Deception (Natchez Trace Park Rangers Book #4) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Patricia Bradley

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199 pages

English

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Description

After being forced to kill an FBI agent gone rogue in self-defense while working in the violent crimes unit for the Investigative Services Branch, ranger Madison Thorn is comfortable with her move to the fraud and cyber division. At least numbers don't lie. So she's less than thrilled when a white-collar crime investigation in Natchez, Mississippi, turns violent. She could also do without being forced to work with former-childhood-enemy-turned-infuriatingly-handsome park ranger Clayton Bradshaw.When a woman who looks just like Madison is attacked on the same night Madison's grandfather is shot, it becomes clear that there is something much bigger going on here and that Madison herself is in danger. Madison and Clayton will have to work together--and suppress their growing feelings for one another--if they are to discover the truth before it's too late.USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Patricia Bradley closes out her popular Natchez Trace Park Rangers series with this complex story of family secrets, mixed motives, and learning to trust.

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	02 août 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493436187
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0384€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Endorsements
Praise for Crosshairs
“Bradley creates a sweet, slow-building romance in which she weaves fascinating details of the lives of park rangers. With several plot lines involving different mysteries, Crosshairs will surprise readers until the very end.”
Booklist
“You absolutely have to read this! It’s an absolute can’t-put-down book, and your head will spin as you try to solve this murder mystery. I highly recommend this book!”
Interviews & Reviews
“Bradley continues her Natchez Trace Park Rangers series with a layered second-chance romance. Bradley unwraps a mystery of the past through a modern investigation that mends relationships, strengthens faith, and offers a couple a renewed chance at love. There’s much to dig in to for fans of crime fiction tinged with faith.”
Publishers Weekly
Praise for Obsession
“A fantastic suspense read with tension at all the right spots! Fans of Patricia Bradley will not want to miss this one.”
Write-Read-Life
“Patricia Bradley remains one of my favorite authors in the romantic suspense genre. I loved this story! I loved the characters, and I also loved the setting. This book has it all—it is full of suspense and mystery, has lots of twists and turns, and more!”
Life Is Story
“Suspense writer Patricia Bradley’s second installment of the Natchez Trace Park Rangers series weaves plot twists and thrills that her followers have come to know and love.”
Mississippi Magazine
“A skillfully written thrill ride set on the Natchez Trace in Mississippi.”
Interviews & Reviews
Praise for Standoff
“Bradley has done it again with her unique brand of mystery and intrigue, penning another gripping tale of greed and betrayal, as well as redemption and hope. Brimming with action, romance, and page-turning thrills, Standoff will hook readers. What a fantastic start to a brand-new series!”
Elizabeth Goddard , award-winning author of the Uncommon Justice series
“An explosive start to a brand-new series by Patricia Bradley that suspense lovers won’t want to miss. Full of family secrets, a mysterious old flame, and murder.”
Lisa Harris , bestselling author of the Nikki Boyd series
“With a plot as twisting as the villain’s schemes, Patricia Bradley’s Standoff spins a tale that will keep the reader racing through the pages and wondering ‘Who is the killer?’ until the thrilling conclusion.”
Lynn H. Blackburn , author of the Dive Team Investigations series
“My first ever Bradley book, and I very much enjoyed it! I really wish that I could give it more than 5 stars. Her style of writing is astounding! I’m a fan for life.”
Interviews & Reviews
“Patricia Bradley knocks it out of the park with the first installment of her new series! Twists and turns, romance, action and suspense galore keep readers glued to the edge of their seat until the very last page.”
Write-Read-Life
Half Title Page
Books by Patricia Bradley
L OGAN P OINT S ERIES
Shadows of the Past
A Promise to Protect
Gone without a Trace
Silence in the Dark
M EMPHIS C OLD C ASE N OVELS
Justice Delayed
Justice Buried
Justice Betrayed
Justice Delivered
N ATCHEZ T RACE P ARK R ANGERS
Standoff
Obsession
Crosshairs
Deception
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2022 by Patricia Bradley
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-3618-7
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.
Dedication
In memory of my daughter, Elisa Renee Sides. You will be in our hearts forever. August 22, 1962–September 25, 2021
Contents
Cover
Endorsements
Half Title Page
Books by Patricia Bradley
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
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Epilogue
Acknowledgments
An Excerpt of JUSTICE DELIVERED
About the Author
Back Ads
Back Cover
1
T oday was not a good day to die. Her Sig P229 ready, National Park Service Ranger Madison Thorn pressed her sticky back against the hangar as another bullet kicked up dirt three feet away. The shooter’s aim was getting better.
The Brewster County sheriff and his deputies were at least thirty minutes out. And an FBI response team based in Dallas was more than an hour away.
The hangar provided little shade from the Texas sun, and Madison backhanded sweat from her face. Sometimes being one of the elite Investigative Services Branch special agents tested her endurance—this case in particular. For the past six months, Madison had been part of the team investigating the human traffickers using Big Bend National Park for their smuggling operation.
She’d texted the FBI agent she was partnering with to meet her at the airstrip after getting a tip from a confidential informant. The human traffickers were flying in a load tonight. No word on what their cargo was.
Where are you, Chad?
After finding Chad’s vehicle hidden behind an outbuilding at the entrance, Madison expected him to be at their rendezvous point, but there was no sign of him. Her stomach churned. What if the cartel had lured them both here and Chad had been captured? No. The Chad Turner she’d fallen in love with was too smart to have been captured, so where in the world was he?
Madison hadn’t meant to fall in love with him, but he’d been so wounded when they met. His wife had left him, and he only saw his boy once a month. She was able to make him laugh again, and in turn he made her feel loved.
Movement in the rocks to her right caught her attention, followed by rapid gunfire. Madison zeroed in on the location, recognizing the shooter’s sandy hair. Chad. He was all right. She breathed a little easier and gave him cover as he dashed from the outcropping to the hangar.
“Where have you been?” she asked.
“Scouting.”
“When you weren’t here, I was afraid you didn’t get my message. Could you tell who the shooters were? Or see where they went?”
Chad shook his head and turned away from her. Madison slipped another clip in her Sig and studied him. His fingers tapped the side of his leg. A sure sign he was nervous.
Something was off. She glanced toward the thicket where the shots had come from. No one was firing at them now . . . Had it been him all along?
No. He loved her. In the months she’d known Chad, she’d trusted him with her life, her heart. But Chad had changed in the last two months—ever since his ex-wife left town with their four-year-old son.
“You okay?”
They’d spent enough time together for Chad to read her. Pushing aside her thoughts, she managed a wry grin. “Are you kidding? People are shooting at us. A Dr Pepper would be good about now.”
“You and your Dr Peppers.” His chuckle sounded forced to Madison’s ears. “You’ve already had your one for the week.”
“Desperate circumstances call for desperate measures. At this point, it can only get better.” She glanced toward the thicket again. “I texted the sheriff. He’s on his way.”
Seconds passed.
“He’s not coming.”
Her breath stilled. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. I called him, told him it was a false alarm.”
Slowly she turned toward Chad, her heart almost stopping at the sight of his service revolver leveled at her.
“I’m sorry, Madison.” Regret filled his eyes.
She forced air into her lungs. This couldn’t be happening.
“Why, Chad?” Even as her mind refused to process what was happening, her body reacted in defense mode, conditioned by years of martial arts training. Automatically, she tensed and shifted to the balls of her feet. “I thought we had something special.”
“I don’t have any choice.” The regret vanished . . . or maybe had never been there, just her wishful thinking. Instead, his steel-gray eyes hardened.
She judged the distance between them. A little closer would put her in striking range with her feet. “There’s always a choice.”
He shook his head. “Not this time. Put your gun on the ground. The one you carry at your back, as well.”
“Is it money?” She had some savings. Maybe she could offer it to him.
“They’re getting Noah for me.”
Madison stared at him. Chad’s ex taking his son away had sent him off the rails. “What Jeannie did to you was wrong, but—”
“You don’t have a clue. You never had your son moved out of your life, two thousand miles away. Now do what I said, or I’ll shoot you myself.”
She knelt and placed her service gun on the concrete walkway, then removed the smaller semiautomatic from her back holster.
“This isn’t the answer.” When Madison stood, she inched closer to him, something he didn’t seem to notice. “I know you, Chad, and there’s no way you can live with yourself if you kill me.”
Her heart sank when his hard eyes didn’t soften. “I’ll manage. At least I’ll have Noah.”
“You won’t get away with it.”
“But I will. I have it all planned out. The plane is bringing Noah and then flying us to a little fishing village where we’ll disappear.”
A light bulb went off. Her informant was working with the cartel,