Author
letter, INCOGNITO EX by Geri Krotow
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Silver
Valley!
Incognito Ex, Silver
Valley P.D. number eight is my favorite SVPD book to date. Coral and Trevor
once had it all, including a marriage that both allowed to fail for myriad
reasons. When they come face-to-face again, during a night of Russian organized
crime madness, it’s not a forgone conclusion that they’d made a mistake by
divorcing. But as the stakes rise and both of their lives are at risk, all of
the resentments and sorrow of the past melt away to reveal the truth: Trevor is
the only one for Coral, and she for him. But there are some big issues to solve
first, like how to stay alive while being stalked by a former FSB/KGB agent!
While the situations
and characters in my stories are fictional, emotions are universal. We’ve all
wondered about our choices, past and present. Perhaps, like Coral and Trevor,
we’ve felt the pangs of regret over ending a relationship too soon. I hope you
enjoy the suspenseful ride with Coral and Trevor, but more than anything, I
hope their love brings you healing in your life, too.
I love to connect with
readers! Please find me at my website, www.gerikrotow.com, and on Facebook and Instagram.
Peace,
-Geri
***
When she is targeted by a
vicious mobster, a past love is her only hope.
When a Russian gangster targets Coral Staufer, she is desperate for help.
Coral stumbles across an undercover agent none other than the man she loved and
lost, Trevor Stone. Trevor will risk anything to stop her from becoming a mob
casualty…even risk his career to protect Coral. But when their past love
reignites, their entire mission—and very lives—are at stake.
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Trevor
Stone never took his eye off the ball while undercover. Never. But as he fought
to keep these thugs from harming Coral while processing the fact that he still
had to get her out of here, he was distracted. The last several days, working
alongside ROC gang members, he’d felt her nearby, as if the invisible thread
that connected them had come alive again.
He’d
known she lived here, knew this was the farm she’d inherited. He knew what one
rogue ROC member had done to the barn last January and hadn’t been able to
fight his protective instincts toward his ex, years after they split. He’d
volunteered for the mission, stupidly thinking that he’d be able to ensure her
safety while not coming into direct contact with her.
What he
could never have predicted was how he’d react when face-to-face with Coral
again.
His
hands clenched painfully tight, and all he wanted was to throw Coral over his
shoulder and run for the Appalachian Mountains that surrounded Silver Valley.
Take her far from this night, to a place where ROC couldn’t touch her. And yes,
away from seeing him again, especially like this.
The raw
fact that she was about to be assassinated by one of the two lower-level ROC
crooks was all that kept him focused. The complication that she’d just blown
his cover, carefully cultivated over the past two years, was a sideshow. One
he’d have to address, but later, after he got her out of here alive. When he
was far from her, and knew she was safe.
“What
did she call you? Who is Trevor?” Disbelief, suspicion, anger snaked across the
ground as the two other men cried out, and he figured he had about two seconds
to act.
“Stupid girl
took a hit to her head.” He spoke as Grisha, the undercover identity he’d
adopted to help the Trail Hikers, the secret government agency that he worked
for, and his sole focus was to break up the ROC’s hold on the East Coast.
“I’m not
a girl and my head isn’t that messed up. It is you, isn’t it?” At least she’d
lowered her voice. It wouldn’t be a surprise to her to know he was still doing undercover
work. How could she forget? It had been the death knell of their marriage.
Coral’s
initial appearance of frailty after the conk on her head had morphed into
righteous anger. He didn’t blame her, but he couldn’t keep looking at her.
Three long years without one glance at her, without her eyes on him, without
the sound of her voice, threatened to destroy any focus he had left.
He gave
himself a quick mental shake. If she didn’t get them killed with her words, he
was going to blow it with his inability to block out the distraction that was
Coral.
“We have
to get out of here.” He addressed the other two men, both young and not the
brightest, working for Ivanov, the ROC head honcho. “The cops are coming. You
two take off. I’ll meet up later. I’ll take care of her, trust me.” He nodded
at the road, and the two men craned their necks to verify his claim. The sirens
screamed in the night, and he saw the flashing lights move down the highway in
the distance. He took the opportunity to lift Coral from her bent position and
pulled her up against him, his arm raised as if he was going to strike her.
“Don’t
talk. Follow my lead. And don’t say my name again.” He murmured into her ear,
his lips against her skin out of necessity. He couldn’t risk the others hearing
him. “Now yell when I move my arm like I’ve hit you.”
Coral’s
strangled gasp nearly threw him out of his reality as an undercover agent
posing as a working ROC stiff. Her voice tried to drag his mind back to hazy,
hot California days when they’d spent all day in bed, getting up only to eat.
It wasn’t fair that a single sound from her still did this to him. That the
sur-real connection they shared hadn’t perished with their marriage.
“Kill
her now, Grish.” Adam was pissed, in pain from the gunshot wound, and wanted
Trevor to prove he wasn’t Trevor, that Coral really was suffering from severe
head trauma. ROC agents weren’t high on trust, and Trevor, as Grisha, was new
to their local group.
“It’d be
stupid to do it here. She’s easier to move while she can still walk. Let me
take care of her, then I’ll come back for you both. Stay low, don’t use your
flashlights. The police will stop at the farmhouse first. We’ve got time.” He
wrapped his arm around Coral’s waist—she was thinner, but still steely
strong—and half dragged, half ran with her to where he’d seen her car earlier
in the day when he’d made his own excursion out here.
Self-recrimination
threatened to stop him in his tracks as he knew he should have made doubly sure
she wouldn’t be on the property when ROC came looking for Markova’s treasure.
But he’d run out of time to verify his source who’d told him she’d be out
tonight. Even with her being here, he’d never have expected she’d catch
them—usually, his ROC associates were somewhat competent. Unlike these two.
Thank
God for inept thugs.
When
they were what he estimated was halfway to her car, he pulled out his pistol
and held her tight with his other arm. “Hang on. I’m going to shoot at the
ground, to let them think it’s you.” He quickly fired two shots at the dirt,
making sure the bullets had nothing to bounce off, making it sound like he’d
just eliminated a witness.
The
sirens were close, and he saw the patrols turn into the long drive leading to
the barn area.
“What
are you doing here, Trevor?” Her voice shook, but he couldn’t tell if it was
shock or anger. Probably both.
“I’ll
explain later. Right now we can’t be seen by anyone.”
“But
that’s the police—I called them.”
“I can’t
be spotted, and for now, you’re with me.” He had no way of knowing which
officers were re-porting, and he couldn’t risk being taken into custody. Only
two SVPD officers were cut in on his deep undercover work.
Now the
woman on his arm was one more added to the list of people in the know. The
woman he’d never forgotten, whom he’d still go through hell and damnation for.
His ex-wife, Coral.
About the Author
Geri Krotow is a Naval Academy graduate and Navy veteran.
She has traveled to and lived in many places abroad, including South America,
Italy and Russia. Her family has finally settled down in Central Pennsylvania
but Geri still writes about all the places she's been. An award-winning author, Geri writes
the Silver Valley PD for Harlequin Romantic Suspense www.gerikrotow.com
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