Blood Ransom

      Sophie McKenzie
     Blood Ransom

Clones Rachel and Theo now live hundreds of miles apart. They keep in touch, but things just aren't the same. When Rachel discovers that evil scientist Elijah is still working in secret for a section of the government and about to murder Daniel, she sets out to rescue the little boy, but her plans backfire with disastrous consequences. Across the Atlantic, Theo becomes suspicious when Rachel misses their weekly internet chat. He discovers a report online saying she's killed herself and travels to Scotland to find her, certain that she has been kidnapped. A clue leads him to Elijah's mysterious clinic, where the sinister Aphrodite Experiment is underway. But what is Elijah really planning? Why does he need to track Rachel down so badly? And will Rachel and Theo be able to pay the ultimate ransom that he demands?

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    The Gate

      Riley Banks
     The Gate

This short, flash fiction starts with an open gate in a picket fence. Closed, the gate guards the pathway to paradise. Open, it becomes an omen; a harbinger of death; a reminder of the horrors she has already survived. But now, instead of her husband, it is her children at risk.A mother returns home from work to find the gate in her picket fence open. Immediately she panics, reminded of the last time she came home to an open gate - the day her husband was murdered by his former partner. Closed, the gate guards the pathway to paradise. Open, it becomes an omen; a harbinger of death; a reminder of the horrors she has already survived. But now, instead of her husband, it is her children at risk.

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    Creaky Walls: A Short Story

      Leslie M. Joyner
     Creaky Walls: A Short Story

Unusual sounds come from inside the walls of a hospital waiting room. Walls that should not be there according to the blue prints.A mother waits for her son's broken arm to be set in the waiting room of Keller Hospital.Unusual sounds come from inside the walls of a hospital waiting room. Walls that should not be there according to the blue prints. Can she and the Detective that brought her son to the ER discover what lies behind the wall?

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    Deadly Breakup

      Andre' Mwansa
     Deadly Breakup

Zax has just broken up with his girlfriend, who happened to have fallen for a rich man. Only a couple of weeks later, she is found dead in a pool of blood. Now Zax has some questions to answer because all evidence at the scene points out to him as the main suspect. When interviewed he denies anything to do with her death, could he be telling the truth? Or is there a story behind the story?....Zax has just broken up with his girlfriend, who happened to have fallen for a rich man. Only a couple of weeks later, she is found dead in a pool of blood. Now Zax has some questions to answer because all evidence at the scene points out to him as the main suspect. When interviewed he denies anything to do with her death, could he be telling the truth? Or is there a story behind the story?......just download.

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    A Noble Profession

      Pierre Boulle
     A Noble Profession

In this provocative new novel, Pierre Boulle probes with a sharp scalpel the psychological anatomy of a spy - a man who sacrifices his country, his honor, and even his own life to an heroic image. In a story of intrigue and adventure as ingenious and gripping as anything in The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Mr. Boulle takes us from the aristocracy of British Intelligence and the German Secret Service to such ungentlemanly pursuits as torture, murder, and long-simmered revenge. The action revolves around Cousin - an intellectual author who prides himself on his own objectivity but who actually sees the world through the dreams of his own imagined superiority. World War II gives Cousin the chance to show that superiority by volunteering for espionage - a job, he feels, that is for gentlemen, and the arduous responsibilities of which only an aristocrat can assume. The heroic image to which Cousin sacrifices everything - including, at last, himself - is his own. A NOBLE PROFESSION is Boulle at his best - a sardonic, ironic, brilliant performance that adds a new and shining portrait to this master storyteller's wryly etched gallery of false heroes, charlatan saints, and vengeful patriots.

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    Breaking Point (Short Story)

      Matthew Holley
     Breaking Point (Short Story)

Kathleen was a strong young lady who spoke her mind and didn't care who she might hurt with her frankness. Until her candidness nearly cost her everything. She is kidnapped, locked in a cage, and finds out she's not the strong person she thought she was when she is forced to her breaking point.Perfection. Perfection is what Kathleen strived for everyday of her life. Perfection in her appearance. Perfection in her college courses. Perfection in her characteristic traits. Those traits she considered to be perfect were things like strength and assertiveness. She detested weakness in anyone and she pitied anyone who appeared timid. And Kathleen wasn't shy in pointing out to such a person their "flaws". She felt it was the only way they could become a better person. Many people called Kathleen a bully. She thought of herself as a character builder. Her belittling of the weak only made them stronger in her mind.Kathleen was content in her own self-righteous arrogance until the day she was kidnapped and forced to face her weaknesses. Only then could she see the kind of person she really was. Only then could she know what real strength was. Only then could she feel what being a victim felt like. Only then will she know her real self. Only when she is forced to her breaking point.

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    The Shadow Knows

      Kenneth Rosen
     The Shadow Knows

While this novel begins and ends in a sophisticated and very pleasant little pub called the Free Press in Cambridge, England, the main character must decide whether or not to accept a somewhat ambiguous job offer in the light of some particularly problematic memories of deception, violence and death.While this novel begins and ends in a sophisticated and very pleasant little pub called the Free Press in Cambridge, England, the main character must decide whether or not to accept a somewhat ambiguous job offer in the light of some particularly problematic memories of deception, violence and death. These memories are generated by events in Panama, Cuba, Greece, Cyprus, and the Peopleʼs Republic of China, but their authenticity or validity are often a matter of mystery or conjecture.

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    Stalking the Shadows

      Stephen Brown
     Stalking the Shadows

An assassination attempt is made on the Burghermeister of Werpenstad, leaving the city stunned and in shock. As the atrocities continue it is up to Vice-mayor Karl Kreigel to take the reins of the Stad, but can the rumours of inhuman monsters stalking the sewers be believed, or are they simply the fears of a frightened populace and the ravings of a madman? A fantasy novella.Karl Kreigel is Vice-mayor of Werpenstad, an important trading town in Bergen, the westernmost Province of the Empire. When an assassination attempt is made against the Burghermeister, it is up to him to lead the investigation and take control of the town.With the killer still at large and rumours flying around about man-sized rats stalking the sewers, Karl knows that whoever - or whatever - he is, it is only a matter of time before the assassin returns to strike again...

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    Black Box

      C. M. Okonkwo
     Black Box

An Ideas Box is proposed during a Market Knowledge session in a company. But the box goes missing because it is believed to contain much more than ideas. Who has the Ideas Box and why? But the main question is: What is really in the box?Queen Elizabeth I never ruled.England and Scotland never unified.It's 1841 the two countries are once more at war. 16-year-old English Princess Myrtle holds the fate of two nations in her hands. She can bring about a truce by marrying Scottish Prince James. Since he is just a boy of 14, she has two years to unlearn everything she thought she knew about Scotland and fall in love with the country that will be her home, and the boy destined to become her husband.The son of a Scottish Duke, Callum McAllister joins the court to teach Mrytle about Scotland and change her reluctant mind about her future. But when war has been simmering for centuries, two years is a long time. The smallest misstep could bring chaos and return the countries to war. Myrtle must tread carefully to ensure nothing goes wrong.This delightful steampunk story introduces readers to the world of the clockwork war, a glorious fusion of steampunk and alternate history.

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    The Bancroft Strategy

      Robert Ludlum
     The Bancroft Strategy

This edition has another cover In the tradition of such Ludlum classics as The Chancellor Manuscript and The Icarus Agenda, The Bancroft Strategy is a compelling novel of intrigue, where two figures find themselves facing a shadowy organization working to twist global politics to their own unsavory ends. When Todd Belknap - a legendary field agent for Consular Operations with a reputation as something of a cowboy - is cut loose from the agency after an operation goes wrong, his best friend and fellow agent is abducted in Lebanon by a militia group with a vicious reputation. When the government refuses to either rescue him or negotiate for his release, Belknap decides to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, hedge fund analyst Andrea Bancroft gets a surprising call - she is to receive an unexpected bequest of six million dollars from a cousin she never met. With one condition -- she must agree to sit on the board of the Bancroft family foundation, a charitable organization that is run by the family patriarch, Paul Newton. Having never been involved with, or even met, the family - her mother was briefly married to an Bancroft and cut off all contact many years ago - Andrea is intrigued. But the foundation, which is dedicated to doing strategic good deeds, appears less and less benign the more deeply involved she gets. What exactly is their involvement with the "Genesis" - a mysterious group working to destabilize the geopolitical balance at the risk of millions of lives? As events escalate, Todd Belknap and Andrea Bancroft come together and must form an uneasy alliance if they are to uncover the truth behind "Genesis" -- before it is too late.

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    World Gone By

      Dennis Lehane
     World Gone By

Late spring, 1943. The world is at war but the American mob is in its heyday. Former crime boss Joe Coughlin now works as a consigliere to the infamous Bartolo Crime Family, effortlessly handling its interests in Tampa, Boston, and Cuba. In the decade since he lost his wife in a cascade of bullets, Joe has made a home for himself and his son, and once again forged everything out of nothing: money, power, a relationship with a beautiful woman, and a privileged place in Tampa's shadowy underworld. But a rumor surfaces that someone wants Joe dead. And he has only days to figure out who, or he will die. And then there's the ghost—a young boy who appears on the fringes of Joe's vision and seems to be trying to tell him something. Racing against time and fate, Joe hurtles through a violent yet intoxicating world on the brink of total collapse or epic triumph, a world on the cusp of reinvention and rebirth—where the old codes, the old sins, and the old dreams may soon be swept away once and for all.

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    This Sweet Sickness

      Patricia Highsmith
     This Sweet Sickness

In This Sweet Sickness, Patricia Highsmith, in her own inimitable fashion, has created a complex psychological tale as suspenseful as The Talented Mr. Ripley. David Kelsey, a young scientist, has an unyielding conviction that life will turn out all right for him; he just has to fix the Situation: he is in love with a married woman. Obsessed with Annabelle and the life he has imagined for them—including the fully furnished cabin he maintains for her—David prepares to win her over, whatever it takes. In this riveting tale of a deluded loner, Highsmith reveals her uncanny ability to draw out the secret obsessions that overwhelm the human heart.

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    Wait for Dark

      Kay Hooper
     Wait for Dark

An SCU team investigates a string of accidents, only to uncover a deadly and deliberate monster in the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper. In Clarity, North Carolina, the residents have fallen victim to an unfortunate series of events. Seemingly random accidents have taken the lives of several citizens in the small mountain town. But these deadly coincidences are anything but. Something is on the hunt in Clarity, and the only clue as to what is a cryptic note given to the victims 24 hours before they meet their ends: “Wait for dark.” Sheriff Mal Gordon knows how to handle his town, but he has no idea how to handle this. Hollis Templeton and her team from the Special Crimes Unit, including her partner and lover, telepath Reese DeMarco, are called in to investigate. But while the SCU has prepared them for the unknown, the incredible evil stalking Clarity shakes the team to their core when one of their own is targeted. Now Hollis, the “cat with nine lives” finds herself facing death again. And this time, not even her partner can protect her...

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    No Easy Target

      Iris Johansen
     No Easy Target

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen, an explosive thriller featuring fan favorite Margaret Douglas, an animal psychic ON THE RUN Margaret Douglas has worked hard to put her painful past behind her. Raised off the grid in an abusive home, her only escape was the nearby forest where she sought refuge whenever she could. There, in the peaceful woods, she discovered a strange gift: the ability to understand animals and to communicate with them. Now, Margaret wants nothing more than to live a quiet life, close to the animals and under the radar. But her abilities have not gone unnoticed...and there are those who would use them for their own purposes. Determined not to be a pawn in anyone's game, every time someone gets too close, Margaret uproots her life and outruns them. INTO THE LINE OF FIRE When CIA operative John Lassiter breaks into Margaret's apartment, she vanishes again. Still, Lassiter has good reason to be persistent: one of his men is being held captive by an unrelenting enemy--someone who has set his sights on Margaret. Which means that Lassiter must control her to use her as bait...With danger in hot pursuit, Margaret finds herself matching wits with a man who refuses to stop or be stopped. Turning from the hunted to the hunter, Margaret must use everything she has ever learned to not only survive, but to defeat a great evil. And to prove once and for all that she's no easy target. . . This edition of the book is the deluxe, tall rack mass market paperback.

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