This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen…
When intelligence operatives Lee Stetson and Amanda King got secretly married, it was supposed to be nothing more than a temporary measure. They’d intended all along to let their jobs, their loved ones, and their friends know…at the right time, and in the right way.
But then an unexpected tragedy strikes the nascent family. Instead of announcing their good news, Lee and Amanda find themselves facing not only their own grief and anger, but also the repercussions of all their secrets. Making matters worse, the “accident” is soon revealed to have been anything but. Now Lee, Amanda, and everyone else at the Agency are racing against time to save the rest of their family as well as another agent!
In Memory of Nia Laiki (1948-2024) · Acknowledgments · Afterword
Chapter List:
- Amanda: Break
- Lee: Not This
- Carrie: Counting
- Joe: Out of Time
- Lee: Making It
- Carrie: Worry
- Lee: Painkillers
- Billy: Ring of Truth
- Amanda: Fine
- Francine: Going South
- Lee: Frustration
- Amanda: Rusty
- Joe: Defiance
- Lee: Fighting Words
- Amanda: Connection
- Francine: Details
- Lee: Good Ideas
- Billy: Grateful
- Joe: Redux
- Carrie: Undercurrents
- Lee: Secrets
- Amanda: Developments
- Francine: Fouled
- Amanda: Out of Control
- Lee: Friendship
- Francine: Keeping Score
- Billy: Tough Love
- Carrie: Flight
- Joe: Timekeeping
- Amanda: Listening
- Lee: Decision
- Billy: Lasso
- Lee: Possibilities
- Amanda: Traditions
- Jamie: The Last Time
Acknowledgments:
No author writes in a vacuum, however much it might feel that way sometimes. With the caveat that all errors, omissions, and mistakes are my own, I would like to thank:
- My beta readers, Orson Henry and Becky, for service above and beyond. They’re responsible for more improvements than I could ever list here.
- My brother, Steven, a paramedic who did a medical review of Chapters 3-5, and who offered some great suggestions;
- The Signum SPACE Creative Writing community, who constantly reassured me I wasn’t crazy, and who forgave me for hijacking my original “Novel in a Year” plan;
- The Holy Ghost Writers, who also reassured me and kept asking how it was going;
- All those folks who sent me questions, tweaks, typos, comments, and notes;
- The SMK fandom, for welcoming a new writer with open arms; and, of course,
- The cast and crew of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, without whom none of this could have ever been possible.
All good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
James 1:17 [NABRE]