Kiss of Night: Agent Night Series, Vol. 2

by K. S. Brooks

The world's top anti-terrorist agent has a new mission: dealing with being forced into early retirement by a debilitating injury. Former Special Agent Kathrin Night fights the demons of her past, present and future while dealing with her new mysterious Russian bodyguard, Agent Aleksey Khovechkin. Sent compliments of the Russian Minister of Defense, refusing his services is not an option. But is Aleksey's true mission to protect her, or does he have another agenda?

ISBN 1-59431-821-2 Romance / Suspense / Thriller



Chapter One

Kathrin sat out on the deck overlooking the mountains, in a sweatshirt and athletic pants, coddling a steaming cup of coffee. Her left leg was elevated on another chair; her bandaged ankle rested on a pillow. She smiled at the nip in the air that June morning, loving how the cool night gave way to such a warm and powerful sun.

The Northwestern edge of the Rockies was now her home. The sodium light of the rising sun caught the red highlights of her brunette hair, and refracted the gold flecks in her brown irises. Despite her injury, she was still using weights and physical therapy to keep the rest of her body in peak condition. Nearing forty years of age, she was afraid of letting herself slip at all; it would make recovery nearly impossible.

A breeze from the East carried the scent of cedar to her nose. Kathrin turned her head to greet it. Her smile dissipated when the two cell phones on the table to her left caught her eye. The sleek one to the right had been her world-famous antiterrorist hotline in New York City. Fame didn't normally follow covert agents; but since she had most recently worked for the United Nations, she hadn't been protected by the normal cloak of governmental top secret protocol. The media had a field day with her antics. Hence her reason for the second phone; it was attached to her new identity: Kate Black. Neither phone had rung in weeks.

The silence held a bit of a sting for Kathrin. After dedicating over half of her life to the fight against injustice, it seemed that her injury had dropped her off the radar screen in half a second. All the life-risking missions, insanely dangerous stunts and life-altering rescues didn't really add up in the end to anything more than the satisfaction of knowing she had made a difference. The phones just laid there. "Guess I'm going to have to get used to that. No one needs me anymore."

Kathrin's contacts had made it ridiculously simple to obtain a new identity as Kate Black. A new passport, birth certificate, and social security number were all fabricated in less time than most people spend in line to renew a legitimate driver's license. It was the second time in her life she had to become someone new - over twenty years earlier, she had left the teenage civilian world of Katie Broderick to become Junior Officer Kathrin Night at MI6. No one had ever made that connection. She knew differently this time; eventually, someone would recognize her as former Special Agent Kathrin Night of the antiterrorist consulting branch of the United Nations. She hadn't felt motivated enough to really change her appearance. In this sparsely populated area, frequented mostly by loggers and ranchers, it should take a good while for her to be noticed. Hopefully, that would be long enough for her to heal.

Just then, the Agent Night phone rang. Kathrin looked at it as if she thought it was mocking her. She checked the caller ID: Restricted. Interesting..

She flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Kathrin, you are a hard woman to find." It was a thick, male Russian voice.

A smile accompanied her response. "Well, Yuri, that's the whole point."

"Where in the world are you now? The Yukon? I dial New York and I get an igloo somewhere?"

"Very funny. How are you?"

"How am I? I am annoyed." His tone was friendly yet terse.