Edge of Defiance Read online

  Edge of Defiance

  An E.D.G.E. Security Novel

  Trish Loye

  Tough Girl Press

  Copyright © 2018 by Trish Loye

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, incidents, and places is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  ISBN: 978-0-9959678-6-1

  Created with Vellum

  For My Girls,

  * * *

  Rose is the combination of the two of you—she’s sweet, a bit sarcastic, and totally lovable.

  * * *

  The bad guy is the combination of you both as well…when you haven’t had enough food.

  Contents

  Edge of Defiance

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  A Word from the Author

  Also by Trish Loye

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Edge of Defiance

  E.D.G.E. Security is a cover for a covert international organization that handles jobs most governments won’t. The operators are the elite of the elite, soldiers and spies, chosen for their skills and secrecy, and their ability to go beyond the edge.

  * * *

  Secrets attract Cassie Kwon and as a reporter, it’s her job to expose them, no matter who disapproves or disagrees. She’s no longer the naïve young girl who’d do anything for the soldier who stole her heart. Now she’s a woman who won’t be swayed by a set of stupidly broad shoulders – no matter how much those shoulders remind her of sexy stares and stolen kisses. She doesn’t have time to be pining after some soldier, especially when that soldier is Derrick Blackwell.

  When the biggest story of her life takes Cassie to North Korea, she doesn’t hesitate to search for the truth. Alone. But sneaking past the closed border into one of the most corrupt and oppressive countries in the world is not only dangerous. It’s close to suicide. It’s going to take all of her wits to stay alive.

  Colonel Derrick ‘Hawk’ Blackwell has dedicated his life to his country and his unit. He’s never let anything or anyone distract him from the task at hand. Anyone, except for one woman with a fiery temper, wild hair and a driving need to discover the truth. But he’s put the woman who broke his heart behind him—as she clearly demanded—until he finds out she’s missing, then he doesn’t give a damn about what she wants. He has to find her.

  For two strong-willed people who delight in defying one another, working together has never been easy. But escaping North Korea will take all of their combined skills and if they can’t resolve their differences, they won’t get out alive.

  * * *

  Edge of Defiance is a continuation of Edge Security: The Beginning. You do not need to have read the prequel novella, but it might make the story more enjoyable for you.

  You can find it here…Edge Security: The Beginning

  * * *

  For more Edge Security sign up for my newsletter (Click Here!) or checkout my website. www.trishloye.com

  1

  Cassandra Kwon should have become a TV news anchor when she’d had the chance. If she’d become a news anchor instead of a field reporter, then she wouldn’t be standing here getting felt up by a security guard. She sighed as the female guard pressed her hands to Cassie’s small chest and slid them down her stomach before patting them along her ribs.

  Cassie was a reporter for the Global News television network in Canada. She freelanced articles for some newspapers, e-zines and blogs, but most of her measly income came from Global News. She waited to get through the security pat-down to enter the press conference given by the North Korean envoy.

  This latest story wasn’t an assignment from the paper, but one that she’d been wanting to dig into for a long time. She hoped to get enough information to eventually make a documentary for TV. Her mother had escaped North Korea when she’d been pregnant with Cassie, and her father had died there. Cassie wanted—no, needed—to tell the world about the corruption and horrors happening in that country.

  “Spread your legs.”

  Cassie widened her stance, thankful she wore pants rather than a skirt. She scanned her surroundings, purposely not looking down while the security guard crouched before her. She wanted to squirm as the woman felt along her legs. She sighed and studied the other reporters wanting access to the press conference. Movement caught her eye. A tall, dark-haired man, on the other side of the security line, strode down the hall away from the area. He wore some kind of black uniform. She only saw his back, but something about him… She blinked and her heart did a wild leap.

  Derrick?

  Her gaze focused on him with the intense concentration of a drowning woman watching a lifeline. He entered a room and the door closed, blocking her sight. She hadn’t seen his face, just his dark hair and broad shoulders. Something about the way he’d walked had triggered her. He moved like a soldier. Like Derrick.

  No.

  No, it couldn’t be, she reminded herself. Derrick was dead. And had been for years. She took a deep breath and released it slowly as the guard felt along her legs. She forced her gaze from the closed door. It hadn’t been him.

  She kept her breathing even and her heart rate slowed. It had been a long time since she’d had a phantom sighting of Derrick. Her shoulders slumped for just a moment before she straightened them, refusing to be buried by painful memories of the past.

  It must be all the security and uniforms that made her think she’d seen him. She frowned as she eyed the two guards, one male and one female, patting down all the reporters waiting to get into the hotel’s conference room where the envoy was supposed to speak. This was a lot of security for a simple press conference.

  “Why the tight security?” she asked.

  The guard shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care.” Then she eyed Cassie’s hair and Cassie tried not to make a face. She’d tied the mass of waves and curls back into a loose bun, but she knew that wasn’t going to stop the woman. Maybe if she’d been an anchorwoman with perfect hair?

  “I’m going to need to touch your hair,” the security guard said. “Turn around please.”

  The guard touched her bun, massaging it. What was she looking for? A knife masquerading as a bobby pin? A tug and then her hair tumbled around her shoulders. Cassandra sighed. It was only a matter of time before—

  “You look a lot like that woman from that doctor show. Grey’s Anatomy? You know the one, where they’re all surgeons?” The security guard tugged her hands through the tangles of Cassandra’s hair. “I haven’t seen a lot of Asians with curly hair. Do you perm it?”

  Cassie tugged her hair away from the woman. “No, I don’t perm it. You know that’s a stereotype, right?”

  The guard frowned
at her. “What’s a stereotype?”

  Cassie barely stifled her sigh. “Not all Asians have straight hair. And just for the record, I’m not good at math either.”

  The guard’s frown deepened.

  No one home, Cassie thought and swallowed another retort. “Am I clear to go?”

  The woman hesitated and it lit Cassie’s temper. It didn’t help that she’d been up late working on this story. Being a single mom meant there was never enough sleep for her, but she’d only had a few hours last night and it meant her temper sat closer to the surface than normal.

  “You’re clear,” the woman said.

  Cassie left her hair down and strode into the conference room. Most of the seats near the front were already taken. A small dais and a podium had been set up. Mics crowded the area directly in front of the podium, along with camera crews. Chairs sat in two groups on either side.

  She picked the side by the inner door. The door the North Korean envoy and his entourage would most likely come through. She spoke Korean and hoped to overhear something interesting by his guards or staff. Unlikely, but a woman could dream.

  Before she could sit, her phone rang. It was Kate, her friend from work. “Hey, Kate. How’s the sports desk?”

  “It’s all hockey, as you know. You still doing that piece on North Korea?”

  “Yes.” A rhythmic slapping sounded in the background. “Are you holding your bat?” she asked.

  “My lucky-signed-by-the-best-hitter-in-the-league bat? Yup, why?”

  Cassie scanned for a seat. “It means you’re over-analyzing something whenever you slap that thing into your palm. What’s the problem? Is it about my story?”

  Kate sighed and a thunk sounded. She must have plopped the bat on her desk. “Frank stopped by our cozy cubicles, looking for you.”

  Her stomach turned. “And?”

  “He wants his story on the missing scientist…a Dr. Adam French.”

  “Shit.” Frank had asked her to look into the rumblings about the missing nuclear physicist, but she hadn’t had time with her prep for this press conference.

  “I stalled him. I think,” Kate said. “I know this story is important to you, but if you want to keep your job then you need to get something on that scientist and soon.”

  Dammit. One more thing. “Right,” she said. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  She swiped off her phone and found a seat next to a man with thinning hair and a face a little rounder than it should be. “Hey, Tom. How’s things at the Post?”

  He shrugged. “Same as always.” He nodded back to the security guards still patting people down. “What’s with the extra security?”

  She scanned the room. “There must have been death threats. They’ve got cameras on us too.” She pointed to the upper corners of the room and the small round metal cameras installed there. “Big Brother is watching us.” She blew a kiss to one of the cameras.

  “I haven’t heard anything,” Tom said.

  She sat back in her chair. “Well, someone’s heard something and I’m going to find out what.”

  Colonel Derrick Blackwell, Operations Officer for Edge Security, watched the cameras of the press conference. Edge was a covert international military unit with the cover of a civilian security company based in Montréal. He’d been an officer with the unit since the beginning.

  His attention snagged on a petite Asian woman with unruly curls who walked into the conference room. He froze, unable to look away. She blew a kiss to the camera. His chest constricted and his heart pounded too slow and too hard.

  She looked the same.

  Even after all this time, she looked the same. There were a few laugh lines by her eyes, but that smile and the mischief in her eyes were the same. Her lithe body and wild hair still called to him. Small and fierce, they’d fought the first time they’d met fourteen years ago. She hadn’t been afraid to take him on.

  Little Wolf.

  It had been the nickname he’d given her after their first kiss. As the memory surfaced, lust struck him like a bullet—hard, fast—making him forget how to breathe.

  Shit. How could she still affect him this way? His body reacted as if he were twenty-seven again and not his true age of forty-one. He stepped closer to the screen to see her better.

  What had she been up to? The fact that she was here meant she’d followed her dream of becoming a reporter—a career that didn’t mesh well with the secrecy his had needed. It had been the major thing they’d fought over fourteen years ago and why they’d broken up the first time. Then he’d seen her again five years later and they’d almost started up again. His hands clenched. Almost… Until he’d seen her with her husband and daughter.

  Something she’d neglected to tell him about.

  “Sir?” Dani, one of Edge’s computer experts, spoke up, from where she sat in front of the monitors they’d set up in a spare room on the main floor of the hotel. “Are you okay?”

  He shook his head, to center himself. Focus. They didn’t have time for him to be distracted. Edge Security was responsible for the DPRK envoy’s safety after he’d received death threats. The Canadian government hosted both the American and North Korean emissaries for some not-so-secret disarmament talks. Today’s press conference would be the only one that happened and officially the RCMP handled security. Unofficially, the government had requested Edge to add additional layers of protection.

  “I’m fine,” he finally answered. And he was. It was only a bit of a jolt to see her after such a long time. “Sitrep.”

  “The undercover RCMP team is patting down the press as they enter. We’ve jammed cellular and Wi-Fi. The envoy’s security is waiting on our word before they let him in the room. Jake is with them and Gears is doing a patrol of the lobby. All looks clear.” Dani looked at him once and then tapped a few controls. The camera zoomed in on Cassie’s face. She tapped some more keys. “A reporter for Global News. Canadian-born. Korean parents. Divorced. No known ties to—”

  “Stop.” Divorced. Cassie was divorced. He hated the rush of hope that thrilled him and squashed it. None of it mattered.

  “Who is she, sir? A threat?”

  Just to him.

  “No threat,” he said. “An old friend. Just surprised to see her is all.”

  Dani nodded and didn’t say anything more, but she did leave the one camera zoomed in on Cassie. He couldn’t take his eyes from the screen.

  Seeing her brought back memories and feelings that he didn’t have time to deal with right now. He couldn’t help but look at her left hand. No ring. So it was true. Her little family had broken up. Should he chance seeing her again?

  No. She’d moved on long ago. It was best not to stir things up.

  He still didn’t take his eyes from the video. He knew Dani, Jake, and Dante—known as Gears because of his ability to fix and drive anything—had the situation handled, but it still didn’t excuse him from checking out of the op. He needed to stay present. Cassie had always been a distraction for him. It had been one of the reasons he’d let her go.

  Well, that and the fact she’d had a husband and kid.

  He ran a hand through his hair. What he contemplated doing was stupid and rash. He gritted his teeth and then gave in to the need to be closer to her. He took a black ball cap from his pocket and pulled it low over his eyes. “I’m going inside. Let me know if you see anything suspicious.” He strode to the door.

  “Are you sure, sir?”

  Not even a bit. But he didn’t answer; he just left.

  He used the back door into the room, where he’d draw less attention in his black long-sleeved shirt with his tactical vest and black cargo pants. His weapon was holstered on his right thigh. He kept his hat on and his comms piece in his ear. He’d be a walking target if anything did happen because he hadn’t tried to blend at all. Unlike Jake who’d be dressed in the same uniform as the ambassador’s security people.

  “The party is coming in,” Dani chirped in his ear.


  The interior door opened. Jake stepped out first. His gaze swept over him and the crowd as he walked into the room. Jake frowned at Derrick’s deviation from the plan but kept moving. He took a spot by the wall but near the podium while the rest of the Korean security personnel filed in around him.

  The envoy was a short man with round cheeks and an unfortunate haircut that resembled his leader’s. His translator stood beside him, with his gaze cast down. Both men wore dark suits while the security personnel wore gray jumpsuits.

  The camera crews stirred and positioned their equipment for better recordings while the reporters in the audience seemed to lean forward as one. The envoy read a prepared statement in English. Something about being glad the West had finally come to its senses and recognized the righteousness of Kim Jong Un and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

  Derrick wanted to snort at the pompousness of the little man. No wonder he’d had death threats. He scanned the room from his vantage point. One of the cameramen seemed to have trouble with his equipment, pulling it from his shoulder.

  The envoy finished his speech and asked for questions.

  Hands shot up around the room. Questions were fired at the man about the nuclear missile program and tests in the recent months. The translator spoke into his ear every now and then, but the envoy answered all the questions in English.