been using in lieu of a nightdress. The disavowed spook groaned and held firmly onto her ribcage as she carefully rolled out of the narrow bed and stumbled into the cramped onboard guest bathroom comprised of a small basin, toilet, and mounted showerhead. Flipping a switch made the dim overhead light flicker until she whacked it with her palm. Wild black sunken eyes surrounded by pale skin stared back at her in the mirror. She blinked, hardly recognizing herself. Christ, I even look like I’m homeless. The usual vibrant red tint of her long hair had faded and given way to a tangled mess as inches of much lighter sandy strands had grown out. Her lips appeared less full, her complexion dull, and crow’s feet along with a few wrinkles had materialized on her forehead. Well, there are no Botox and collagen injection clinics around this neck of the woods... At least the grotesque bruising and swelling on my face have subsided.

Foxdale flinched at her own reflection. Fuck, I look so much older than thirty-four. Rummaging through the wall-mounted medicine cabinet, she grabbed hold of the utility scissors and crudely hacked off chunks of straw-like hair before throwing the strands in the trash can.

Being hunted by those in a clandestine organization she had loyally served, had left her disillusioned, destitute, and at the mercy of strangers. The ex-spy clenched her jaw as the depth of betrayal cut through her. Wearing ill-fitting borrowed clothes and glancing over her shoulder at every turn had added to her absolute sense of disempowerment and humiliation. The silver lining is that they stuffed up and I am alive... That was their grave mistake... I am coming for you, Sally.

Carmen stripped, lathered herself, and then rinsed her body in the tiny shower. The two long weeks of barbaric torture she had endured at the hands of savage Latvian gangsters who had planned on selling her to Russian foreign intelligence operatives, and the resultant immobility associated with the prolonged healing journey, had her lose way too much weight. It had been an ongoing struggle to add muscle and some semblance of padding to make her bony angles appear more feminine. Even my butt size has shrunk dramatically. She bit her lip. Not to mention, my breasts.

If not for private security contractor Nadia Kapoor who had stumbled on her in that abysmal subterranean Alcatraz Island cave while rescuing other captives, Foxdale would have been shark food. Carmen had first crossed paths with Kapoor a few months earlier in Sicily and Tunisia while on an undercover mission to retrieve a lethal cache of stolen weaponry and to avenge the cold-blooded murder of her fellow CIA operatives. Nadia, in turn, worked for a well-respected multinational private security corporation, Saint Philip Neri Industries, or SPNI for short. Named after the patron saint of the U.S. Army Special Forces and headquartered outside of Washington, D.C., SPNI had satellite offices all over the world. Their handpicked contractors consisted almost exclusively of ex-law enforcement or military officers. Kapoor had been based at their Chicago division in Illinois.

Initially, Nadia had been a vexing thorn in Foxdale’s side, seeing as Kapoor was hell bent on extracting Carmen’s asset, Chicago-based fashionista Brinn Gallagher, who was needed to get close to her cagey Italian entrepreneur target. Brinn’s brother, Ross, and Brinn’s love interest, lawyer Palmer Westicott, had joined the SPNI agent on that assignment to extricate the fashionista. Unsurprisingly, Foxdale’s carefully planned and executed sting operation went to hell in a handbasket, which forced them all to work together to salvage a dire situation in the midst of a highly destructive tropical storm. In the end, Carmen had learned to trust and rely on the SPNI contractor. As a token of her gratitude, she had given Kapoor a clandestine file on her previously thought of as deceased father, who is the suspected unofficial head of the Pakistani security services, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.

Seven weeks earlier, at the time the former spook was unceremoniously disavowed and imprisoned on Alcatraz Island, Nadia’s adoptive mother, Mahira Rasheed, together with a wealthy businessman were abducted. This then led to a race against time to save them where they were held captive on The Rock. The ensuing bloody rescue mission had also resulted in Foxdale being freed. And their kidnapping might have been inadvertently my fault...

Kapoor, her friends Maggie Gordon and Ewan Kane, assisted by a motley crew of foreign ISI operatives working directly under her spymaster father, Hassan Yaqoob, had extracted Carmen along with the two other captives. A California-based SPN Industries support agent, Gabriel Dupuis, had been indispensable during this mission. Recognizing the dire situation the injured ex-spy found herself in, Nadia had asked Dupuis to safeguard Foxdale and hide her off grid.

Which is why I am currently bobbing along in international waters on a boat anchored off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, near the most southern point of Canada, aka in the middle of nowhere. And, at that, in weather most foul.

Carmen had been stuck on this vessel for several weeks while recuperating. Gabriel had only left her alone on a handful of occasions for a few hours at a time to dock, refuel, go ashore, or to restock food and supplies. Otherwise, seeing as the man was a keen fisherman, she was fed a staple diet of cooked fresh fish, in addition to dehydrated vegetables, eggs, and protein shakes along with supplementary multivitamins.

Foxdale had come to learn that Dupuis had previously served in the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, or CSOR for short. Those handpicked, tier-one operators went through rigorous training and excelled at special warfare, reconnaissance, and direct action. No doubt the man saw his fair share of combat, as illustrated by the long scar partially hidden by his stubble beard on the left side of his face. His extensive knowledge of first aid, wound care, and injury management rehabilitation had been invaluable in getting her back on her feet. Despite him being a bona fide sergeant major slave driver and a pain in my ass.

More importantly, he somehow always made her feel safe.

She toweled off and dressed in her thrift shop hand-me-down no-name underwear, socks, black cargo pants, plain navy long-sleeved top, and thick charcoal sweater. The matching hiking boots had been broken in and fit comfortably. This basic...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 11.10.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-1863-0 / 9798317818630